Case Study - Nicky Sellier and David Weller
Becoming franchisees with The Camping and Caravanning Club has enabled Nicky Sellier and David Weller to realise their ambition to have a business of their own and a completely different lifestyle as well.
When the couple decided they wanted to change direction, they chose to buy a campsite and took a quantum leap in moving from the urban South East of England to the other end of the UK and the open spaces of Skye.
David said: "I had been restless and needed a new challenge, having been a director of our family plumbing and heating business for many years. It was started by my great-grandfather in 1895 and had grown and diversified, so we were selling all sorts of DIY, building, hardware and garden items, as well as tents and other outdoor equipment.
"I worked very long hours and weekends and so saw very little of Nicky, who then had a job caring for children, latterly those with disabilities. We both felt under pressure. Losing close family members made me realise you've got to do things while you can, seize the moment and take the opportunity – I believe you're only here once and I didn't want to get to retirement and regret not doing what I really wanted to."
While they were mulling things over, Nicky and David took a camping holiday in Scotland, which David had visited many times before and knew well. Keen outdoor people, they love nothing better than camping and walking and being outside on mountains or in wild countryside.
On Skye they looked at small hotels, B & Bs and other properties that had the potential to be both home and business base. Driving round the island, they stopped one day to admire a stunning view and instantly fell in love with what they saw – a campsite on a 200 acre croft and with three-quarters of a mile of loch frontage. "We both wanted this place as soon as we saw it," Nicky said. "You've got to want to live on site, as well as work on it," she added.
