Join Us Behind the Scenes in Harrogate

The smell of freshly baked bread greets you as you step inside one of our holiday homes at the Great Yorkshire Showground.

In the living room, cushions have been plumped and a bouquet of flowers takes pride of place on the coffee table. In the kitchen, the table is set and the bottle of wine is ready to be poured.

It is all of these small details which perfectly encapsulate what makes the Great Caravan, Motorhome &Holiday Home Show in Harrogate our biggest commitment of the year.

While the show itself may last for just a few days, it is the culmination of months of planning. Within weeks of the 2023 show drawing to a close, our teams were hard at work preparing for this year’s showpiece.

Bigger and better than ever before

Last year was the debut year for the Great Caravan, Motorhome & Holiday Home Show at Harrogate’s flagship Great Yorkshire Showground.

In 2024, the show returned with a renewed buzz and expectation. Excitement for the show was reflected in ticket sales. Around 23,000 people attended the three public days - a significant increase on last year.

We loved our exhibition space last year. So much so, we decided to keep it again for 2024! We took a lot of learnings from last year’s event – we knew what worked well, what we wanted to build on, and we listened carefully to feedback from both our own team and showgoers.

Once we’d committed to our space, it was time to move on to the next big question … which homes were we bringing?

New models and familiar faces

For 2024, we unveiled three new models at the Harrogate show.

The Rio, the Rio Compact and the Malton Elite were seen for the very first time by showgoers and formed part of a display of 21 holiday homes, lodges and park homes, giving us a standout presence at the industry’s biggest event.

The show is the number one opportunity for us to showcase our range and, within that, the variety of sizes, room layouts, styles and finishings that are available. We want to show all of the latest trends and the things that make our Willerby homes so special.

It is this attention to detail – and presentation of the homes – which forms such a crucial part of preparations. It’s why our team was based in Harrogate for three weeks before the gates opened on day one.

Luckily, we’ve got a talented team and some wonderful partners and suppliers to make it all happen.

Blowing a gale!

Anyone who has been involved in preparing for a major industry show will tell you, it’s not without its challenges.

One of the biggest hurdles we faced this year was the weather. While, thankfully, the weeks of set-up stayed relatively dry, we had to contend with some gale-force winds which kept our team on its toes.

As our holiday homes were being delivered to the showground, our team was preparing the exhibition space and finalising where each one was going to sit.

We’re pleased to say, nothing blew away, but a tree next to our site did have to be felled after a safety inspection!

A true team effort

“What is so special about the show is it brings together people who work right across the company,” says our CEO Peter Munk.

“You’ve got the sales and marketing teams here, and the product teams who have designed and created our homes, but you also have the people who are building our homes on the production lines.

“For showgoers to have the chance to speak to the people who have built the homes, and take such enormous pride in their work, that is something really special.”

We’d also like to thank all of our partners and suppliers who have made the show such a huge success. From holiday parks and dealers to our marquee provider, transport company and Northern Pourists coffee van, we couldn’t have done it without them.

As quickly as the show arrived for a second year in Harrogate, it was all over again.

We’ve loved our week at the Great Yorkshire Showground, speaking to visitors, especially Willerby owners, and hearing them share their stories and experiences with their own Willerby.

It is why we do what we do. We’re proud to champion the British staycation lifestyle and hearing people talk about their favourite holiday in their Willerby, makes all the hard work worth it.