Entrepreneurial family invests 6-figure sum in new Lancashire holiday park

A family consortium has created a new holiday park of timber clad lodges in Old Langho, Lancashire with the support of a six-figure loan from Lloyds Bank Commercial Banking.

The Ribble Valley View park was developed by siblings Philip Simpson, Robert Simpson and Helen Sharples, and their cousin Ian Simpson, who now collectively run the site just off the Old Langho Road.

Planning permission was granted for 19 lodges on the site in December 2010 and the team approached Lloyds Bank Commercial Banking for the loan to begin the ground works and build the first six holiday homes.

The project was also supported by the Rural Development Programme for England, for which the Department for Environment Food & Rural Affairs (Defra) is the Managing Authority, part financed by the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development.

They have already sold 14 of the bespoke lodges, which are supplied with fixtures, fittings and furniture that are selected by the customer before the sale. All of the lodges also have private parking spaces and raised timber decks.

Philip Simpson said: “Old Langho is a beautiful spot and the surrounding market towns and countryside are popular with holidaymakers. We’ve run a beef and dairy farm in this area for many years, but we had been looking for opportunities to start a new business venture together for some time.

“After discussion, we felt that the area needed a top class lodge park rather than another caravan site, and the land that we already owned was ideally located just off the Old Langho Road, a few minutes’ drive from the A59.

“Our relationship manager at Lloyds Bank had complete confidence in our plans from the word go, which was key to getting work started, and we were delighted to prove his faith was well founded with the quick sale of most of the lodges.”

David Elliott, relationship manager for Lloyds Bank Commercial Banking, said: “Ribble Valley View is an attractive park that has been sensitively developed to fit in with the surrounding countryside.

“The fact that it had proved a commercial success in such a short space of time demonstrates the thorough planning carried out by the team and their understanding of the sector.

“It is important that businesses have access to the support and guidance they need to take advantage of growth opportunities, and to support this we have doubled the lending discretion of our locally based senior managers to £1 million.”