Making It Count
Never under estimate the value of first impressions, advises Ashleigh Bissett…
You’ve heard it said that you never get a second chance to make a good, first impression. Not only are first impressions registered with lightning speed, but they also last a surprisingly long time. As we head into winter, what better time to evaluate your outdoor areas and carry out the necessary modifications to make your guests’ first impressions count in time for the 2019 season. Quick fixes could be something as simple as adding more benches or sprucing up your garden displays.
If outdoor spaces are well maintained, they will encourage user-participation by inspiring visitors to be outdoors in the grounds, making full use of the facilities. “We believe it’s important to keep outdoor spaces well maintained as this is one of the first impressions visitors will experience at your park,” comments Stephen Toone, Managing Director of Fordingbridge – a leading manufacturer of canopies, walkways and inspiring buildings. “Your clientele are more likely t o return to your site and recommend to their friends and family if the external appearance is tidy and up together.” He adds: “With more competition than ever before within the holiday park and leisure sector, attracting customers with new and engaging ideas are vital to achieve this.”
WEATHER-PROOF
Experts in creating communal spaces, Fordingbridge has supplied the holiday and leisure sector for many years. Their range of canopies and walkways provide rain and sunshine protection, to ensure that outdoor areas can be used all year round. “Downpours are not a problem with our canopies and walkways,” explains Stephen. “This will provide you with a competitive advantage and provoke word of mouth about how versatile your park is in all weathers. “Likewise, our statement buildings can be designed and built to any purpose. For instance, if you are planning an on-site café or perhaps a crèche for children, one of our buildings will fulfil that criteria.
With offsite construction methods, it shortens the lead time over traditional bricks and mortar.” Hoburne Holidays operates seven holiday parks in the South East, the outdoor areas of which are maintained by in-house teams of maintenance and leisure staff. Hoburne’s parks with activity areas were re-designed in time for the 2018 season and the company regularly monitors customer feedback to ensure its parks meet customer expectations. “A Hoburne holiday is about doing what you want at your own pace and we want to provide outdoor spaces where there is plenty to keep everyone busy and bring families together in one area to have fun,” explains Jake Harrison, Group Operations Manager for Hoburne Holidays.
LASTING IMPRESSION
“Therefore it’s essential to keep these areas well maintained so customers want to use them and feel safe whilst on holiday. We also ensure all our planting and green spaces are well maintained at all times to ensure a lasting impression.” The company maximises the outdoor space available at each park to its full potential by putting all the activities in one area and having a mixture of activities for all ages. The younger children can be entertained in the play areas whilst not far away the teenagers can be using the adventure golf or the multiuse games areas for football or basketball. The spokesperson explains that the biggest challenges faced with the parks’ outdoor spaces is the unpredictable weather, staffing, and making them low maintenance but suitable for high usage. “Our objective has been to make sure there is plenty to keep everyone busy but in one area meaning something for the whole family. We wanted our outside spaces to provide a fun and healthy environment for our guests,” says Jake. “My advice is to offer food and drink amenities where possible and make sure you have plenty of seating available.”
In contrast to some of the larger holiday operators, Park Owner Victoria Bowrey runs Back of Beyond Touring Park in Dorset and does all of the grounds maintenance herself to keep costs at a minimum. “To employ landscapers is costly, so I am learning as I go along and have taken advice from professional landscapers and garden centre staff along the way who have made suggestions as to what to plant,” says Victoria. “Well-kept outdoor areas are essential as it reflects the overall image of the park. If the flowerbeds and grounds are not maintained to a high standard then that immediately suggests that the park is not cared for or well managed.” Open to adults only,
Back of Beyond Touring Park is set in rural Dorset and boasts 80 pitches with electric hook-ups, 40 camping pitches and a glamping village, as well as an amenities block, reception and shop. Victoria takes pride in the park’s outdoor areas and keeping them well looked after is a high priority all year round. She comments: “As we are 30 acres we can't possible compete with beautiful natural foliage, however, we make the most of the busy areas of the park, such as the reception and shower blocks by planting carefully selected flowers, bushes and trees.
“We have learned to choose plants that blend into the environment and that come back every year. We are also particularly conscious of helping the bees at our park. We plant very few bedding out plants in favour of lavenders, alliums, verbena, ornamental grasses and easy care plants such as sedums. My advice is to go for plants that make a statement and also not to be scared to try out new things - even if they don't work!” Victoria says that time is the biggest challenge she faces in maintaining the park’s outdoor spaces: “Having enough time to keep the park’s outside areas ship-shape can be difficult, which is why we tend to choose easy-care plants that come back each year. At the moment we are still new so we are building up on what we have but we do try and add new plants to the landscaped areas every year.”
COMPANY CONTACTS
BACK OF BEYOND TOURING PARK
Tel: 01202 876968
www.backofbeyondtouringpark.co.uk
FORDINGBRIDGE
Tel: 01243 554455
www.fordingbridge.co.uk
GREENMECH
Tel: 01789 400 044
www.greenmech.co.uk
HOBURNE HOLIDAYS
Tel: 01425 689293
www.hoburne.com
NBB Recycled Furniture
Tel: 0800 1777 052
www.recycledfurniture.co.uk
THE UK RAMP CO.
Tel: 01923 678432
www.modularpumptracksuk.com
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POOR ADVICE
Dan Johnson of Marquis Spas agrees and warns: “I am aware that cases of infection are ongoing now, but are being settled out of court with NDA’s – I can only hope those who fall foul of poor operational controls learn from their mistakes. “I am seeing truly ancient hot tubs in situ, which is understandable as operators try to wring every last penny out of them and recoup their ROI, albeit as a false economy not only in running costs but also client experience,” says Dan.
Verdant’s holiday parks provide the perfect environment for families to spend precious time together, creating memories that will last a lifetime. Scoutscroft Leisure Park is located a couple of minutes’ walk ideally located from the breathtaking Coldingham Bay beach. Just under an hour’s drive from Edinburgh and close to the Scottish Borders, the park is ideally located for holidays and weekend retreats for all, with an abundance of attractions. Situated on the Berwickshire Coast, just an hour’s drive from Edinburgh, we then find Coldingham Bay Leisure Park. With 22 acres of beautifully landscaped grounds, the park offers the peaceful tranquillity of a countryside setting. With the beach and a host of activities and attractions just a stone’s throw away, it is a wonderful holiday retreat.
Still in Scotland, Thurston Manor is nestled at the foot of the Lammermuir Hills near the stunning East Lothian coastline, amid 176 acres of breathtaking countryside. This beautiful holiday park is under an hour’s drive from Edinburgh so visiting the capital is easily done. Set in the heart of the beautiful Ayrshire countryside, Viewfield Manor provides an ideal base from which to explore the historic attractions, thriving market and seaside towns and world famous sporting locations that Ayrshire has to offer. Viewfield Manor is situated only 20 minutes from Ayr, and with attractions such as Culzean Castle, Kelburn Park, and Irvine, Troon and Ayr beaches all within a 30 minute journey.
erdant Leisure offers a wide range of holiday options to suit all budgets, whether guests want to buy or rent a holiday home or caravan. The company has invested over £6 million in its portfolio in the last two years and customer service is very much at the heart of the Verdant Leisure ethos. All Verdant Leisure’s holiday park locations have Tripadvisor ratings of 4 out of 5 and Heather View and Coldingham Bay have Facebook review scores of 5 out of 5 and 4.3 out of 5, respectively.
his year Verdant Leisure is supporting the Teenage Cancer Trust following its success last year in raising money for When You Wish Upon a Star. Verdant Leisure aims to raise £30,000 for the charity by hosting fundraising activities at its head office and charity open days throughout the year at all eight of its parks. The company has also been shortlisted for a total of seven awards in the last 18 months – including both the Lloyd’s Bank Business Awards and the Amazon Growing Business Awards this year. Verdant has also been shortlisted for several customer service awards, in recognition of the hard work put in by the whole team to deliver exceptional customer service at all its park locations. Last month Verdant Leisure celebrated its eighth anniversary and the company is due to announce its ninth holiday park acquisition in the coming weeks. It looks like 2019 will be another pivotal year for the bespoke holiday park operator.
The park is set to benefit from further investment as Group’s Operation Manager Bruce Thomson explained: “We are excited to be upgrading facilities at the park. We will create 10 new fully serviced pitches with new state-of-the-art touring bollards as well as increasing the number of hard standing pitches available for use throughout the Winter months. “We would like to welcome families from Scotland and beyond to come and make this park their second home,” adds Bruce. Guests seem to have appreciated the makeover. This is what Steven said in his review on TripAdvisor having stayed at the park in July: “Having only stayed at Lomond woods holiday park before we were sceptical about trying somewhere new. But were we delighted with our stay in Callander. “We were greeted by Cameron, really friendly and he explained all about the park and the area. Our caravan was brand new and it was perfect, stocked with everything you could need. “The park is large and the caravans are sited in a lovely spot at the back of the site, really quiet and peacefully, perfect for a relaxing stay. We travelled into Sterling on the bus which stops just outside the park, also travelled to the safari park which is just a short drive from the park. A wonderful site that we will visit again, good luck and best wishes to the Wood family on their new site.”
Some of touring guests have chosen to put down roots at the park. This is what a lady called Lynn said in her review on TripAdvisor after she stayed at the park in July: “We came here for two weeks in a tourer and loved it so much that we bought a static from the new owners. The site is extremely clean and well ran. The shower block is lovely and lots of showers so u don’t have to queue. The play is wonderful for the kids - they had a ball. I would very highly recommend this caravan park, you will come back again and again. Within the proposed plan for 2019, in line with other Wood Leisure holiday parks, the family are enthusiastic to extend the opening at Callander Woods to give holiday guests greater flexibility. They will be adding ten extra weeks to the holiday year and remain open until the end of December, instead of closing for the season in mid-October. Wood Leisure is a family-owned holiday park group that has been welcoming visitors from the UK and beyond since 1981. Committed to maintaining and upgrading their holiday parks to meet customer expectations, Wood Leisure’s efforts have been recognised with a number of awards including ‘Family Business of the Year’ at the Scottish Outdoor Leisure Awards, Best Caravan Park Group and Best Glamping to name just a few.