We talk to Glenn & Hannah Jones, owners of Pearl Lake Country Park commenting on their quarter century at the award winning Herefordshire park.

 

Q: Glenn & Hannah It’s the summer of 98’ – explain how and why you took the plunge and in-vested in Pearl Lake?

Glenn: So, during my early 30’s I’d branched out from the family business and was trawling the country from Cornwall to Cumbria looking for a suitable place of my own. Dad, who taught me most of what I know about caravan parks, had tipped me off that an absolute dream opportunity had come on the market locally. An 83 acre site, set in a stunning location, consisting of 20 acres of ancient woodland and the largest glacial lake in Herefordshire, was for sale right on my doorstep at Shobdon!
What was there not to like?

Hannah: I was involved with Pearl Lake pretty much from its conception as I’d just started going out with Glenn and happened to be working with accountancy and administration locally. My skills contributed to the initial business plan. From my memory our courtship was a whirl of facts and figures and quite soon I became totally committed to the future development of Pearl Lake and of course our relationship which went hand in hand.

Glenn and Hannah Jones at the park’s silver anniversary celebrations

Q: Draw a comparison with the holiday home industry then at the turn of the millennium up to the present day?

Glenn
Fundamentally the industry hasn’t really changed much since my parents, Alwyn and Olive, opened their first park in Mid-Wales at  ‘The Smithy’, Abermule  back in 1968. The customer base remains more or less the same, successful people from the Midlands, the Wirral and the South Wales area who are looking for affordable holiday homes in the nearby countryside.

Hannah
What has changed is customer expectation! The days when holiday home owners were content with a 2/3 bed static caravan with pull down beds and gas mantels are long gone. People want large and luxurious holiday homes these days, that are set in magnificent surroundings with on site entertainment and state of the art leisure facilities to hand. At Discover Parks and Pearl Lake in particular we feel all those desires are catered for.

 

Q: What are the biggest challenges you’ve faced throughout the development of Pearl Lake? 

 

Glenn
Without doubt Covid was the biggest challenge we’ve ever faced, a real crisis that altered on an hourly basis testing us to the limit at times. Testament to our team who helped us keep home owners, self catering and touring customers well informed and secure in the knowledge they could visit again as soon as it was safe to do so. Joining up to Vistage, a regional business owners group that support and coach its members, has certainly helped us get through many challenges both with our customers and our staff. The creation of our company values were as a direct result of their guidance and it’s enabled us to continue building on the Discover Parks success.

Pearl Lake looks a picture during the recent winter frosts

Q: How involved are your family/children in long term decision making?

Glenn
Family are at the heart of everything and our children, Cerys and Rhodri, are often involved in decision making and on park activities and our business plans are usually based around being ‘home for tea’ every night. As they’ve grown up one of us has always been there on hand to ferry them around to after school activities hence our sister parks acquired after Pearl Lake are all within 20 minutes of home. The latest development on our Rockbridge Park at Presteigne is a typical example of family involvement. We’ve recently been planning the landscaping around the new holiday homes which involved us all walking around the site together on a Sunday afternoon with sketch books and iPads to map out design ideas before going home to watch the rugby.  

Hannah
The children are probably more involved than they want to be! They can’t escape the ‘how has your day been’ chat around the dinner table, although they seem to enjoy it and often contribute, bringing a different perspective. Working so closely as husband and wife is sometimes difficult and challenging but usually rewarding. Personality profiles reveal Glenn and I as opposites who complement each other. Glenn, highly energetic and creative, and always ready to make quick, gut decisions while I tend to be more practical and comprehensive so can often act as a calming influence – we dovetail together very well.

 

Q: What is a typical working day for you both?

Glenn
I’m always up and away by 7am and after a swift breakfast usually head straight for Pearl Lake to meet up with the maintenance team, marketing & sales staff and anyone that needs to see me while Hannah goes to head office at our nearby Arrow Bank park to deal with finance and HR matters. We all meet again at tea time around 6-ish and recap, discuss the day and make any business decisions that are necessary before we either relax and watch some television at home or go out to meetings and social events. I attend choir twice a week which is great relaxation and we often venture out to meet up with friends for a drink or a meal.

Holiday home owners past and present join in the Silver Celebrations at Pearl Lake Park

Q: What do you like to do on a rare day off?

Glenn
There’s nothing better than a day out looking at other parks and the competition or going out to eat. A Sunday roast at one of our favourite pubs on the border in Knighton followed by some sport on the television maybe? We both love the theatre and are big supporters of the Courtyard in Hereford where we often meet up with family. Real time off on a holiday away involves at least a week usually in Devon or abroad when I allow myself to look at emails just once a day to make sure there isn’t a crisis on any of the parks.

Hannah
A perfect day off for me is relaxing with a good book, meeting family and friends, cooking a Sunday roast at home, or having a meal out at one of the fantastic restaurants and pubs we are lucky enough to have locally. Last year we had a long family holiday (2 ½ weeks) which I loved – its hard to get Glenn away for that long, however the team managed perfectly well and so I hope we can do this more often.

 

Glenn, Hannah and Cllr Roger Phillips cut the celebration cake

Q: What have been the highlights of the two and a half decades at Pearl Lake?

Glenn
In the very early days it would have been manning the fort single handedly, camping out with just a mattress and sleeping bag in the make shift reception. Getting married in January 2000 and Hannah leaving her accountancy job in Ledbury to work full time with me at Pearl Lake. The journey of improving the park and building the team, working with nature and people keeping that fine balance as we extended and put in things like the adventure playground and the nature hide in the woods. Moving and extending the golf course, managing the woodland and winning a succession of David Bellamy Awards for our work with wildlife. Working together and bringing up our family in such a beautiful County is a special thing to do, I never forget how blessed we are.

Hannah
How could I forget, water running down our necks on our 1st wedding anniversary as we hammered in pegs to mark out proposed plots overlooking the lake! Seeing the outcome of that day 25yrs on – the stunning new holiday lodge development at Pearl Lake – still fills me with pride. I love walking around the parks looking at the gardens, the wildlife, the open spaces we have preserved – how the park looks and feels is very important to me. Growing the team is fantastically rewarding too. At first Glenn and I did everything  from manning reception to unblocking drains, from creating the initial website, to drafting our first Health and Safety policy, from meeting and greeting guests to selling holiday homes to our lovely owners. Now we have friendly and experienced teams doing all of this and more.

 

Q: What of your future at Pearl Lake, will there be another 25yrs?

Glenn
To have gone from a two-person team, to a semi-corporate company with nearly 40 employees working across 3 parks is without doubt a fantastic achievement. Credit must go to my parents Olive and Alwyn who have given us invaluable advice and huge support throughout the journey, particularly in the early years. The location remains the same, stunningly beautiful and the 10,000 year old lake will continue to survive with or without us. We certainly don’t have any plans to pack up and retire but when we do,  hopefully our team and possibly our children will carry on in the same vein.

Hannah
We still have lots of plans for improvements across our 3 parks including a new reception building and touring area at Pearl Lake. Our ethos is continual improvement and investment so things such as adding new equipment in the childrens’ play area, putting in new leisure facilities and updating our self-catering homes will continue to happen alongside maintaining our high standards around the park. In 25 years’ time I would love to walk around and still see the open, green spaces, the trees and wildlife habitats that make Pearl Lake so special. Attention to detail is paramount and we know that our team manage perfectly well without us being hands on.