The Holiday Property Bond Every 'i' dotted, every 't' crossed

Steve and Sue Lloyd have been Bondholders since 2004. The Lloyds, from Chester, first encountered HPB as guests of another couple, who generously treated them to a holiday at El Balcón de Santa Ana, HPB’s site in La Gomera. “Our friends Helen and Mike Breton had been going on about HPB for a while,” Steve recalls. “Helen’s parents were very early Bondholders. When the time came for Helen and Mike to celebrate their silver wedding anniversary – I had been Mike’s best man 25 years earlier – they elected to head for their Canary Island ‘home’, and invited us along. It was (and remains) absolutely beautiful; a treasured memory, and La Gomera is still one of our favourite places.” Already half-persuaded, they then attended an Open Day at Blore Hall, the Bond’s Peak District location. “On the strength of that we requested a visit from an HPB representative. I should say at this point that Sue and I are both solicitors; we’re trained to look for inconsistencies, to spot weaknesses. There were none – but just as importantly, there was no pressure; we were presented with all the facts, cogently, and left to make our own decision.”

“So happy were we with the way in which HPB was presented we’ve introduced several people since,” adds Sue. “Steve’s brother and his wife have joined. As have my sister and her husband – we’re going to Dionysos, the Bond’s Tenancy property in Turkey, with them next June. And there are others…”

Since 2004 the Lloyds have made good use of their Bond, visiting Barnham Broom, in Norfolk (“not one, but two, golf courses!”); Le Mont de St Siméon , in Île de France, just east of Paris (tasting, buying and bringing home champagne from a local champagne house for their daughter Vicky’s wedding); La Reserva de Biniorella, in Majorca; Rocha Brava, in Portugal’s Algarve; Encosta Cabo Girão, in Madeira; Constant, in France’s Dordogne region ; St Brides in South Wales, Bell End Farm, in the North York Moors; two or three properties in the Bond’s Tenancy programme; and Coreggia, in Puglia, southern Italy, where these pictures were taken. “We’re so lucky to have so many beautiful sites to choose from,” says Steve. “But I have to say, this one is a bit special. I don’t know where HPB finds its managers, but they’re always so good. [Coreggia site manager] Toni [Guido] is fantastic.”

And on the Lloyds’ wishlist? “We’re off to Duloe Manor, in Cornwall, this winter,” says Sue. “And we want to go to Le Manoir du Hilguy, in Brittany. Stigliano, in Tuscany, is most definitely on the agenda…”

A new favourite is El Pueblito de Alfaix in Almeria, southern Spain, visited for the first time this summer: “being there with Vicky, son-in-law James and 15-month-old granddaughter Holly made a good holiday great.” Vicky, a doctor in Sheffield, has already made use of her parents’ Bond; son Robert, a trainee accountant in London, joined them on their holiday in Coreggia and, according to Sue and Steve, “enjoyed relaxing around the pool away from the hectic London life and sampling the terrific local food and wine of the region”.

Henllys in Anglesey is another chart-topper: “so handy for us – and the golf course is fabulous and Peter Maton, the golf director, always makes us so welcome!”

That’s the second time “a good walk, spoiled” has been mentioned. Are the couple keen golfers, perchance? “You could say that,” laughs Steve. “In fact since Sue retired I’ve become a golfing widower!”

Of his comparative absence from the golf course: “I’m still doing consultancy work,” he explains. “But actually, I retired from working at the firm where I had been a partner for so many years while on holiday in Puglia and Sue finished working shortly after our return. What can I say? What a wonderful place to reach retirement!