Keeping good company

Elaine, from Wiltshire, became a Bondholder four years ago. “I’d lost my husband about a year earlier,” she recalls, “and had reached a point where I knew life had to go on. I saw an advertisement for the Holiday Property Bond in a magazine, went to an HPB exhibition in a Devizes hotel, and liked what I saw. Looking back on it, I was – and am – particularly impressed by the lack of ‘hard sell’; there was no post-exhibition badgering, no pestering. It was left up to me to initiate further contact, and to decide to make the investment.”

Now: spending a holiday or weekend away on your own might be an attractive idea from time to time; but you wouldn’t want to holiday solo on every occasion. Which is why, for Elaine, the Bond Companions Club was a very attractive option; spending time with other like-minded people, who want to offer the hand of friendship and enjoy themselves whilst away.

The BCC is designed for all HPB members who are single, widowed, divorced or have a partner unable to travel due to health reasons. The Club is increasingly popular, with over 1,200 members – and growing all the time.

Elaine joined the BCC about a year after becoming a Bondholder. It opened a whole new world, she says. “Particularly when holidaying overseas. In the UK I am happy to holiday alone – or as alone as I can be with two energetic springer spaniels in tow! I’ve been to Langton House in Dorset; Duloe Manor in Cornwall; Lodge Yard in Askrigg, in the heart of the Yorkshire Dales (and I must say the food in the Kings Arms, the adjacent Bond-owned coaching inn, is fabulous); and St Brides Castle in Pembrokeshire – a firm favourite with the dogs, and their owner; four or five visits, and counting. The walks are superb; and the onsite restaurant is a huge bonus.

“But for holidays abroad, my BCC membership has been put to good use. I went to El Pueblito de Alfaix, in southern Spain, first; and met two ladies with whom I’m now firm friends – a sort-of ‘mini-BCC’ if you will. I’ve been to Physkos, in Turkey, twice; and I’m going again. I’ve been to El Balcón de Santa Ana, in La Gomera, and Santa Rosa in Lanzarote – two beautiful Canary Island sites. And I spent New Year at La Reserva de Biniorella in Majorca – with the BCC and, of course, my two new mates! Back home, myself, my two friends and other local BCC-ers regularly meet for coffee, or lunch; it’s great to catch up.

“Just to be clear, for me the Holiday Property Bond is not all about the BCC,” Elaine concludes. “I’ve topped up my Bond twice in the past four years, to ensure that there are more than enough Holiday Points for my son and daughter and their partners and children to use it – and to enable various permutations of Marstons to holiday together when time permits! But the Club has really added something to life – quality time with like-minded folk, predisposed to offer the hand of friendship. With HPB and the BCC I’m in good company – in every sense.”