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Ampoja Beach House was started by David Montgomery and his family, naming it after his 3 daughters Amber, Poppy and Jade. Created from a long-established love of this beautiful secluded spot on the coast, building started in 2015, finally opening its doors in 2018. But with a 3 generation family history in Kenya, the story starts much farther back.
It begins in 1908 with the arrival of Oscar Watkins, a young Oxford Graduate and veteran of the Boer War, in Mombasa. Oscar and his wife Olga made a wonderful home at Wispers Farm in Karura Forest, outside Nairobi, for them and their 3 children, Pella, Ronny and June. It was here their 3 daughters spawned a dynasty of 10 first cousins, Hughes, Montgomery and Knowles.
Pella, the eldest daughter, married Captain Oliver Montgomery in 1947 and had 3 children, Caroline, Nigel and David, who she raised and educated in Nyeri and then Nairobi. Naming her house Canida Cottage, after her children, this is a tradition that David has continued with the beach house.
All the generations have always enjoyed the family tradition of holidaying on the Kenyan Coast, and from this came David's lifelong dream of building his own home at the coast, for current and future generations to enjoy. Having discovered Che Shale in 1990, and every August since, David's family remain captivated by the unspoilt beauty and bought their first beach plot in 2005. This is where he created Ampoja Beach House, it has been a labour of love and it is testament to David's love of his family and Kenya.
This is our home, in the land of our birth, and we look forward to welcoming you. Karibuni.