Two families prepare to sell their shared Macmasters Beach holiday house

• Owners: Dayle and John Peacocke, and Brett and Belinda Robson
• The property: A treasured holiday house where the bush meets the beach
• Address: 91 Marine Parade, Macmasters Beach, NSW
• Price: $5 million-plus
  
• Auction: 10.30am, September 26
  
• Agent: McGrath Terrigal, Jordan Bulmer 0415 595 920

It’s rare for families to jointly own a holiday home, but for the Peacocke and Robson clans, it was one of the many idyllic aspects of 91 Marine Parade, Macmasters Beach, on the NSW Central Coast.

The Sydney-based friends found shared paradise and made twice the memories at the four-bedroom retreat, which is now on the market through McGrath Jordan Bulmer.

The beach is just across the road – as convenient as it is spectacular – and the ocean pool is a mere 30-metre walk away. Watching whales from bed, dolphin spotting, swimming, surfing, bushwalking, horse riding, milestone birthday parties, a marriage proposal, and gatherings at the nearby surf club have filled their many joyful years there.

The house, where the beach meets the bush of Bouddi National Park, has been a significant part of both families’ lives. However, as they enter a new phase of life, the time is right to sell. 

For Dayle Peacocke and her husband John, it was where their four children spent their entire childhood.

“Once you hit Scenic Road, you wind the windows down and you start to hear the birdlife,” Dayle says. “We get here, the music goes on, and it is just our happy place.”

For Brett Robson and his wife Belinda, who also have four children, it has been a haven that feels far from the city. Their kids have noticed how present and relaxed their parents are here. “You can’t help it when you get there,” Brett says. “You just feel the weight come off your shoulders.” 

When Dayle and John were looking to buy a weekender about 25 years ago, their criteria were no more than 90 minutes from Sydney and an easy walk from a beach. They found it in 2002 in the coastal community on the Bouddi Peninsula.

“John loved the surf break and I loved the pool. It just ticked a lot of boxes for us,” Dayle says.

Many friends, including the Robsons, stayed at the house with them several times over the ensuing years. A large room at the back held bunk beds for up to 12, so the youngsters could pile in together.

As the Peacockes’ children grew, so did the number of obligations that kept them in the city on weekends.

“All of a sudden, the beach house would have sat there for maybe six months without us coming up at all,” Dayle says.

So they emailed about a dozen friends to see if anyone wanted to buy into the property with them.

“Then Belinda and Brett joined us,” Dayle says. “It was the perfect scenario because then we felt that the place was getting used more than it was. No one wants a house to sit empty for six months. It feels decadent and sad.”

Brett says the email was a surprising “fast track” to the goal of one day owning a beach house, which he and Belinda assumed was at least several years away, having recently bought a new family home.

“We’d had cool holidays there, and we were fairly young, and thought, ‘Oh, it’d just be awesome having a holiday house like that.’

“Dayle and John sent the email, and we rang and said, ‘Hey guys, we’d be super keen. We’ll make it work.’ It was one of those very serendipitous moments where you say, ‘Well, we never saw that coming.'”

The arrangement worked from day one. They alternated Christmases and figured out summer holidays among themselves, but their calendars were always in sync. “In all those years, I don’t think we ever both wanted it at the same time,” Dayle says.

Beyond the house, the families enjoyed the close-knit community. Dayle describes Macmasters Beach as unpretentious, with a creative spirit. Brett’s children learnt surf lifesaving and joined kayaking trips at the surf local. “It’s all about the community, not competition,” he says.

Although Macmasters Beach is technically a suburb, it has a village feel. Brett says the setting is peaceful, with few distractions.

“It was about being in nature, with less of the hustle and bustle,” he says. “You go to bed, and it is so quiet, it sounds like the water is lapping at the bottom of the bed. There are all these things you associate with being on holiday and relaxing.”

Since the decision to sell, the Peacocke children have been sharing their treasured memories of the house as they count down the days to the auction.

“They’re reminiscing about it,” Dayle says. “Even some of the stories that they’re telling me, I think, ‘I didn’t know that.’ We’ve just been so fortunate that we’ve been able to share that with our children.”

The Robsons will always be grateful that the house gave them something precious – time together.

“By the time you’re in a position to afford certain things, maybe the best part of doing it has almost passed,” Brett says. “We were able to do it when our kids were really young.”

SOLD - $4,850,000

91 Marine Parade, Macmasters Beach NSW 2251

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