I often get asked – ‘Are you going to have a long holiday now?’ This usually makes me laugh – I wish! Sadly, we don’t have time to take off to the sun for several weeks, or a month. As soon as the holiday park is closed we start putting it to bed for the winter, and preparing for the new season. This means cleaning out all the caravans really thoroughly and draining them all down so that when we have freezing temperatures this doesn’t lead to burst pipes. All the public areas get thoroughly cleaned and tidied. We also make lists of all the jobs that need doing and start on these, because the time goes by really quickly, especially when we get into the new year.
For guests who enjoy glamping in Devon we have our camping pods. Each year they get put away for the winter, sheltered up by the barn.
All good things come to an end. And the same can be said of old caravan holiday homes. This grand old lady (15 years is quite old in holiday caravan years) is going off the park to a new home and is waiting to be collected.
And here’s where she came from. This pitch will be tidied up and we are taking delivery of a brand new ABI Oakley 36 foot by 12 foot holiday caravan to go here, which will be for sale ready for the new season in 2016.
It’s all quiet here and the seasonal tourers have been put to bed for the winter.
Some people are quite surprised that we close. There are lots of parks that stay open all year. I often say it’s because it’s not always very nice here in the winter. For those of you that have been here when the cloud has been sitting on the hill, it can be a bit dull and dreary. We have also been snowed in up here and I haven’t been able to get to work. This was January 2013. Freda and Norman have an all wheel drive car for this very reason and have had to help out locals who have got stuck in the snow.
Spot the dog! Unless you had a 4×4 or similar the roads were impassable.
We do miss our guests though, and once everyone has gone it takes a while to get used to the park being quiet with no-one around, and no shop or reception to keep an eye on.
We hope you all have a good winter and we look forward to seeing you in 2016. I’ll let you know if we have any of the white stuff this winter!