Val Chapman

Val’s leisure industry credentials stretch back into early childhood, when her parents had a succession of static caravans (long before marketeers invented the term ‘holiday home’!), and also touring caravans. The statics were for weekends and the tourers were for holidays. Family holidays exploring Europe with a tourer in tow must have made its mark, for Val and her husband, John, bought a tourer before they bought their first house together. It was a spur-of-the-moment purchase after one wet tent-based holiday too many. On a dealer forecourt, as they were in the process of purchasing that first caravan, John, a little unsure, queried, “Who’s going to tow it?” “I will,” came the answer – and so it is to this day, many caravans later, Val’s the tower and John’s in charge of sat-nav tasks. 

And the kindling of Val’s present-day holiday and park home passion? That came about, initially, purely through editing our portfolio of titles that serve that industry and its public, so immersing herself in the entire subject – and burgeoned as her enthusiasm for these two very separate sectors grew. Park homes, because they provide a unique residential lifestyle, and holiday homes and lodges because there’s something for all tastes and all budgets, making it a hugely important leisure sector. It’s easy to be passionate about something that brings leisure-time pleasure to so very many people, she says.