It's raining............it's pouring........

I’m sure we aren’t the only ones that are getting fed up of the constant rain. So many things we want to get on with outside and they are almost impossible in this weather. We can do most things in the wind and cold but add a bit of rain and things come to a halt.

I’ve also noticed that the phone is really quiet on days when the weather is poor – no-one is in the right frame of mind to be thinking of their summer holidays. Once the sun starts to shine again camping will seem like a really fun thing to do once more.

So, what are we doing?

You may think that with so little to do on the park we are sat indoors with the heating on relaxing and taking the time to rest. Nope!!! Since I started this morning I’ve dealt with three repair men, four advertising salespeople, ordered some uniform, made sure adverts are running in all the right places, worked on the website, helped with a newsletter and made a cup of tea. Thankfully its now lunchtime – and time to make a list of all the things I’ll do this afternoon.

Yorkshire - When are you coming?

Can't decide where to go on holiday this year? Let me help you make up your mind!

Y12

Seems we've gone through all seasons since I was sat in the garden writing the last blog. Sun, sleet, wind and rain - we've had them all - but thankfully no snow.

Its been a busy few days since my last blog. On Wednesday I attended Welcome to Yorkshire's Y12 conference at the Barbican Centre with over 1100 others wondering what the year had in store for us.

The chat show style event was hosted by Rob Walker (may have to start watching the snooker now) with guests Gary Verity - Chief Exec for Welcome to Yorkshire, John Penrose MP - Minster for Tourism, Mike Finnigan and a couple of llamas.

The day is always very inspiring and this year was no different. Gary and his team have a lot planned for Yorkshire:

• Back le Bid - A bid for the 2016 Tour de France to start in Yorkshire. You can help by backing le bid at www.yorkshire.com/backthebid
• "On Ilkla Moor Bah't'at" Rap
• Product Placement in Emmerdale
• Bronte's Yorkshire Garden at Chelsea

The finale was emotional for everyone attending. The first champions of Yorkshire "The Yorkshire Regiment" were welcomed onto the stage to collect their Y badges with a standing ovation and a few tears from Row B.

 



A little treat....

Treating myself to a lunch break today - albeit whilst blogging. Sat in the garden with a sandwich and cup of tea listening to the birds singing and the distant humming of a lawn mower.

These peaceful times will pass us by if we aren't careful. It's these snatched hours that make us lucky to be doing the job we do. Damian is at Crow's Nest plumbing in countless new static caravans so he probably isn't feeling as content as I am. To be fair, half an hour ago when surrounded by accounts and the constant ringing of the phone I wasn't as calm as I am now.

But right here, right now, enjoying the Spring sunshine I'm very happy I do the job that I do.......

What should I blog about?

I've read alot of advice on blogs over the last 7 days - looking for that niche - looking for that something that I can talk about that no-one else can and to be honest haven't got very far. Then I thought about the title of our blog and realised that by just writing a diary and by letting people know what happened this week I can give my account of whether it really is a dream job.

Working for yourself/family and illness aren't two things that can go together so despite this steaming cold that I, and everyone I know has, I've battled through the week sorting through accounts, bookings and social media updates. Has it been a dream job this week? Yes and no - I've not taken any time off work, I've sat behind my desk in my pjs and no-one has known - we've still taken lots of bookings but on the other hand I've not had the time off that maybe I could have had if I was working for someone else.

Feeling a little more human this morning, I've spent the morning updating the facebook sites for Jasmine and Crows Nest. So often we don't take full advantage of having the three parks in our marketing efforts so I've made sure that photos of Jasmine and Robin Hood appear on Crows Nest's facebook page and vice versa. If a guest has enjoyed their stay at one of our parks they are (hopefully) more likely to look at staying at one of the others.

If you follow us on facebook - any of us - what do you want to see on there? Why do you read my blog? What tweets do you like reading? I really want to extend the communication between ourselves and our guests/potential guests - stats show that people are reading our blogs and browsing our website as a result - how can I build on that? Comment below, email or tweet with your opinions and help me make the best of our blog.

Scoial Media/PR Workshop

Scoial Media/PR Workshops always leave my head in a spin and yesterday's was no different. Thanks to Denise Howard from Welcome Training, Carol Arthur from Northern Lights PR and Visit York my head is filled with so many new ideas about how we could promote the business.

The event, attended by finalists of the Visit York awards, begain with an interesting talk on PR and how to successfully get your story into the public eye.

On the back of last year's sibling rivalry story, Denise and I spoke about the fantastic media coverage Nick and I got from last year's White Rose awards. People remember the Radio York and BBC Look North items - they don't seem to mind that neither of us won the actual award nor do they know who actually did - but they remember our "fights" and the fun we had.

Denise and Carol spoke at length about the importance of having professional photos taken and I didn't like to mention that our Dad took the photo of Nick and I whilst running in and out of reception sorting guests (or maybe they realised that). Our brochure will be redesigned over the next few months so maybe we should call in the professionals.

Carol spoke about all the different social media sources that could be used and I'm happy to say that our Twitter and Facebook pages were used as good examples of how to do it - phew! I've just got to look a bit further into linkedin and pinterest so watch this space!

I've just got to find a way of keeping up with it all now as, in its own way, all social media tools work for us:

Our facebook site is a great way of keeping regular/previous guests in touch with what we are doing and discounts can be offered but we have to find a way of reaching new/potential guests.

Twitter is a fab way of keeping in touch with people that work in our industry and I've met some great people through it that have helped promote the business. We've been able to share ideas of best practise so twitter has been a great learning resource.

We use foursquare to promote attractions that we have in the area - showing our guests that we are a great base to use for getting out and about in the area. We had such fun fighting over mayorships last year and hope to again this summer. Using a #family2follow we can incorporate foursquare into our tweets.

The one thing I'm not sure of is this blog - but you're reading it and hopefully whether you stay here or recommend others to stay here you will realise that we are a friendly site to use, we  are approachable and we enjoy connecting with our guests.

Tile-tastic

If you've been following us on Twitter for the last few weeeks you will know what a nightmare we have had choosing and locating tiles for the shower block.

Have you ever tiled your bathroom? Was it difficult finding something that you liked? Was it then difficult persuading your other half that they liked it too? Imagine finding a tile that you would hope 100s of people would like - one that was in-keeping with existing furniture (cubicle doors, sink units etc) and that you could get in large quantities?

I'm not going into details about the exact tiles we chose as we need to have some secrets from our guests - until the gates open that is - you know that the main ones are white but how daring have we been with the others ;-)

I just have to say a huge thank you to Lee from Tile Town for all his help with supplying the white tiles when so many other companies were unable to help.





It has been a stressful few weeks but as I sit and write up this blog I know the tilers are keeping busy - feeling fairly relaxed about it at the moment but with just 8 days until we open will we get it done in time?