Has the inventory check been done?

It seems that sat watching the littlemisses swimming class is also a perfect time to blog. I was at a workshop a couple of days ago and many of the reasons people don't tweet or write blogs is a lack of time. I've thought about that alot and it made me realise just how much of my time is wasted. It was suggested that I download a dictation app for my phone but I'd feel a little silly sat by the pool talking to myself.

Busy day on site again - the annual Cajun Festival takes place this weekend and we have many of the band members and their partners staying with us on site. We have guests from Holland, Germany and France. The English are certainly in the minority at the moment. Great buzz around the park though. The organisers do such a fantastic job putting the weekend together, it's lovely to play a small part of it.

P.S. the inventory check has been done - just need a frying pan - added to tomorrow's list.

Dear Diary....

And still I haven't completed the inventory.

I have, though, found the perfect time to blog. The fifteen minutes I get to myself whilst waiting for littlemiss7 to fall to sleep is all I need to collect my thoughts on the day.

The snow has forced a paperwork day. Bills paid, filing complete and some SEO work on the website. All those things that the guests don't see but all vitally important to the smooth running of the park.

Damian is defrosting by the fire having done a late check of all the caravans ensuring all the water is off. With 10 caravans being let from tomorrow I can only hope and pray that all the pipes survive the night.

Maybe tomorrow the inventory will be completed....

A new season....

It's hard to believe that we've only been open for 12 days - it's gone passed in a flash and we have already done so much. We replaced nine of our carqvans over the winter season and they are now ready with aerials, steps and fridges - all ready to sell or to hire out to guests. All electric and gas checks are complete and we can look forward to the eight months ahead.

Sadly, the temperatures have turned against us over the last couple of days and frozen pipes have caused a couple of niggly problems. I think everyone has had enough of the cold and the snow now - it's time to look forward to Spring.

What does the season have in store?

Who knows! The great thing about our job is that we wake up not knowing what is going to happen. We can plan our day out at 9am and by 9.30am something could have happened which will change the course of the day. Take today for example, an unexpected gas delivery has meant that the caravan itinerary that we were supposed to complete hasn't been done yet. There is always tomorrow....

Procrastination isn't always a waste of time.

During a period of procrastination last week I found myself browsing statistics on Visit England’s website and came across a list of activities on overnight trips in England for 2011. I mulled over the list for a while and realised just how perfect our location is to complete any of the activites mentioned:

1.       Just Relaxing – Robin Hood Caravan Park is set in a perfect, quiet and tranquil location. Grab yourself a book and escape from the real world for a while.

2.       Sightseeing on Foot – Castle Howard is only 2.5miles away from Robin Hood Caravan Park. Its a hilly walk but I’ve known people that have done it. If you're visiting in the Spring don't forget to have a wander through Bluebell Woods - a carpet of blue.

3.       Short Walk/stroll – up to 2 miles/1 hour – that’ll get you to 2 local pubs. Check out our village website for walking routes in our area

4.       Sightseeing by car – Howardian Hills, North YorkMoors National Park, York – all on our doorstep

5.       Long Walk/Hike or ramble – walks are available from reception – or borrow our O.S. Maps and take yourself off exploring

6.       Visiting a beach – we are only 35 mins from the coast – Scarborough, Filey, Cayton Bay, Hunmanby Gap – loads to choose from

7.       Centre based walking (around city/town) – check out Treasure Trails – a great way of seeing our local towns

8.        A special event of a personal nature e.g wedding/christening – We’ve had guests attend weddings in Slingsby, Hovingham and at Castle Howard so I’m ticking that one

9.       Visiting a country park – oooooh – what defines a country park?

10.   Visiting a museum – Eden Camp, York CastleMuseum, National Railway Museum, Beck Isle Museum – the list goes on.....

11.   Swimming (indoors or outdoors) – York’s WaterWorld, St Alban Centre at Ampleforth College, Derwent Pool in Malton

12.   Had a picnic of BBQ – Dalby Forest, Hutton-le-Hole – keep an eye on our website as I build a list of picnic places

13.   Visiting a theme park/amusement park – Flamingoland, Light Water Valley

14.   Visiting a historic house, stately home, palace – Castle Howard and Nunnington Hall within 3 miles of Robin Hood Caravan Park

15.   Visiting a cathedral, church, abbey – York Minster, Rievaulx Abbey

There are a further 47 suggestions within the survey but I’ll leave them for another day

New Year, New Website, New Blog

Already 2013 looks to be an exciting year for us here at Robin Hood Caravan Park. We are currently working on the website for our parent site Crows Nest Caravan Park and then it will be our turn for a website overhaul.

When finished our new website will have a blog/news page attached to it and it will be alot easier for me to update, publish and promote it to all our readers. Until then the blogs will stay here and I'll transfer any written this month onto the new site when the time comes.

Gold, Silver, Bronze or Rosedale, Glaisdale, Farndale?

Caravan Parks around the country categorise their caravans in many ways whether by name - Bronze, Silver, Gold or numbers - 2012, 2011, 2010. It shows our guests that there are differences in the type of caravans we have available to hire.

When we moved to the park in 1999, the established names were Farndale, Rosedale and Dovedale and it would have been foolish for us to change them as we felt that we had to make gradual changes in order to retain the number of repeat guests to the park.

As the years have gone by it has been necessary to add to that range of names as the range of caravans available to hire has grown. It was important to us that we use the names of “dales” within Yorkshire and so the discussions began.

Glaisdale was the first category added. An extra category was needed to bridge the gap between our economy caravans and the new ones. Beki liked the name Glaisdale – no other reason it was chosen.

Kingsdale is the latest category to be added. It’s the new name for our 3 bedroom caravans - the ones that sleep more than others – the kings of the hire fleet but it nearly wasn’t called that...........

#Yorkshire Hour

On Wednesday evenings, from 8pm – 9pm, Tweeters from all over Yorkshire come together for #Yorkshirehour and Beki asked our followers what they thought the new name should be:

Denise Howard - Thornton le Dale, Coverdale, Madeupdale (where Mrs Victor lives)
Yorkshire Farmer - Bransdale, Dale Winton (?)
Rebecca Horner - Coverdale
Paul Raines - Emmerdale
Mrs Victor - Bransdale, Baysdale, Commondale, Danbydale, Fryupdale,  Ugglebarnby-cum-Eskdale (shame it would take over the price list!)
North York Moors - Kirkdale, Fryup Dale, Whispers Dale, Troutsdale
Susie Brindley - Emmerdale, Bilsdale
Walking Books.com - Ryedale, Troutsdale, Westerdale, Wheeldale
Debra Tyson - Sunnydale, Airedale
Craig Nattress - Ryedale, Bilsdale

There are some really great names in there - you can tell the Emmerdale 40th Birthday Live Special was on at the time! And we loved the thought of Ryedale with it being the area we belong to. However, we wanted it to be a specific name of a place that our guests can visit if they wish hence Nick coming up with Kingsdale.

And you can book stays in the Kingsdale caravan for 2013 by visiting our website.

Another season almost finished..

Not long until the park closes for the season. I look back at Sophie's posts and smile - she did have a very busy summer and they had some great days out - so many that she didn't have time to finish off the blog.

We are still very busy - four caravans have moved from the park this week and a further four/five are due to move from the park in the coming weeks. Its exciting times and we are really looking forward to the new ones arriving at the beginning of next year. For our guests it means that all caravans that are booked directly though the park are centrally heated - just what is required at this time of the year.