Willerby invites Londoners to escape the capital and embrace holiday home life

With the tagline “Escape London, own your holidays”, the event promoted the opportunity for Londoners to secure their own holiday home away in a beautiful location away from the hustle and bustle of the city.

Willerby took two of its most popular homes – a 40ft x 20ft, two-bedroom Mapleton and a 38ft x 12 ft, two-bedroom Gainsborough – to a high-footfall site at Southbank Centre Square, on the south side of the Thames, for three days.

The location was chosen because it is passed by huge numbers of people walking to and from Waterloo Station into central London via Hungerford Bridge and the Golden Jubilee Bridge.

Visitors were able to look around the models and speak to the Willerby and Park Holidays UK teams.

Peter Munk, chief executive of Hull-based Willerby, said: “Staycations and holiday home ownership have been incredibly popular for many years, but there’s still relatively low ownership in London.

“People in London enjoy easy access to beautiful areas along the south coast, as well as to so many stunning holiday parks in the south of England. These locations are often no more than a two-hour drive from London.

“Despite this, there’s still a lack of awareness of these fantastic parks and also of the quality of contemporary holiday homes.

“That’s why we wanted to come to London to meet people living and working in the capital and give them the chance to see what they’re missing out on.”

The event was the first time Willerby has taken its models to London.

Peter, who also carried out a series of interviews with London-based journalists during the showcase, added: “Many of the members of the public we spoke to still thought of holiday homes as not being of a particularly high quality, so they were blown away to see how we’ve taken them to a completely different level. Our models really have that ‘wow’ factor.

“We talked to a lot of people about the space and security the holiday homes lifestyle offers, which is something so many Londoners crave. People live very busy lives, especially in London, and we can offer them an escape from all of that, which is really important for mental health and wellbeing.

“Holiday home ownership also offers an opportunity to spend quality time with family. We often see three generations – grandparents, parents and children – holidaying together.

“Hopefully, we’ve opened a few eyes in London to the many benefits of being able to escape to your own stunning holiday home at a beautiful park not far from where you live.”

Park Holidays UK has invested significantly over recent years in its 57 UK parks, many of which are located in coastal and countryside areas across the South and South East.

Rachel Conaghan, head of holiday home sales marketing at Park Holidays UK, said: “It was great to team up with Willerby to promote holiday home ownership to Londoners and dispel some of the myths that still exist.

“The partnership worked very well in showcasing the quality of accommodation, location and experience a park holiday offers.

“Visitors to the event were amazed by Willerby’s state-of-the-art holiday homes, which are a world away from the preconceptions many of them had.