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holiday home's history

How to investigate your heritage holiday home’s history

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holiday home's historyIf you own an older historic holiday letting property then you’re likely to have had, and will have, plenty of questions from guests about your heritage holiday home’s history. Have you considered the benefits of integrating this information to guests in your holiday home marketing to help secure new and repeat bookings? You may have an idea of when it was built or who lived there before, but do you know how to find out more about your holiday home’s history?

Take a look

The easiest way to get started with learning more about your property is to look for visual clues in the architecture. It may sound obvious, but the architecture and style of your house will help you identify the time period in which it was built. There may also be some bits that don’t seem quite right, which may indicate that they were added at a later date. If you’re no expert on period architecture, which we aren’t either, then the next steps will also help place your property in history…

Go local

Local history and developments may have affected your property much more than you think. Knowing what was going on around your holiday let over the years can reveal surprising changes and events. British History Online is a great resource for learning about local history, and finding your holiday home’s place in it.

It is also worth talking to a Local History Society. The Local History Online website has a list of societies and their contact information.

Home history

If you are wanting to discover more about the building itself, there are many resources you can focus on.  Photographs and newspapers are a great way to research the appearance of your house. If you don’t have any copies, get in touch with your local record office or The Historic England Archive. Articles can provide useful contextual information, and potentially even some photographs!

Is your holiday home a listed property? When owning a heritage home you’re likely to be more aware of it’s history. Listed Buildings Online contains useful records of British Listed Buildings including details of their age and why they were listed.

Ordnance Survey maps are also brilliant for seeing how an area has developed over time. If you don’t know when your holiday let was built, these maps can help you establish a rough time. Copies of these maps from 1840s onwards can be found at county record offices and local libraries.

Did your property once form part of a farm, public house, vicarage, church house, or workhouse? Extra resources are available. The National Farm Survey, visitation records in the parish chest, and this workhouse site are definitely worth checking out if you own one of these building types.

Past people

If social history is what you’re after, then there are multiple records and registers that could help you.

Electoral Registers

Electoral registers can be useful, but they may only be of limited use. Electoral registers were compiled annually from 1832, however women don’t appear on the register until 1918. As well as this, the voting age wasn’t lowered to 18 until 1969, restricting the knowledge that can be gleaned.

Copies can be found at local record offices or local studies libraries.

Census Records

Census records have been going every 10 years since 1801. They are filed with information about the previous occupants of your property, including names, ages, sex, marital status, birth locations, and occupations. Due to privacy reasons, censuses between 1841 and 1911 are available. Later censuses will only be available 100 years after the date they were conducted.

Visitor interest

Once you’ve discovered the history of your holiday home, why not make an information pack for guests and include it in all of your promotional material? Point out any particularly interesting architectural elements, include copies of old photos, and take them through the social and local history. Let us know your holiday home’s history, we would love to hear their stories.

Boshers are specialist providers of Holiday Home Insurance and Listed Holiday Home Insurance. For more information on how a specialist insurer can help and support your holiday home business, please give us a call on 01237 429444. 

Follow this link for posts similar to Insurance for Listed Holiday Lets with Heritage and other useful resources for holiday home owners.

You may also find the following post for Listed Holiday Let owners of interest:

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Listed Holiday Home Insurance

Marketing a Listed Holiday Home

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Marketing a Listed Holiday Home and telling a story

Listed Holiday Home

As a nation we’re a traditional bunch; committed not only to celebrating our history but also protecting our heritage. One challenge for owners of heritage holiday homes and holiday cottages is how to approach marketing a Listed holiday home to attract more bookings. From 17th century forts to traditional country cottages there are more than 375,000 listed buildings across the UK.

English Heritage explains listed buildings help us to acknowledge and understand our shared history, to mark and celebrate a building’s special architectural and historic interest.

95% of those owning and marketing a listed holiday home are likely to be under the Grade II listing; making their property ‘nationally important and of special interest’.

Whilst this may cause planning permission headaches for owners’ eager to make significant changes or develop their home it also provides major opportunities for marketing a listed holiday home by telling a story which differentiates your property from the competition.

The target market for listed building owners

When weighing up the size of the market you’ll perhaps need to look no further than the continued success and popularity of The National Trust, with more than four million members making multiple visits each and every year.

Perhaps more telling is the passion of those members; 80,000 of us now volunteer our time to The Trust and numbers continue to grow.

This enthusiasm is not merely limited to voluntary time and one day excursions; many now actively seek accommodation that matches their interests and will pay a premium to stay. 

Things to consider when marketing a listed holiday home 

65% of listed buildings across the United Kingdom are in excess of 300 years old.  With time comes a story and telling yours will be a vital element to marketing your listed holiday home.

Here are just a few things to consider when telling your story and promoting your listed property:

  • Whilst many websites will predominately be focused toward the mod cons does yours actively tell the story behind the building, the area and the people that created it? Your website will often be the first research port of call for any prospective guest so you’ll need to differentiate and emphasise what makes your listed property different from others they may stay in.
  • Is your story supported by great photography that really shows of the architecture and the uniqueness of the building and its contents? Getting a professional may cost a little but results that do your building justice may well lead to more bookings.
  • Many listed holiday homes have been lovingly restored for their guest’s to enjoy; information on the restoration along with photography can further strengthen someone’s understanding of the property and their relationship or draw to it.
  • Have you considered having a section of your website devoted toward the heritage and the history of your listed holiday home? This needn’t be reams and reams of text; remember your website visitors will be looking to get information quickly so utilise bullet points, short facts, figures and photos.
  • If your potential guests are actively looking to stay in a listed property think about what they’ll want to do during their time away from your holiday home. Are local venues and attractions, such as National Trust and other historical venues covered and promoted?
  • Have you thought of approaching local venues to potentially team up and offer discounted accommodation or admittance, particularly during shoulder or winter months when visitor numbers will likely be significantly lower?
  • Would they be willing to have a link to your holiday home website on their own site? If they are this will not only put you in front of more potential visitors but also have a positive impact on your search engine rankings.
  • Do you highlight local events that could be attended? If you blog in advance of events you’ll rank in Google for those search terms, potentially attracting visitors looking to attend and stay nearby.
  • If you promote your listed property through a letting agent have you told them about the history and what makes your property special?
  • Make sure that your story is not only told through your website but also through every marketing outlet you have. Include information in your tweets and your Google+ and Facebook pages.

All of these points are aimed at emphasising the historic and unique qualities your listed property brings. Sometimes it’s great to stand out from the crowd!

Feel free to leave your tips and experiences of Marketing your Listed Holiday Home in the comments below.

Boshers are specialist providers of Listed Holiday Home Insurance. For more information on how a specialist insurer can help and support your holiday home business, please give us a call on 01237 429444. 

 

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