Holiday Home Show You Were Great, Or Were You?

21 September 2023

As the dust settles at the Yorkshire Showground for the inaugural GREAT Holiday Home Show, the first since Covid closed the earth, we reflect on whether or not it lived up to its name three years on.

As a supplier to the holiday home industry, we absolutely loved it. It was so good to get the whole team out in the sunshine working together like the good old days. It was like a group therapy session with fizzy pop and ice lollies. The weather, although glorious, had both positive and negative effects on the build.

As the sole decking supplier to ABI UK, who, by the way, make some of the most magnificent holiday homes and lodges we have seen, we were tasked with building decks of all colours, sizes, and dimensions to complement the generous fleet that were about to be showcased to the nations holiday makers and park operators. Just getting these huge dwellings in place was a logistical fox trot but of course this wasn’t their first rodeo, and they handled the whole operation expertly. Next in line was the job for the ‘boys’ (when I say boys, its figurative, I really mean the AB team).

Each deck had been designed at head office, all except one of course which we will come back to, and then fabricated in the factory and loaded up ready for the haul to God’s country (again figurative, I actually mean Yorkshire). Once arrived they were unloaded and assigned to their new homes for the next two weeks. With the new spangled colours that were about to make their debut we (AB Sundecks) decided that we needed to make the perfect match and introduced our own brand new colours to the scene in the form of AB Exclusive PVC Deck Boards; Charcoal and Cappuccino. ‘Swit Swoo’ I hear you say, and rightly so, these new decks on the block were here to make a statement and they absolutely did.

Installing the decks on each brand-new holiday home was a breeze for our teams, although in 33 degrees heat, I am sure they would have appreciated a breeze. Nothing too complex, installing decks like they do in every day’s work at AB Sundecks the only addition being the new colour range which complemented the new colours on The Langdale, The Ingleton and The Beaumont (of course) and also worked beautifully with all of the other holiday homes too. The heat was stifling but the teams enjoyed cold drinks and ice creams from the gaffer when he turned up to reveal that they, of course, had one more deck to build (see earlier note). This would definitely be a team effort and one that they would all enjoy as being a totally unique concept for everyone to muck in on and less than three days to complete. Surprise!! (Mic drop).

The advice hub would mark the entrance to ABI UK’s showground and join two spectacular lodges, The Harrogate, and The Kielder, together. Sounds pretty simple until you add a grand entrance stairway and beyond that a staircase to a galleried balcony which overlooked the entire showground complete with glass balustrades and lounge area. Wham bam thank you mam! ABI UK x AB Sundecks are here to remind you that not all holiday homes and deck installations are created equally, and this was evident at the GREAT Holiday Home Show. Our teams built every deck like they would for any customer, always paying attention to the finer details ensuring all cuts around posts were accurate and precise and all fixings remained hidden. The steel subframes, which we exposed on the grand entrance for all to see, were secured on pods and connected with zinc plated bolts and PVC connectors as is the standard with all our installs. We have nothing to hide (except our fixings of course to give you a streamlined finish every time).

The sun continued to shine for the grand opening and remained in situ for the whole weekend making for a fabulous experience for everyone attending the show. The ice cream van definitely came out on top! Sadly, the weather took a turn early in the week which did seem to put a few people off, but it returned to see out the last few days and was the perfect end to a great exhibition. It wasn’t long before the teams returned to dismantle all of their hard work and what took almost two weeks to create was gone in a matter of days. No evidence remained apart from a smile in the hearts of everyone who came and enjoyed being a part of the holiday home industry showcase once again.