Reasonably-priced accommodation in the school holidays? HPB has it covered

Kevin and Sujeewa Gadd are school teachers, and know only too well the cost of going on holiday in peak season.

“We have no choice about when we go on holiday,” says Kevin, “and over the years we’ve paid a ridiculous amount of money for what can only be described as ‘very basic accommodation in very ordinary places’.”

The couple, from Buckinghamshire, have two sons: Austin, eight, and six-year-old Elliot, who are both football, tennis and swimming-crazy, which is not surprising as Dad is a head of PE at a London school. “When the boys came along,” he continues, “holidays became even more important and we didn’t want to squander them, or our money.”

Luckily Sujeewa, who is director of sixth form and teacher of history at a school in London, spotted an advertisement for the Holiday Property Bond in a magazine. “I recognised Sue Barker and was intrigued, but ever the cynic, I thought it was just a fancy type of timeshare! Nevertheless I did a bit of research and liked what I read so arranged a home visit from a representative which was very informative. It still seemed ‘too good to be true’, but we loved the locations and onsite facilities, so we did a few sums and it turned out we could afford to go away in the school holidays every year – for life! There was never any pressure and the sales process was really easy, with the offer of a money-back guarantee if we weren’t completely happy. It was this that really persuaded us to try HPB.”

They signed up in 2018 and took their first Bond holiday, at Tigh Mor in the Scottish Highlands, in 2019. “We knew straight away we’d made the right decision,” continues Sujeewa, “everything was perfect, we loved Tigh Mor and we quickly decided to confirm the investment with HPB. We have made friends with other Bondholders, particularly after holidays at Santa Rosa in Lanzarote and La Reserva de Biniorella in Mallorca, and continue to meet up with them back in the UK, as well as sharing our holidays at HPB sites.

“One of the things we really love about HPB (and there are hundreds!) are the onsite sports facilities. They are meticulously kept and provide hours upon hours of pleasure, especially for the boys. The sites themselves are attractive and spotless and wonderfully safe for children: for example at Biniorella, which we’ve recently returned from (possibly the best holiday we’ve ever had). Austin and Elliot were in seventh heaven with the Kids’ Club – it’s genius! They were either playing football or tennis or swimming from dawn to dusk, having a whale of a time with the other kids. Happy children, happy parents.”

In the relatively short time Kevin and Sujeewa have been Bondholders, as well as holidaying at Tigh Mor (three times), Biniorella (twice) and Santa Rosa, they’ve visited Merlewood in Cumbria, Duloe Manor in Cornwall, Barnham Broom in Norfolk, Lower Knapp Farm in Devon and Langton House in Dorset. “We’re so happy with HPB that we’ve started regularly topping up with their interest-free loan – just a little a month to give us even more holidays! We just can’t believe there aren’t more young families like us joining the Bond.”