Inside Holiday Letting Podcast: Episode 4

Choosing the location of your holiday let is one of the first and most important decisions that you need to make.

Listen to this episode of Inside Holiday Letting to learn how to make this decision, where the best places in the UK to buy a holiday let are, and how you can identify the next up-and-coming holiday let hotspot.

Also get exclusive insight from our panel of holiday let experts on where they would buy a holiday let in the UK right now.

Listen to Episode 4 of the Inside Holiday Letting podcast here:

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Use our Holiday Let Income Calculator to discover which UK regions could earn you the most income from your property.

Podcast Transcript

Presenter

Hello and welcome to Inside Holiday Letting - a podcast series from Sykes Holiday Cottages, exploring the holiday letting industry and giving you the tools to get the most out of your investments.

Today, we're going to look at; location, location, location - where to invest and why. With our industry experts:

Vanessa Warwick - Co-Founder of the Property Tribes forum

Rachel Brennan -Sales and Operations Manager at Sykes Holiday Cottages

Bob Atkinson - Independent Travel Expert

How do you choose where to buy a holiday let?

Presenter

We'll start with Vanessa, where should you buy your holiday let?

Vanessa

Well, you need to think about the area, and what people are doing in the area, what there is attracting people to the area.

Ideally, you want this to be year-round activity - a lot of places are extremely seasonal, so you will a get massive amount of bookings, and even be oversubscribed during the high summer season, but then, for the rest of the year, those seasonal areas can shut down.

You know, the restaurants and the bars and the shops are closed, the museum's shut down, and there's nothing to do. So, you really do want to focus on where there are attractions bringing people into the area, because it's all about footfall.

I'll share a little story with you; we went into a huge furniture showroom in Guildford, and had a look around there, I think we were looking for new sofa. And then, next door, there was a little furniture showroom, and we popped in there and we spoke to the owner and we said, "Crikey, you must feel really in the shadow of that big store next door", and he said, "Far from it", he said, "They do all my marketing for me, because every single person that goes into their showroom, has a look around there, and then pops next door to see me".

So essentially, if you've got all these big attractions in the area, who are all doing their own marketing to bring people into the area, then you're going to piggy back off the back of that as well.

So, that would be my number one thing, is to look for an area of year-round activity within a one to two-hour drive maximum of a large population density. Because then, as we've been saying throughout these podcasts, you can benefit from this growing trend of the long weekender, as I call it, or the staycationer. So yeah; location, attractions, footfall - paramount.

Where are the best places in the UK to buy a holiday let?

Presenter

I suppose, Bob, when you're looking at honeypot locations, and that's just such a wonderful description - where are they?

Bob

Well, there are honeypot locations all over the country, but, some of the real classic ones, that just sell in ridiculous quantities, in terms of people going and wanting to stay there - the demand for going to stay in these places is enormous.

You go down to the West Country, you've got places like Salcombe for instance, places like Dartmouth, some of those places down in Cornwall and Devon which have amazing attractions, fabulous places to eat out, they're picture-perfect in many ways. And they attract huge crowds, because of how wonderful they are, and how much there is to do.

But, they're not just all down there in the South West, there's plenty up north - places like Whitby on that Yorkshire Coast; Scarborough, Filey, those kinds of destinations. Places in the Lake District, you've got places like, obviously, Windermere and places like Ambleside as well.

There are places all over the country that really attract people. And of course, somewhere like the Cotswolds, anywhere around Bourton-on-the-Water, Burford, those kinds of areas; they attract loads of people, they want to go there - it's those kinds of picture-postcard places that they want to go to.

And again, playing back to what Vanessa was saying before, you think about, certainly the destinations there in the Lake District, on the Yorkshire Coast, in the Cotswolds, or places even like in the Peak Districts or North Wales - they're all within one and a half, two hours maximum of either; that massive belt of population that runs across from Liverpool all the way over to Hull, or going down to the Midlands where you've got your big cities of Birmingham, Derby, Nottingham, Leicester, all of those - accessing those really, really easily.

And then, when we get down to, certainly in the South West, they're relying very heavily, not just on places like Bristol and those areas, but they're relying very heavily on people coming down from the West Midlands, and also people going across from London and the South East, going there to stay, where they can get to them easily for those short breaks. But also, when they're taking their longer summer breaks, they're not so bothered about that journey time so much, but they still stay within those areas where those honeypot locations are - they do well.

Up and coming locations to buy a holiday let

Presenter

Are there any places that are up and coming? Because, you've mentioned places like the Cotswolds, the Yorkshire Coast, the Lake District - properties in those areas are going to be at a premium price, aren't they?

So, where are the up and coming ones? In five years time, where are those locations, do you think, that could be a bit cheaper to buy now?

Bob

I'll give you an indication of where people are wanting to go for their breaks, and I think it would be good to get maybe some comment from Vanessa and Rachel here in terms of, well, are people investing in those areas, what are they doing? Because, they give us that spin on it.

But certainly, there's been holiday trends in recent years, where people are wanting to, maybe, get away from some of the much busier places on holiday, and get away from it all and explore some of the amazing countryside there is around the UK, that is a bit less-visited.

So, you take that North East Coast if you like, that Northumbrian Coast - absolutely stunning coastline, amazing beaches, lovely, old castles, plenty of places to eat out, great pubs, fantastic for walking. Destinations like that are massively in-demand for people who want to just go and get away and do something a bit different.

Then, you go up to Scotland. Now, I spent part of last summer up in the northern part of Scotland, around that route that is known as the North Coast 500, which, you feel like you're a million miles away from where I live, in Greater Manchester. And it was really interesting to see, when I was up there, how many people were up there, because they wanted to be away from the crowds of the beaches and the bigger resorts in other parts of the country, or, in some of those really busy countryside areas that you tend to get in, say, the Cotswolds, or the Peak District. They'd gone up there to, if you like, to escape the crowds.

And it was interesting to see that, if you were looking to get accommodation up there, accommodation was in relatively short supply. And I know that was an issue across a lot of the country last year, with people staycationing, but certainly up there, there seemed to be a lot less, if you like, holiday accommodation available.

So, I wonder if a lot of these areas, where people are looking to go somewhere a little bit different, a bit outside of the obvious areas - is there actually much property there available for people to do holiday lets, or, are those areas missing a trick?

Presenter

Rachel, I live in Calderdale, which is right on top of the Pennines. And, you might not think of coming here for a staycation, for a weekend away or anything like that, because it's near the towns of Halifax and it's midway between Leeds and Manchester.

But, over the past couple of years, TV programmes like 'Gentleman Jack' have been filmed here, 'Happy Valley', 'Last Tango in Halifax' - and all of a sudden, we've noticed a big boom in the amount of people coming to visit.

Is it worth keeping a little eye on what could be popular in culture at the moment? Because, that might have a rub off on an area that is not perceived to be a holiday destination, as such.

Rachel

Most definitely. There's many a location out there where there's lots of local development for even; leisure attractions, great foodie areas opening up, access to open spaces, beautiful walks, beaches, even improving transport links as well, and new local festivals and events cropping up.

So, I certainly think there's a huge advantage there to keeping an eye out for those upcoming areas. And a few that spring to mind; we've got some fantastic locations in North Wales, many areas in Scotland there, the Peaks, the Dales, East Anglia being some of them as well.

And, if you are confined by budgets, the most important thing is that you are buying within your budgets, and that you're crunching your numbers, and that you're leaving enough to put that property to a fantastic standard. So, you may want to look just on the outskirts, so it's still easily accessible to get into all of these popular locations, but you will be able to offer a fantastic stay just outside.

Presenter

And Vanessa, you're looking at maybe going for the next holiday let, and you're looking around the country - where do you think is going to be great in a couple of years' time?

Vanessa

I'm actually a fan of the Kent and East Sussex Coast; because of its close proximity to London, and it ticks all of those 10 boxes that I gave out in one of the earlier podcasts. Property prices are reasonable in some of these seaside towns, and looking at up and coming areas is always a very astute way to go.

For instance, Margate; you've recently had the new Turner Gallery opening there, there's a very famous park called Dreamland, which was derelict, but it's had hundreds of thousands of pounds of cash injection to revitalize it, and attract people to the area.

So, it's a case of doing your research, driving around, if you've got the time, and looking at where these opportunities are, where, as we've been saying, there's a lot of footfall, there things to bring people to the area, there's attractions coming into the area - all these kinds of things.

And then, the other way that I look at things, is, if you have got a very, very strong honeypot area, look to one side of that, because prices will be significantly cheaper, but you can still, as Rachel alluded to, you can still attract people in, who want a slightly less expensive option, who can still visit the honeypot area easily.

So, a good example of that would be where I've got another holiday let, which is on the island of Portland, which is attached to the Dorset Coast by a little causeway, next to Weymouth. And, when we were looking for our holiday let there; a four-bed house, and this was a long time ago, a four-bed house with a sea view in Weymouth was about £375,000. But literally, three miles away, in Portland, the exact same house, same size, with a sea view, was £225,000.

So, it was very, very significantly cheaper, and lots of things were going on in Portland to make it increasingly attractive. One of the biggest things that was happening was that it was no longer a naval base, so all of the elements of the navy being there, the negative things, were starting to be removed.

A prime example, there was some huge gas cylinders as you drove onto the island, and they're not the most attractive feature when you're just arriving for your holiday. Those gas cylinders were removed, and that was developed into a marina, where they eventually hosted the 2012 Olympic sailing events.

So, where you can see opportunity for growth, for infrastructure improvements, transport improvements, aiding people to get somewhere quicker - that's a very, very strong indicator as well. Just be ahead of the curve, by the time people are talking about it being a hotspot, and it's in the Telegraph on Sunday as a new holiday let hotspot, it's probably a bit too late. You need to be really ahead of the curve. But, that's how I seek out opportunities.

Bob

Just to add on, as well, to what Vanessa was saying, with that example about Portland; a good example of somewhere, recently, where there has been a huge surge in demand for people to go away on holidays, is the North Wales area.

North Wales, really, for years, was known for quite a number of resorts that were a bit down and dirty, and not that great anymore, with some pretty horrible holiday camps. And, you had to kind of go past all of that to get into Snowdonia, or onto the Isle of Anglesey, or all the way round to the resorts down at the far end.

But, what has happened in recent years, is that local people up there have recognised opportunities where they could start to open up some absolutely fantastic tourist attractions. You think of things like Zip World up there now, where they have these amazing zip rides across the old slate mines, they've even built underground attractions in the slate mines. They've really gone to town at building up some great infrastructure up there for tourists.

And that infrastructure, when people are looking to invest, and they're looking to put that kind of thing into an area, that is when you know that the demand is going to come in from people to come and visit them. And that is where there's opportunities there, I think, for many people to then think, "Should I be looking in that North West area, to maybe find something I could invest in, and use as a holiday cottage?", because the demand is definitely there from people to go and visit. And again, with North Wales being very close to areas like Manchester, Liverpool, and across the North of England, again, very accessible - so, they become year-round.

I've heard people talking about Cumbria, northern Cumbria, where they're looking to build 'the next Eden Project' up there. And that, there's a lot of interest in people, realising that that is also going to drag more people to come and visit, over and above who was already going to the Lake District.

So, I think it's really good for anyone who's thinking of investing, think ahead to what kind of tourist attractions are being built. It's not just the stuff that's already there already, but what is likely to be redeveloped in the coming years to draw people in? And it doesn't have to be your classic coastal or countryside location, it could be small towns, or even some of the cities where you can get a holiday let, where you know tourists will visit things that are being built for them.

What do you need to consider when choosing a location to buy a holiday let?

Presenter

And Rachel, it's going to have a difference, isn't it, where the location is, on all things to do with your business? Your occupancy year-round, what you can charge in rental, the accessibility, the flexibility on the rental length - all of this plays into the location.

Rachel

That's right. All of this is going to be taken into consideration; and location, of course, is a very, very important factor - but it's certainly not the only factor to consider. I know, just from recent weeks, 18% of our customer searches in the last four weeks actually haven't had a location put in there, they're actually coming to us for inspiration.

But of course, your location is going to affect your income on that seasonality. It's going to affect how competitive your pricing needs to be, particularly if you've got a lot of properties in the area. If you're offering very similar features, and if you are outpriced versus the others, then they're going to book the other property. So, it's something that you do need to consider there, certainly. And of course, those all-important features that we've discussed in other podcasts, being able to boost your income on those, to make you stand out, to make your property 'wow'.

So, it's competitive prices; if you have a number of properties offering the same features nearby, you need to ensure that you are not outpricing yourself against those, because that customer is going to go for the property that is slightly cheaper, rather than your more expensive property. And of course, in all the other podcasts, we've discussed on property features to increase on your bookings, just to name a few; those hot tubs, those open fires, the good WiFi, being pet-friendly - all of that is going to increase on your revenue, but also allow you to stand out, to give you that 'wow factor'.

Research the demand before creating your supply

Presenter

And Vanessa, like Rachel's just said there, different people are going to be attracted to different parts of the UK, and that could be from; families, to couples, to dog walkers, for instance, dog owners, all going away together, whatever. It's going to be different each time, isn't it?

Vanessa

It is, and I've really decided to specialise in smaller groups of people, and that's really just my opinion.

I don't have any direct experience otherwise, but just from what I've heard from a few other people, is that if you have just a couple and one child, there tends to be less wear and tear, than if you have a very, very big property with large groups there. Particularly, if people are looking to host parties, as we've touched on, stag or hen nights, those type of scenarios, things can sometimes get a little bit excitable, and there is sometimes damage done, from my understanding.

So, I think you've got to always go back to what the demand is, and who the client is that you're trying to appeal to - that's the starting point. A lot of people create a supply, and hope that there's some form of demand, but a savvy investor will find the demand first, understand that demand, and the niche of that demand that they want to attract, and then create a product that suits that.

So, just think always about who your guest is and what they're looking to do in the area. As a for instance, at our coastal holiday lets, we have a little shed so they can dry wetsuits overnight, and just little things like that. So, you've thought of their journey through the holiday, what they're going to be doing, and you've provided the amenities for them to enjoy themselves.

It's just really thinking about that demand, and how you're going to create a product that appeals to that demand, and even exceeds the expectations of those people and that client group.

Presenter

And Rachel, if you're looking to have a property, maybe to move into when you retire, or get to a certain age and you think, "This is where we want to finish up", and say, it's in the country, you'd be silly buying a property in a city or a town or something like that, if you want to live by the coast.

So again, you've got to think about the location and what you want out of it as well, as an owner.

Rachel

Yeah, of course. There's motivations when you're thinking of purchasing your property, and where you're going to choose that property to be located - and that motivation has to be an important playing factor to that. If it's pure investment, then that is where you can look at those honeypot areas, the ones that's going to give you that best return. But of course, if it's driven by other factors, as in, a property for you to retire to, then that has to be your main factor that you're gearing to, and that you're playing to.

The advantages and disadvantages of buying a holiday let abroad

Presenter

And Bob, as we've talked about in previous podcasts, more people have decided, maybe, they want to have a holiday home abroad somewhere.

So again, what are the advantages and disadvantages of buying abroad, and also, the location factor in that?

Bob

Well, I think the biggest issue with buying overseas is, the fact that, how are you going to get there? And, how often are you going to use it? If you're buying it for investment, then you've got to find a way where you can get holidaymakers into it, and get your money being turned over.

And yes, you can use overseas agents etc, to be able to do that all for you, but you've got to do everything remotely, when you're based here in the UK. And especially over the last year, it's been probably impossible, really, to be able to do that, because of travel restrictions, and who knows how long that kind of thing may go on.

Of course, one of the reasons why people want property overseas; yes, it may be a fantastic financial investment, but of course, often they want it because they want to go away on holiday themselves. And probably, they're going to have bought it somewhere where there is pretty much guaranteed sunshine, if not year-round, pretty much year-round.

So places like your Spain's and Portugal's, places in the Mediterranean, Cyprus, Malta, and then of course, places like the Canary Islands and Florida, have always been a huge attraction to people.

And I know, in recent years, people have been maybe away on a holiday to the likes of somewhere like Turkey, for instance, booked a package holiday, gone and enjoyed it. And while they're there, they've realised that, there are properties for sale here, it's relatively cheap, "Let's buy one! We've got a holiday home in the sun!", and yeah, great, fine, you've now got your holiday home in the sun, but you've still got all your upkeep of it, you've still got to pay all the costs associated with that.

And of course, if anything goes wrong or, you don't want to pay all the charges and everything to have it managed for you, you're a long way away from where that property is. And of course, we're no longer in the EU, as well. So, buying outside of the UK makes it a lot more difficult for people.

Presenter

Are you going to get the same sort of return on your investment, as well? Because, that would be something that a lot of people are going to think, "Okay, well it's cheap now, but actually, am I going to get my money back on this? Or is the price going to get even cheaper, and I'm going to lose out?".

Bob

In terms of how much money you're going to make, this is going to vary wherever you go, anywhere in the world, and wherever you buy. And, it's the same just here in the UK, as well. I guess it all comes down to; what budget have you got available? How are you going to fund the purchase of this property? Are you just buying it for yourself? In which case, it's a long-term investment, and you're not probably as bothered about the income so much, as long as it retains its value and increases over time, in the ways that other investments would do.

But, if you're buying it for a holiday let, then you've maybe got a much bigger market to be able to market to, because you're probably going to pull people from all over the place to go and stay in somewhere, especially in a sunny location.

But, in terms of whether it's going to be a better investment, or a worse investment than investing here in the UK, it really will depend on the sums and the location, the running costs, and that all comes back down to what I think the guys have been saying across the podcasts so far - research, research, research. Understand it all, understand the financials, know what you're getting into, know whether you're doing it for yourself, or whether you're doing this as a mixture of, for yourself and for just income, or whether this is just a straight income earn.

I think once you've done those sums, and you understand the legals and the restrictions around those destinations, that's when it will help you to decide whether overseas is better for you than here in the UK.

Presenter

Vanessa, do you have a property overseas, or not?

Vanessa

I did have. We had an apartment in Cyprus, near Larnaca, and unfortunately it was a failure all round. I just think that the risks of buying abroad, it massively amplifies the existing risks, even buying closer to home; because you're so reliant on third parties that are thousands of miles away, that you may struggle to stay in contact with, for whatever reason.

Yeah, it wasn't a good experience. I definitely felt kind of burned by it, to be honest. But I think, if you're buying it to use yourself, that's a different mindset, as Bob said, and it can be justifiable to do it, if you think you're going to use it a lot. A lot of people spend six months in the UK, during the summer, and then six months overseas in their property in Malta or Cyprus, or wherever it might be. And that's a lifestyle choice, it enriches your lifestyle, it can be very good for your health and your mental wellbeing - that's good.

But again, I think, if it's just a straight investment, the risks are massively amplified. And just to give you an example in my case; we had a penthouse apartment, which we absolutely loved. We loved the area, and it had a swimming pool, and unfortunately other people in the building didn't pay their service charges. So, the pool was no longer maintained, so it turned green and was full of rubbish, and the lifts didn't work, and we actually couldn't let it out as a holiday let.

So, everything sounds so rosy when you're over on holiday and you see a relatively cheap property, and you have a dream that, you could spend a lot of time there. And in reality, I think, unless you do this kind of, six months swap over between the UK and your holiday home abroad, I think, a lot of people actually don't end up using it as much as they think they might.

This goes back right to the first podcast, where we talked about; getting to the airport, having luggage limitations, having children that are fretting, standing in queues, flight delays. When you actually think, "I've got to go through all that to get there", it's quite easy to talk yourself out of it. And, even now, we've got the property in Dorset, which I absolutely love, it's going to be our retirement home, but even just thinking about going down there, it's nearly a three-hour drive for us, it kind of does put me off, and that's a UK property.

I think there is a place for overseas property, but you have to massively research it, you have to have very good feet on the ground supporting you, and you need an extremely competent lawyer, who is versed with the legalities of property ownership in that country.

Presenter

Well, I was going to say that as well, Rachel, because, you look at; the advantages and the disadvantages, the return on the investment, the management of the property, the ease of access, the marketing, how much you're going to use that property yourself, selling it in the future.

But, a lot of people might not even think about the legals, and also the taxation aspect of it if they're buying somewhere abroad, Rachel?

Rachel

Of course, and there's much more sort of readily information available for the properties that are based in the UK. It's easier to understand, you've got agencies like ourselves that understand it a lot more, that can give you helps hints and tips, guidance on all of that.

Whereas, as Vanessa's just said, if you don't have firm feet on the ground overseas, that's very tricky and very hard to understand, a lot of it is even just the translation of it over. I think you've hit on a really important point there about that the management of the property.

Not even the management of the ongoing property, but physically the setup, actually doing that property up; getting those photographs, taking the description, getting that advertised with an agency, making sure you've got all of the relevant health and safety documents in there. All of that is extremely difficult if you are not a couple of hours away, or you haven't got somebody, who is nearby, helping and supporting you with all of that.

So, it's something that I think people need to take into serious consideration when choosing to purchase in the UK versus purchasing abroad.

Bob

Yeah, I was just gonna add here, another thing to remember with buying overseas, as just a cautionary thing.

We had family property in Spain for many, many years on the Costa Blanca. And, I know when my parents originally bought that property, there was very little development in that area. And this was wonderful, a lovely little villa, "Isn't it amazing?", but over the years, that particular coast, as have many areas across the tourist destinations of Europe, became absolutely overrun with developments.

So, you go from an area, potentially, where you maybe go and invest in, you buy somewhere in, you use it yourself, you're renting it out. But of course, over the years, you find the sheer volume of competition of other properties available in that area just goes through the roof. Not only does the competition in terms of the volume go through the roof, of course, the standard of the fixtures and fittings change over the years as well. So, you've got to upgrade your property you've maybe had there for longer.

When you compare that to, maybe, say like, the UK, of course we have development here in the UK, but development, certainly in a lot of the big tourist areas, tends to be very heavily controlled. It isn't development for development's sake, which I think is something that has been quite guilty of in other parts of the world.

And so, what we saw in Spain was, we got to the point where, we felt we've either got to spend a lot of money on this to be able to keep up, if you like, to make sure we still keep getting bookings, or we need to, basically, sell.

And, we sold around the time of the crash back in 2008. Interestingly, you can go back and buy that property now, or one's very similar to it in that area, for not much more than what we we sold for, all the way back then. Because there's just too much property there, it's in such oversupply that, from an investment point of view, you've maybe not made the money that you, maybe, thought you would do.

So again, it all comes back to research, understanding and knowing that market. I'm sure, here in the UK, if you bought a property back in 2008, in any of the areas we know people go away on holiday to, I'm sure that property would definitely have increased in value during that time.

Where would you buy a holiday home?

Presenter

And just to finish off; if you had the golden wand, where would you go and get your next holiday property? Where is the place that you've always wanted, head or heart, that you've always wanted to be in - Bob?

Bob

Well, I think, if it was somewhere that was just for me, and it was for me just to go and escape the world, and, this is where I'm going to stay, and I'll just let my friends and some family stay there, and I'm not doing this to make money, I would go up to that North West of Scotland. Because you feel remote, you're away from everywhere, amazing, beautiful walks and scenery. And on a lovely, summer's day, you've got beaches that will rival the Caribbean in their look and feel, it's just the palm trees which are missing.

But I think, if I was going to do this as a business, and I live in the South Manchester area, I would certainly be looking at somewhere like North Wales, or somewhere like the Peak District, purely because of the ease of access for me to be able to run and manage that, if I wanted to do so. I know I could get loads of bookings year-round, and I know they are areas that are in great demand, and I can manage it easily. So I think that's what I'd do.

Rachel

In terms of the customer demand, we've touched on them throughout; Cornwall, Devon, the Lake District, East Anglia, Northumberland, Scotland. They certainly are, as I said, the top and most popular destinations at the moment.

Personally, one of my favorite places, as Bob said, he was talking about Dartmouth, Salcombe - they're some of my favorite parts of the UK. But likewise, being based in Chester, I would go North Wales. There's some fantastic spots close, so; Anglesey, the Snowdonia National Park, Conwy, Abersoch - there's just some wonderful places there.

And so much development going into those areas, and house prices are relatively cheap there, in comparison to others. So, I'd probably be able to get a larger property for my buck over there, than I would somewhere else. So, I would second that and go North Wales.

Vanessa I'm afraid I can't choose just one. I'm always looking, my eyes are always open and I'm looking at properties and locations, and I just love doing that. I'm a certified property-a-holic.

I absolutely love Marazion in Cornwall, because I love Saint Michael's Mount, I think it's one of the most beautiful views in the world. So, I would love to have somewhere there, but obviously, prices are toppy there. I absolutely love the Northumberland Coast, so maybe Craster, or Lindisfarne, or around there.

We're so fortunate, in the UK, to have these just incredible seascapes and landscapes and historic buildings and history. And, you can go back in time hundreds of thousands of years, you've got these gorgeous coastal walks, which are a big attraction to guests, as well.

And probably finally, if it was my heart, and it was somewhere that I'd want to spend a lot of time myself; my husband and I are massive fans of the Scottish Coast. Probably, the Outer Hebrides would be a wonderful place to have somewhere, just because of, as we've said, some of the beaches are like the Caribbean without palm trees, and the scenery is very rugged. And I actually also love the Orkney Islands as well, I've been up there in the motor home.

So actually, we're spoiled for choice, and we're just so blessed to have such wonderful landscapes and seascapes and things to do and places to see and adventures to be had. So, yes, go fill your boots.

Presenter

It's all there to explore. Thank you very much for joining us, on this episode of the podcast from me, John Foster, and from our guests, thanks for listening.