In 2009, David Howle and his family purchased a derelict barn and its outbuildings on the edge of the Forest of Dean, later deciding to convert the former cider house and stables into a holiday let.
Since then, they have reaped the rewards of a growth in tourism and UK staycations. We spoke to David about the conversion of his property into the successful holiday let that it is today.
How did you first get into holiday letting?
Back in 2009, my wife and I bought a derelict barn in a beautiful valley which had an old barn, stabling and an old cider house. The previous owners had converted the stabling and cider house to make it into living accommodation which is where we lived while we converted the old barn for ourselves.
The views felt like we were on holiday and we knew others would appreciate them too, so once the barn was finished and we moved in, we decided to turn the cider house and stabling into a holiday let; and we haven’t looked back since.
How much did you spend converting your property into a holiday let?
Sutton Barn took about a month to refurbish. We decorated and installed a new bathroom and kitchen, doing a lot of the work ourselves to keep costs low. In total, we spent about £2,500.
I couldn't have done the work on any of the properties without the support of my wife. She always offered encouragement and often donned a boiler suit and painted walls, stained window frames and even spent three days scrubbing old quarry tiles!
Have your holiday lets been a good investment for you?
"Yes, together with the barn we live in, the estate has been valued at £750,000. We bought it back in 2009 for half that, spending in total £140,000 across all buildings.
Sutton Barn is booked solidly from February half term to October half term with many weekends throughout Christmas and New Year booked up. We make a good profit from our holiday lets as we keep running costs low by doing so much ourselves, for example my wife does the changeovers. The income we receive from Sutton Barn pays our mortgage, we wouldn’t be able to live where we do if we didn’t have the additional income.
In June 2017 we bought our second holiday let, also a holiday home for ourselves; Old Smithy Cottage. We bought it on the back of the success of Sutton Barn because it had gone so well. Old Smithy Cottage required substantial work to get it to standard including a new heating system, new kitchen, new bathroom and re-decorating. We spent about £15,000 in total and as a result have increased the value of the property substantially."
What do you enjoy most about holiday letting?
"It’s really enjoyable meeting lots of new people. They’re on holiday so they’re always in a good mood and I like to spend a bit of time telling them about the local area and any information they need. It’s nice to see people appreciate where we live. A lot of them come from towns and cities with no access to countryside so they always enjoy the dark skies we have here where you can see the stars.
We also really enjoy meeting people’s pets, about 60% of guests that visit have a dog and it's good company for Inca, our 12 year old retriever. Quite often people sitting in the garden with a glass of wine will invite me to join them which is lovely."
Do you have plans for more holiday lets in the future?
There is an old smithy behind Old Smithy Cottage that we own along with the cottage and we’d like to turn it into a one bedroom holiday let for two people. There are no immediate plans to do that yet though.
What advice would you give to other holiday let owners?
It is all a learning curve and you will hone your skills over time. Always listen to your feedback - it tells you a lot and it will help you improve. Someone once mentioned that they would have liked a radio in the kitchen so we bought one for him.
You need to have an open mind and a positive attitude. I’d also say that you need to keep your property in tip top condition. You can’t allow anything to slip because people expect at least what they’re getting at home. You have to up-spec all the time.
We chose to holiday let with an agency as my wife and I are very busy - we both have full time jobs so we don’t really have the time. We also don’t have any marketing expertise and we wouldn’t want to spend the money on creating a website etc.
We’d holidayed with Sykes in the past so we had previous experience of them and got in touch. The property consultant that came out to see us was so knowledgeable and gave us such good advice that we decided to go with them straight away.
They instilled a lot of confidence in us and I now wouldn’t use anybody else. They maximise our bookings and I wouldn’t have a bad word to say about them. 100% service, excellent communication, payments always on time.
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Jack Price, Holiday Let Content Writer
