Campaign for Real Aires UK - CAMpRA

Is anybody working on this lead which came in on FB the other day? ‘Historic Houses’

It’s a wonderful organisation with over 1,600 interesting properties to visit with membership of about £89

https://www.historichouses.org/house-listing.html

This looks like the point of contact..

James Probert, Director of Marketing & Development:
james.probert@historichouses.org

Head Office is Historic Houses, Warwick House, 25-27 Buckingham Palace Road, London SW1W 0PP

I have called Historic Houses, and sent information to James Probert today.

A reply today!

How much money did you say we had in our funds, ha ha!
Maybe they’d like an ad on our forum instead?

Dear Mr Shelbourne,

Thank you for your email, which clearly contains a wealth of information.

The first thing to say is that we are a representative association, and our members are all entirely independent businesses – we do not own or operate any heritage sites ourselves.

We are, though, a popular channel for businesses and organisations wanting to tell our member houses about relevant good and services. The method we offer for that is our corporate membership, details of which you can find here: https://www.historichouses.org/become-a ... embership/

If you’re interested in signing up, I have attached an application form. If you have any other questions about membership in the meantime, don’t hesitate to let me know.

All best wishes,

James.

JAMES PROBERT
Director of Marketing & Development
Editor, Historic House magazine

Warwick House, 25-27 Buckingham Palace Road, London SW1W 0PP
Switchboard: 020 7259 5688
Direct Dial: 020 3327 3947
Web: historichouses.org

Makes you wonder what all these organisations do for their members as they all reject offers to help their members unless you pay to join them

They seem to be only for the marketing, but don’t have the initiative to look out for new opportunities to develop more business for them.

I thought I’d write back and say ‘We’re only a voluntary group, have achieved a lot by conducting a survey of motorhomer users, and commissioned a strategy for Motorhome Tourism, created tour routes - all things that should have been researched by British Tourism bodies - and advised local authorities on how to harness this unrecognised and untapped source of income, and private landowners on new opportunities to benefit them post Covid Closure, and now you want us to pay to do the job you should be doing?”

Ha ha

Actually I wrote this...

“ Hello James

I wondered if you’d say something like that! Chambers of Commerce are much the same. It’s not a good thing!

We’re only a voluntary group, with no income. We have achieved a lot by talking and emailing LAs, Parking Officers, Tourism bodies, Economic Development departments, MPs.... and by conducting a survey of motorhomer users, and commissioning a strategy for Motorhome Tourism, creating tour routes - all things that should have been researched by British Tourism bodies.

CAMpRA is now advising those local authorities on how to harness this unrecognised and untapped source of income, and private landowners, on new opportunities that will benefit these hospitality and tourism businesses post Covid Closure - and now you want us to pay to do the job you should be doing for your unvisited historic houses!!!

It would only take a few paragraphs in your next e-newspaper to show them how you’ve ‘found’ them a new way out of this perilous pandemic! And to look into it at www.CAMpRA.org.uk/business-hub

Please see what you can do. You’re a little behind National Trust, time-wise, who will be grabbing membership fees off tens of thousands of motorhomers very soon.

Motorhomers are all free to resume touring from Monday 12 April, looking for exciting places throughout the country to explore - what better than historic houses, too?

Cheers
Charles”

He’s still talking to me...
His response...
(He hasn’t said how his marketing reaches his members, so I’m not sure if I could just supply him with a PDF or link to our website, but I think I’ll answer that way, thanking him for all he can do, and as he’s editor of his magazine it may be an article he could write. He’ll need some nice pictures)

Dear Mr Shelbourne,

Rest assured that we provide comprehensive advice to house members on a whole range of topics, including those relating to tourism, planning, diversification, etc. Campsites, caravan parks, motorhome aires, and car parks are all considered and referenced. I have made sure that our technical advisor is aware of your organisation, and will be sure to direct members to your advice in the right place.

We deal with a lot of information and many requests to promote the particular interests of other organisations, so I can’t commit to a certain kind of coverage such as in an email newsletter, but I will make sure that houses can find out about you when they’re looking for this sort of thing.

All my very best wishes,
James.

JAMES PROBERT
Director of Marketing & Development
Editor, Historic House magazine

If is happy to sharec the link to our business hub that is all that we ask.

The houses within Historic Houses are just as good or likely prospect for us as NT, however not a lot seems to be happening, probably due to to, as James Probert pointed out, the House Owner members being individual businesses, not subject to edict from above. However, we know that, individually, they are not averse to schemes of all sorts to maintain the buildings and grounds for us all to enjoy. I have today ordered a batch of A5 flyers from CAMpRA and fully intend to hand them out each and every time I visit a HHA property. Perhaps all the rest of us HHA members could do the same to get some traction ?

Nothing recently on this, so I sent a follow up email (23/1/25) to the Director of Marketing…

“Hello James

I was targeted by your Facebook advertising today, and recalled my efforts in contacting you during ‘Lockdown’ about how Motorhome Tourism could benefit your historic houses. Have you been monitoring the situation?

Today, there are hundreds of thousands of British campervans and motorhomes touring Britain, and potentially 2 million in the EU who are keen to explore historic Britain as they tour the different regions, tasting the local culture and cuisine as they go!

To attract them to your doors, you could show them that ‘Historic Houses’ would welcome them in some way; eg parking spaces or easy access from nearby streets…
An overnight stopover would save them £25-35 on a camping site which could happily be spent instead in a cafe or souvenir shop.

Most modern motorhome’s have all the mod cons that allow them to tour all year round, such as central heating and hot water, toilets and washrooms, mobile wifi, water and waste tanks (sufficient for 3-4 days before servicing), beds, couches and kitchens, therefore they only need a safe, off-road, flat, hard ground parking space to stay in before moving off again next day. It’s likely that most of your houses could offer these.

CAMpRA, the organisation, run by volunteers, is advising private landowners and local authorities on how Motorhome Tourism contributes to the local economy, to built a supportive infrastructure across the country, like there has been in Europe for decades. See www.campra.org.uk/business-hub to see how to get onboard and make your empty at night car parks work for you to increase footfall.

Who’s already getting involved? Already there are thousands of pubs providing free stopovers for those looking for a good night out. Other types of places include cafes, sports centres, village halls, garden centres, visitor attractions, museums, stores… including some National Trust and English Heritage sites. Often a small charge is taken in voucher form to be used against purchases in that business.

A Planning Exemption Certificate for 5 vans can be issued by CAMpRA Rally Group to make it all legal. There’s only a small cost, about £50 for the inspection and admin work, and it includes a metal display sign for the car park.

I urge you to discuss this golden opportunity for Historic House owners to develop a new income stream at this difficult time. Motorhomers do spend considerably when out and about. “

With best regards

Charles Shelbourne
www.campra.org.uk

No response yet, in 4 days…