Its nearly here!

Just 4 days before we open for a new season! Attraction leaflets are being delivered, the plumber is here ready to put water back onto the site, and the new welcome books are just about ready to go into the caravans so it is all systems go!

Even the kids are looking forward to opening the gates again – opening up always affects them more than we thought it would. We often have tears because they feel like we are abandoning them after having us all to themselves during the winter. I think they are old enough now to see the benefits of living on the park – they can whizz round on their bikes, meet new friends and they know exactly which guests to visit when they are on the lookout for biscuits (in several caravans they know exactly where they are kept!)

They also know the little traditions we have for them based around the park, particularly opening and closing. Immediately after those gates shut on the first Sunday in November we go to the cinema and have Frankie and Benny’s afterwards and we do exactly the same just before we open.

Although my Dad ran a park it didn’t affect us in the same way – for a start we didn’t live there. It was somewhere to go to see Nanna and Grandpa as they lived in a house on the park but we didn’t have anyone knocking on our door at all times of the night needing our Mummy and Daddy.

I am also very aware that I want our kids to remember us as doing things with them during their childhood rather than working all the time. So, some people do get upset that we have a couple of hours off on a Sunday afternoon when they are wanting to buy ice cream from the shop but I hope that they appreciate there are times we need to be selfish and put our kids first – ice creams have to wait until we re-open the shop in the evening.

Don't forget our new hashtag!

We want to be able to help our guests plan things to do or at least have some ideas about what to do in the area - particularly things that maybe don't get the coverage that our larger attractions have.

So, we've come up with a new hashtag for twitter - simply search for #family2follow and it will give some details about what previous guests have been upto.

Its been a fun day!

Its school holiday time and despite opening in less than 7 days we have been spending some time with the kids before the site opens. We've been playing "guests" and have found loads of things to do that we can recommed to our guests in the summer.

Having attended a marketing course with Visit York a couple of weeks ago I met Chris and Tamsyn from Treasure Trails - York and Humber. They have created several trails around the region with three specific to York. I loved the sound of these trails and quickly ordered the three with a view to selling them on the site during the season.

The girls (aged 5 and 8) chose the one that they wanted to do first - Murder Mystery and off we went. We always advise our guests use the park and ride facility in York. It costs £2.30 per adult and upto two children travel free with each paying adult. Its much cheaper that the carparks in the city centre and saves the hassle of having to find a space.

We walked from the bus stop to the Minster picking up a hot chocolate and some treats along the way. I can't tell you much about the trail because I don't want to spoil it when you have a go but it took us all over - places that we have never been before.

The trail states that it will take 2 hours but I would advise that this is a minimum - we had a break for lunch but we could have had numerous other breaks at the various attractions that we passed along the way - some that we didn't know existed.

And, did we solve the murder? Yes we did - we found out who the murderer was and the weapon! The girls were very proud of themselves - when we came home we logged onto the treasure trails website to confirm our answer.

The trails are suitable for all ages. We took our 5 year old and she only whined a couple of times - which is usual - if we'd had a younger child we could have used the pushchair/pram with no problems whatsover and the same could be said for wheelchair users - the Shambles is a cobbled street as are many of the old streets around the city so it could be a bumpy ride in a few areas but well worth it.

And the cost of this fab day out? £5 for the trail - not many places you can take a family of 4/5/6 (as many as you like) for only £5. We enjoyed it so much we are doing another one on Thursday!

Its nearly here!!

Can't believe that we are so close to the start of another season with a very long list of things to do before March 1st - eeek!

A previous comment asked for funny customer stories and I have several but the one that comes to mind happened about 10-15 years ago (and yes - I still remember it). I was working on our other park which has a huge reception (imagine ours and times by 8) and it was packed with people. Someone was dealing with the guests whilst I was on the phone to a customer.

Sadly, this phone customer had felt the need to leave the park during the night and felt it necessary to complain. Obviously, I put my best "phone voice" on and explained I was sorry that he felt like that but if he could tell me what happened I would ensure the same thing didn't happen twice.

"It was the noise"

It was a Bank Holiday weekend so there was a possibility that this could be a genuine reason so I explained that we do have security staff on the park throughout the night and had the gentlemen mentioned the disturbance to the security staff they would have happily sorted the situation for him. Obviously we want the noisemakers to be the ones that have to leave not the quiet guests.

"It was the wind - it was too noisy" said the customer

Struggling to keep a serious face on I continued the conversation with the gentleman.

"The noise you are complaining about was coming from the wind, sir?" This caught the attention of the person I was working with and the first few guests that were checking in.

"Yes, the wind was far too noisy, kept us awake, we've had to leave so I want my money back!"

"I'm very sorry sir, there is nothing I can do about the volume of the wind" I managed to say as by this time everyone in reception was starting to smile and giggle "If it was something I could control I would have turned the volume down for you but sadly I can't so it doesn't warrant a refund - maybe you could try your insurance company"

Well, luckily the gentlman put the phone down on me at this point because my sides were hurting with trying to stop myself laughing. How would you have handled that?