Best Practice - Case Study: Field house Farms

Case Study: Field House Farm Field House Farm has grown from a simple holiday let as part of the existing farm house, to running a portfolio of four and five-star Gold selfcatering properties.

Best Practice

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Field House Farm Field House Farm has grown from a simple holiday let as part of the existing farm house, to running a portfolio of four and five-star Gold self-catering properties.

Setting the scene Field House Farm offers awardwinning self-catering holiday cottage accommodation near Bridlington on the East Yorkshire coast and luxury self-catering apartments in York city centre. Growing from a simple holiday let as part of the existing farm house, to running a portfolio of four and five-star Gold self-catering properties, Field House Farm now employs 7 members of staff on a full-time, part-time and seasonal basis and has weathered the storm of the recession with mixed fortunes.

Still a working farm with the family living on site, as a tourism business, Field House Farm utilises its unique rural setting on the edge of a coastal resort to stand out from the crowd. It successfully combines the appeal of countryside living with high-end accommodation and has won much favour in the local community by converting once dilapidated buildings into a top quality product for the area.

Building on this successful formula, the business has more recently expanded into York city centre in search of high-spend

visitors with its luxury selfcatering apartments.

Faced with on-going challenges associated with meeting visitor expectations, growing and maintaining its luxury offer and ensuring guests make the most of their stay in Yorkshire, and importantly choose to return, Field House Farm continues to listen to the needs of its customers, taking advice, learning from others and identifying optimum areas for expansion, in order to stay ahead of the curve.

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Case Study: Field House Farm

Approach CONTINUING TO ADAPT AND GROW A family home for five generations, Field House Farm opted to diversify its business and looked to tap into the area’s existing thriving tourism industry by running guest accommodation alongside its farm operations. Its first encounter with visitors was 30 years ago when owners, John and Angela let part of their house to paying guests. Twelve years ago the couple took the decision to sell their cattle and convert the Victorian building which originally housed the cows into six self-catering holiday cottages targeting the family market. Award-winning at the time, these properties are now tired and are currently each under-going a major refurbishment in order to meet growing customer expectations.

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Continually looking to build on its success and expand, in 2010, Field House Farm converted more of its dilapidated outlying buildings into five award-wining, self-catering cottages. In the same year and more recently in 2013, the business invested in two five-star Gold, luxury apartments in an old brewery conversion in York city centre.

STANDING OUT FROM THE CROWD Providing accommodation on farms was not a new idea in the region and after seeking advice and guidance from local and regional tourism organisations and letting agencies, Field House Farm decided to aim its offer at the top-end of the market, enabling it to stand out amongst its competitors and forge a long-term sustainable business.

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Making the most of its favourable location on the edge of a coastal resort, between the North and South Bays of Birdlington’s safe, sandy beaches, its existing buildings and regional grants that were available due to the deprived status of the area, Field House Farm set about converting its buildings into self-catering properties. From the outset, entering and winning awards became part of the marketing mix for the business enabling it to raise its profile and reassure visitors of its quality status.

“Our location is critical, if we were 10 miles further inland, I don’t think it would have worked.”

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MAKING THE MOST OF ITS SURROUNDINGS Situated on a working farm, the tourism business successfully showcases its rural surroundings helping to differentiate itself and enrich its visitor experience. Guests can spot wildlife in the farm’s fields and pond and there are several walks across the site to explore. Children can enjoy meeting the farm animals, collecting eggs in the morning and see the tractors and combine harvesters in action. Through its website and other literature, Field House Farm brings to life its unique offer and setting to encourage visitors to book.

“We’re glad to share our part of the countryside with you and hope you’ll enjoy your experience of East Yorkshire: full of colour, character and those timeless rhythms of country life.”

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Case Study: Field House Farm

LISTENING TO AND RESPONDING TO GUESTS Living on site enables the family to welcome their guests, providing any help they might need, pointing them to relevant attractions and dealing with problems as and when they occur. It also means that they get to understand their visitor’s requirements and can respond by adapting or developing their offer accordingly. As a result each cottage is individually designed, thoughtfully planned, furnished and fitted with the utmost care.

RECOGNISING AND PROVIDING FOR CUSTOMER NEEDS The ability to respond to or even predict changing visitor needs is crucial for business and as an example Field House Farm has successfully welcomed business travellers and individuals visiting relatives who often travel alone. Individual travellers choose the smaller cottages and enjoy the reassurance of the owners living on site, a quiet, private and safe location, ample parking close to the cottages, good outside lighting, free Wi-Fi and proximity to local amenities and attractions.

In response to enquiries from international visitors and recognising that Northern European visitors are attracted to the area due to its close proximity to the ferry port in Hull just 30 miles away, Field House Farm provides information on its website in French, Dutch and German.

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“We try to think of everything to make our visitors feel at home and always endeavour to respond to our guest’s very helpful suggestions.”

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By adding more properties to its portfolio, Field House Farm’s gross income has grown year-on-year

• Looking at its return on investment, Field House Farm estimates a return on capital in the order of 10-12% • Revenue to the original Field House Farm properties has been falling over the last 4 years as the recession has hit families hard.

• The newer properties in comparison have achieved increased revenue as they build repeat business • A decline in overall visitors has been compensated by maintaining the higher end market and offering more flexible short breaks • Staff morale is kept high with a varied role and recognition via the awards and accolades • Community wide benefits - the staff are local, the business employs local tradesmen and a farm contractor and the community appreciates that the old buildings are being restored

CONGRATULATIONS!!

Multi award-wining self-catering holiday accommodation 6

Case Study: Field House Farm

Challenges and lessons learnt

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MEETING THE EXPECTATIONS OF ITS VISITORS The main challenge faced by Field House Farm has been that visitor expectations and demands are ever increasing and that it must respond accordingly, or better still, anticipate what these will be and rise to that level in advance. To help achieve this, Field House Farm networks and stays in touch with developments within the tourism industry. A member of Premier Cottages, a membership cooperative, Field House Farm is constantly learning and taking advice from a wide range of organisations nationally to improve and develop its offer.

Benchmarking themselves against other operators through inter-business comparisons provided by Premier Cottages UK and by Premier Cottages Yorkshire, which is more relevant to the northern environment, gives a good indication of their own success. Checking websites also provides an opportunity to learn from others, picking up pointers that are directly relevant or can be adapted to their business.

“You can’t rest on your laurels, there is no standing still, you are either going forwards or you will slip backwards.”

DON’T BE AFRAID TO DEMAND THE BEST By its own admission some of Field House Farm’s oldest properties are not how they would now wish them to be. In hindsight, if they were to approach the development again, the business would have invested more money or even considered using other buildings that were perhaps more fit for purpose. In response, Field House Farm has carefully planned its other expansions both on its original site and into York, identifying locations and properties which better suit its luxury, high-end market.

“If you can operate in a gold plated area with a gold plated property then you’ll be OK.” YOU CANNOT CONTROL EVERYTHING The quality of the facilities such as restaurants and pubs in the surrounding area is particularly important for attracting the high-end market and is something that is out of Field House Farm’s control. To combat this, the business tries to direct its guests very specifically to those it thinks will meet their needs and expectations. Field House Farm looks to promote what’s on offer in the surrounding area by publishing substantial information on its website including Live like a Local, Adventurous Activities, Castles, Houses and Gardens and Top 10 Budget Eating Places. It even encourages guests to return again and again by promoting lesser known activities in the area.

“We’re very lucky to get a lot of returning visitors. One couple has been twenty six times!”

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Case Study: Field House Farm

Top tips

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Secure the best location possible.

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Create the best possible product.

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Develop the best possible website then consider approaching a consortium such as Premier Cottages.

Do not be afraid to charge high rates - you can pitch your offer too low and give the wrong message about your product. Guests will often translate a high price as meaning quality.

Try to give a personal service without being too invasive guests like to meet the owners and to know that any problem they have will be dealt with positively.

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FOR MORE INFORMATION ON FIELD HOUSE FARM COTTAGES Website: www.fieldhousefarmcottages.co.uk

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