The husband and wife team who run the island’s ’original online estate agency’ from offices based in the village of Kirk Michael have now added a tearoom and gift shop for the community to enjoy.

Lisa Quayle, 44, and her husband Richard, 42, are co directors of Quayles Estate Agency.

These are exciting times for the Quayles .

They moved their business down the road to new premises only about a fortnight ago. The estate agency has been running for around nine years in total and Lisa and Richard say the village is an ideal base for their all island operation.

Lisa said: ’Kirk Michael is actually quite a central point, it’s about 30 minutes to most of the island from here - perfect for us as we accompany all our viewings and could have an early start anywhere from Ramsey to Port Erin’

The couple’s new office suite is located on the first floor while the tearoom and gift shop are downstairs. Working with Richard and Lisa in the estate agency business are Emilie Wilson and Ellis Benjamin.

Their son Joe, 16, is also getting involved in the family business helping both in the tea room and estate agency during the summer holidays, before returning to study for his A levels.

Although only open for a short time, The Dovecote Tearoom appears to be going down well with both locals and visitors. On the day Business News visited last week it was a hive of activity, a number of customers were enjoying home-made snacks, lunches and cakes along with the small gift shop alongside. There’s also upcycled furniture for sale and quality chalk paint for those who prefer to customise their own piece.

The building itself has been in the same family for many years, the owner’s grandmother, who by coincidence was a Quayle, lived in what is now the tearooms and first floor office and ran the local newsagents. The current owner refurbished the whole building to enable the Quayles to make their idea a reality and Lisa said they were ’over the moon’ that he had decided to help them.

The gift shop itself has been open since late November, overseen by Hannah Pawlak who is also a dab hand at chalk painting and upcycles the furniture for the shop. Hannah is assisted part time by Lucy Clay, who lives in the village. The pair have been waiting patiently for the tearooms to open as they have been inundated with enquiries ...

Sue Bridge has helped to set up the tearoom and will be managing it on a day to day basis - her cakes and superb home cooking are being well received and have earned The Dovecote numerous ’5 Star’ ratings already via the company Facebook page. Ironically, Sue ran a clothes shop in what is now the gift shop many years ago so she’s no stranger to the village and is enjoying catching up with old friends and neighbours.

Despite being very proud of their new venture Richard and Lisa stress that they are both 100 per cent committed to their work as Estate Agents and although it has been great fun creating something from scratch, they are both happy to hand over to Sue and her new team in the kitchen and Hannah and Lucy in the gift shop.

Lisa commented that ’lunchtimes have improved dramatically now we are located above such a lovely tearoom - it’s fun having a shop and we are lucky to have found some great people to keep everything ticking over while we concentrate on the estate agency business’.

Richard added ’We live just down the road and really enjoy the convenience of having our place of work so close to home. It’s a great little village with a nice family friendly pub, chemist, post office, butchers, equestrian supply shop and village store/ newsagents - we’re hoping the villagers enjoy visiting tearooms and shop too’.

Sue confirmed there are plans to begin a take out service very soon and with 30 minutes disc parking right outside the door it’s sure to be ideal for anyone passing through the village. For those who prefer to take their time and stay for a leisurely breakfast or lunch, the bus stops just up the road - right by the village car park off Station Road.