Former firefighter sets her sights on growing motorhome venture

Harrogate Motorhomes is set to acquire its third vehicle in a year and turn over around £55,000 for the year to June.

The firm was set up by Annette Wingate, who had a long-standing interest in touring Britain and Europe.

She was considering buying a motorhome and wanted to find a way to use the vehicle when she was not away on trips.

“I thought I’d do a bit of research to see if there would be a lot of competition. The more I investigated, the more there seemed to be a gap in the market – so I decided to see if I could fill it.

“I just thought about what I would want from a touring holiday when I made a booking and went from there.”

Mrs Wingate, 42, was in the fire service for nine years but now she hopes to grow her new business to a turnover of £500,000 within three years.

She moved into new premises, near Wetherby, earlier this year and is looking out for motorhome owners willing to considering hiring their vehicles to help meet demand.

“It’s amazing how many people have an expensive motorhome sitting on the drive for most of the year,” she said. “Why not offer them the opportunity to earn an extra income from their vehicle?

“But my long-term aim is to have a whole fleet of motorhomes coming in and going out all the time, providing jobs for sales staff, an admin team and a maintenance crew – maybe even motorhome sales.

Britain has seen an increase in the number of people opting for “staycations” since before the start of the credit crunch.

One study of 700,000 holidays taken over the 2006-10 period, showed that, after Hull (173 per cent), the biggest growth in the UK holiday market has come from people in Leeds (up 132 per cent), Wakefield (up 124 per cent) and York (up almost 120 per cent).

Mrs Wingate said she had seen growth driven by the extra services she provides, such as having no limits on mileage, providing mountain bikes on request, and a pick-up and drop-off service.