Fallbarrow Owners

In response to:First weekend for a while

Mon, 08 Jun 2009 16:14:30 +0200

Hi Kevin,
An owner went to the sales office for a new van, the one she has, 5yrs old, she would like something a bit bigger & a bit longer, we can do that says the sales staff, that will cost you £180,000. but she says I have paid the premium for the site, all I want is a replacement van, thats the cost to replace you van.
Is inflation going mad in Bowness I wonder.

In response to:End of the season (Part 2)

Tue, 06 Jan 2009 21:23:25 +0100

The statement was made by the staff at Fallbarrow when I called in on New Years Day. At that time they were over run with calls from caravan owners but no problems with lodges. It would seem since then that the weather has got even colder and now even the lodges are freezing up (as they have been at Limefitt).

When the season was extended by SLP I believe the supply pipes were lagged and insulated on all units on FB but that does not seem to have prevented the current freezing and loss of supply. This is something that we must take up with SLP.

Regards
FB

In response to:End of the season (Part 2)

Tue, 06 Jan 2009 16:42:27 +0100

Hi Kevin, I found one of your points interesting - how are the lodges "immune" from freezing. We are currently enjoying the last remaining days as the season comes to a close and today we had no water into our lodge due to the main supply water pipe being frozen, we're okay now but expect the same tomorrow morning. Having experienced this in a previous season we are well prepared but would appreciate if you could shed more light on your statement. Thanks - Susan

In response to:Review so far

Tue, 23 Dec 2008 22:01:44 +0100

Christmas Greetings to you and yours all the way from New Zealand.

In response to:Why did White Ocean Leisure buy SLP?

Fri, 28 Nov 2008 22:47:10 +0100

más bién un pato

In response to:Why did White Ocean Leisure buy SLP?

Wed, 19 Nov 2008 20:27:00 +0100

Excelente, Muy bien, todo bien, S I G U E M E...!!!, y ve como nace el POLLITO..!, http://promotorapublicitaria.es.tl

In response to:Actvity on the forum

Sun, 05 Oct 2008 12:00:56 +0200

Keep up the good work Kevin, we do appreciate your blog.
Do you know what has happened with the court case?

In response to:It has been a while

Fri, 11 Jul 2008 19:28:18 +0200

Hi Malcolm and Sue

Welcome to lodge life at Fallbarrow. I will e-mail you directly with some info on the fees "debate" and the barn

You may want to check out the SLP Forum

http://southlakelandowners.freeforums.org/index.php

Many things SLP related are discussed there

Regards
KW

In response to:It has been a while

Fri, 11 Jul 2008 18:11:13 +0200

After 20 years of paying out for Hotels and Cottages my wife and I decided on a large livaboard on Winderemere.. until that is we came across a pitch at Fallbarrow and without even speaking to each other we had decided a Lodge was the answer.. that was nine months ago and we feel it is one of the best purchases ever.. but.. the fees are very high.
With the advent of the new Cafe recently opened.. i'm wondering what is in store for us all.. because it hasn't exactly set Bowness alight and trade appears to be slow and someone is going to have to pay for the re-furb.. perhaps KW can shed some light ??

Came across this blog by accident using Google.. I like it.. thanks Malcolm & Sue

In response to:Bank Holiday Weekend

Fri, 02 May 2008 23:37:56 +0200

Hope your trip to the Lakes goes well and the weather stays fine. Just love the place, wish I was going. Enjoy !!!

In response to:One month in

Mon, 28 Apr 2008 13:38:47 +0200

Hi Kevin,

I see the good work is being kept up keeping those SLP prats on their toes! We were up this weekend and I have to say - the place seems flat! There is definitely a sense of impending doom on the site and I think it has lost its spark. I think that some if not all of this comes from the shared feeling that we are being ripped off.

The new caravans whilst looking nice (if not a little exposed in front of the club house) are very expensive and the lodges are just ludicrous! I only wish we'd have bought one at £99k 2 years ago - that would have been a shrewd manaoevre (for the lodges near the entrance - up on the left).

Oh well,. just blowing out a bit of steam as I think the entire place is one huge rip off and SLP seem hell bent on extracting every ounce of monetary gain from the Fallbarrow owners.

Keep up the good work.

Ps. We are going to sell our caravan and buy another boat - the mooring fees and type of boat you can buy for the cost of a lodge is a floating palace and no SLP prats either!! ha ha.

In response to:A rock and a hard place

Sat, 12 Apr 2008 00:41:29 +0200

Excellent reply as always ASH. I must agree with what you say about the UK for holidays. As a good friend of mine says about the Lakes, no such thing as bad weather, just the wrong clothes.

If we don't get away this summer to the "sun", then it will not bother me too much. Would be nice to have some dry weather though, not bothered about the sunshine. I am just fed up my golf ball plugging instead of bouncing lol.

K

In response to:A rock and a hard place

Fri, 11 Apr 2008 22:20:43 +0200

Hi Kevin, with the 'each to his own' philosophy, I appreciate that many many people go abroad for their 'fix'of sun and sea BUT we tried it once - and true Greece was lovely, full of history, fantastic scenery and so on and we had a holiday to remember forever. That was 28 years ago and although the only down side was that we were held up in Athens airport for the return leg for only an hour or so we declared it would probably be our first and last, at least for a very long time. Not least because we then had a family and the money dried up so couldn't afford it. Our holidays before and after that one have been in the UK with the motto - have car will travel - and we have done just that, almost all over this wonderful place called Britain. Okay the weather is predictably unpredictable, but who cares - it also rains in Spain you know, and not only just on the Plain!! - You don't need to spend a lot on holiday here at home and we have such diverse and wonderful scenery of our own that you don't need to go overseas for the wow factor. For those who convince themselves that holidays are better abroad 'Grass is Greener' always comes to mind!! If you think about it, for the joe bloggs' type of average holiday here or abroad it is still usually cheaper here as the cost of a s/c unt(such as ours or caravans) is for the entire family, not per person. There was never any comparison for us as a family between the two - UK always won. For those very lean times yes we did the day trips and had a fabulous time. Give me Woolacombe Bay any day. At Fallbarrow, I had a family with two young teenage girls enquire about our lodge and wanted to book it there and then, when the girls saw it and its position they went wax lyrical because it was just what they wanted. They were fed up with sun, sea and nothing else to do on holidays abroad which proved to us that our children didn't miss out on a thing. I could go on and on and on about the UK that's why we have eventually invested heavily in our own holiday home in the Lakes, just as you have. However I don't have the time now because I am prepping our next trip which starts on the M5 tomorrow morning at 4.30am - might see you up there.

- S

In response to:One month in

Thu, 03 Apr 2008 23:09:44 +0200

Thanks for the feedback Taz.

Much appreciated.

Kevin

In response to:One month in

Thu, 03 Apr 2008 00:21:40 +0200

excellent reading your comments do amuse me. slp employee

In response to:Lake District wonder

Sun, 23 Mar 2008 12:14:04 +0100

Hi, lucky you, being in the Lake Distrct even if it is freezing cold. It's such a beautiful area.
Margaret and Noreen at THY

In response to:Not the same

Mon, 17 Mar 2008 19:57:12 +0100

Hi Fed up at Fallbarrow

Good to hear from you. I have to fully agree with all you have said. Would be good if you could register on the forum and contribute. The more people we get signed up the better.

Kevin

http://southlakelandowners.freeforums.org/index.php

In response to:Not the same

Mon, 17 Mar 2008 17:46:19 +0100

Kevin,

We have a caravan on Fallbarrow - a purchase made when we sold our boat two years ago. The idea was to "try it out" and then buy a lodge. I have to say that for the first year everything went well and we still enjoy the lakes as always - we have many friends in and around Bowness. My BIG frustration is the massive lack of investment in the site and the obvious disregard (some of) the staff have for owners. The park is mostly in darkness and I find this more frustrating than anything - let alone the state of the place at the moent - mud everywhere and the place generally looks like a building site!! - certainly not a 5 star development!!

Secondly - have you seen the new "owner lodges" I believe they are planning to put on? They are not "lodges" they are just wooden caravans yet they want £150k each for them? Again, with SLP it is all about squeezing every ounce of cash/profit out of every inch of every site. Legal and General Ventures must be laughing all the way to the bank - £30m profit for one years investment - I wish my company returned such profits!!

In response to:Not the same

Sat, 15 Mar 2008 15:59:31 +0100

Now there's a coincidence. I just logged on out of interest seeing the name Fallbarrow. One of my oldest friend lives in Fallbarrow Road in Bowness-on-Windermere.

In response to:The new season

Mon, 03 Mar 2008 01:47:17 +0100

Buy them out, or move! That is awful!

In response to:Electrickery

Tue, 26 Feb 2008 22:08:56 +0100

I guess this just adds weight to the argument that they are using caravan power supplies on lodges

Kevin

In response to:Electrickery

Mon, 25 Feb 2008 16:40:39 +0100

We have not had a problem so far, although are in a van. But we have had all things going at once and touch wood nothing has tripped yet!

In response to:The plot thickens

Sun, 17 Feb 2008 10:52:35 +0100

Hi Kelly

Thanks for the post.

Kevin

In response to:Investment philosophy

Sat, 16 Feb 2008 01:04:50 +0100

What an excellent post! Can I suggest that you copy that to the forum? It sums up so well the ambivalent feelings that we all have about loving the parks but being so frustrated about all the unnecessary hassle!

In response to:Investment philosophy

Thu, 14 Feb 2008 21:00:32 +0100

Hello ‘fallbarrow’, haven’t commented on any previous issues, but have certainly read them all with great interest. It’s good to know that we, and our own problems, are not alone!! Agree absolutely with the sense of feeling but our opinion is, for what it is worth, that for individual owners they have you over the proverbial barrel. However, would like to comment on your last input. The death of someone close is always a difficult time, so fully understand the sentiments you write of following your recent loss. The shockwaves always puts ‘things’ into perspective – but only for a while. Yes, ‘time heals’, but soon we move on and hey presto those ‘things’ come back to stress us out again all too soon. We both gave up work a couple of years ago and invested in our Lodge to address the work-life balance, as they call it, so unfortunately we have no choice but to rent it out as it has to pay for its own keep. Whilst appreciating all that’s been written in the blog about the pitfalls of subletting, I am an ex PA so it is natural for me to communicate regularly with the bookings office to update diaries etc. We also visit Head Office occasionally to meet the girls who make the bookings on our behalf so we can relate to each other on the phone and feel we are working as a ‘team’. We don’t always succeed but we do try. Ours is a busy little lodge and thankfully, even though it does cost a fortune in fees, commissions, cleans etc., etc., etc., it all comes out of the rental income – albeit with not much left over at the end of it. However, not all is sweetness and light, there is the odd hiccup, but ‘business’ is full of ups and downs and we expected that. Like ‘windermere’ we have had cancellations that we have not been aware of and our Lodge has been empty during those times when we could have been there ourselves to fill the gap, but we get more upset when our guests are inconvenienced in any way. We had a horrendous time when purchasing the Lodge and the first year was, well, ‘difficult’ trying to get jobs done that were promised, probably with fingers crossed behind backs, (some still outstanding but now lost in the mists of time). The advice given to the new ‘to be’ owner was sound, wish we had pursued written promises rather than the verbal ones that have no back up, hindsight is a wonderful thing but always too late. Since then though, and taking advice of fellow owners around us, we have ‘filed’ the bad bits to the shadows of our minds to concentrate on the Here and Now, enjoying the Lodge, the Park, and the Lake District in all its glory. Waking up to the beauty of Windermere in all its moods makes it all worthwhile, the Lodge is our peaceful haven, and the ‘work/life’ balance, for us, has been achieved. We are not weekenders but take frequent long stays at our Lodge, and now can’t wait to see ‘her’ again in March. Yes, the niggles do come back to haunt at times, such as the constant attitude of “pay your fees by 1st November or you will be charged interest”- when our rental income cheque is always late, and pay your bills within 14 days of receipt when rental income is banked for quite a considerable length of time by SLP, earning them interest on our money before they pay us what we are owed; and not least that the ridiculously high site fees deem to be not high enough to include such things as wintering down and firing back up in the spring (as automatic), mooring fees, internet access, etc., etc. So we hope you continue your fight as it is important to us all, and if we can help just let us know. Maybe we could all meet up sometime, a Summer Picnic on the green at lakeside in Fallbarrow would be nice. I close by adding that ASHTHWAITE hopes everyone will enjoy this coming season – which is now less than three weeks away. We all work hard and this is, in part, our reward, so don’t let them drag you down and spoil it. Life is too short - this is it, it’s not a rehearsal !!

In response to:The plot thickens

Mon, 11 Feb 2008 11:26:28 +0100

Kevin,

I work for Admiral Taverns. They are in financial difficulty. And my feeling is they are closing it down.
Unprofessional lot the lot of them. BEWARE.

In response to:Investment philosophy

Mon, 28 Jan 2008 20:13:14 +0100

Hi Jake the Lake

Good to hear from a new name. Yep you are right, SLP have been taken to court before and lost, and may well be taken to court again.

Whilst it is satisfying to a degree to see SLP whupped in court, it is a sad state of affairs that we have to resort to legal action just to get basic things sorted

Regards

Kevin

In response to:Investment philosophy

Mon, 28 Jan 2008 09:04:36 +0100

"It is just that I am determined not let all the SLP silliness get to me."

I agree with you FB. Rather than arguing the toss with idiots it makes more sense to ignore the minor things (for your own peace of mind) and take them to court when they go too far (for your own self respect).

From what I hear the latter has happened before and may be about to happen again.

In response to:Statistics

Tue, 22 Jan 2008 00:51:36 +0100

Somehow I doubt we will get anybody from SLP commenting on here or the forum. Don't think they will be allowed to by the powers that be

Kevin

In response to:Statistics

Mon, 21 Jan 2008 23:28:23 +0100

Actually he was selectively quoted IN context, and he's very welcome to come and explain why he feels that what I wrote was unfair. I doubt he will as it wasn't! It was actually a clear and reasonably objective analysis of the problems I have had.

If my intention had been just to make him look bad I would have published the entire correspondence instead of the odd sentence.