‘Join the Club’ – Reverend Alison Wallbank and her husband Michael

‘We thought our old lodge was fine – but the Willerby Juniper is in a different league!’

For our latest Willerby Owners Club Q&A, we caught up with Reverend Alison Wallbank and her husband Michael, who’ve recently bought a two bedroom Willerby Juniper Holiday Lodge at Akebar Park in North Yorkshire.

Their lodge is just an hour’s drive from their home in County Durham and they said they adore their new surroundings.

Q. Tell us about your Willerby and why you love it so much.

A. It’s beautiful. There’s so much storage space, from kitchen cupboards to walk-in wardrobes, and we have a central kitchen island where we can prepare meals and sit and enjoy the view. The quality is amazing, we love the colour scheme, the furniture is beautiful and we have so much light and space. The guest bathroom has a lovely walk-in shower and little things like that make all the difference.

You feel like you’ve walked into a show home and we can’t fault a single thing. We switch off when we’re here and it makes complete sense for this to be our home for the majority of the year when we fully retire.

Q. Why did you choose your specific model and how long have you been part of the Willerby family?

A. We bought our lodge in October this year after owning another lodge on the same park, which wasn’t a Willerby. We looked at lots of models, this one came up for sale and we didn’t see any others as nice as this.

Our previous lodge was fairly traditional and felt old fashioned but this is like a penthouse apartment! The design and layout is amazing and we couldn’t be more delighted with our choice.

Q. What are the best things about owning a holiday lodge?

A. We can just lock up at home and come here whenever we want. We leave everything we need here. We’ve had to buy two of everything, so we have one at home and one here.

Our vicarage home is a rented property, so we invest more of our love into our lodge because it’s ours. We like to have lots of visitors and the real pleasure is to share it and have people to stay. It’s made us more hospitable and sociable, and I’d say and it encourages us to discover the local area and what’s on our doorstep.

It doesn’t take any time to clean, we love the lifestyle and it seems fairly economicalm to run with top of the range eco white goods and boiler.

Q. What would you say to other people thinking about buying a holiday lodge?

A. Do it before you get too old because it makes you take a break. If you’re only an hour away, you can go after work. We love the convenience and it’s made us stop working every day.

When you’re at home, you can always find another job to do. Our lodge is hassle-free. With all the hoops you have to jump through to go abroad at the moment, why not enjoy all the undiscovered places we have in this country.

Q. Describe your holiday park and why it’s such a great place to stay.

A. It’s very rural, we’re surrounded by trees, ducks, pheasants, foxes, rabbits and birds and little streams. We don’t have a clubhouse, which for us is a bonus, so make your own entertainment. There is a children’s area and table tennis available for families. Children ride their bikes and families go out walking to enjoy good old fashioned fresh air. We also walk every day and enjoy the scenery and there’s a beautiful church nearby. It’s a different way of life and makes you chill out and leave your work and stress behind.

Q. What do you most value and enjoy from being a member of the Willerby Owners Club?

A. It’s nice to feel that you can invest your thoughts, ideas and feedback to make it even better for the next model. We can see from our lodge that Willerby is a company that wants to give people perfection and the best experience.

We like being part of the Owners Club and our experience of Willerby has been brilliant. They haven’t cut corners and we also love the mugs we received as a welcome gift!

? For information on the Willerby Owners Club and the exclusive member benefits, and to sign up, click here.