Would You Go For This Type of Holiday?

[Cligereen]

I'm looking for your views on an idea that I have submitted for a competition to help get Ireland's economy on the move again.

My proposal is that we should build some holiday villages that are re-creations of villages from around the early 1900s. People could come and spend a week or two in these villages actually 'living in the past'. A bit like the Channel 4 series on the Victorian Farm, the Edwardian House etc.

During their stay people would be able to participate in hands-on activities to learn skills from bygone days such as small-holding, animal husbandry, crafts, cooking, herbal remedies, beer and wine making, in fact all the things that us 'ishers are into. There would be traditional entertainment provided and good wholesome homegrown food (partly grown by the holiday makers).

Ireland is an ideal venue for these holiday villages because it already has the reputation of being a bit like this anyway. It is a popular holiday destination and there are still lots of people who have the skills that would need to be taught.

What do you think? Would there be a market for such a holiday experience? Would you be interested in 'living in the past' for a couple of weeks and learning new 'ish skills?

I'd be interested to hear your opinions - a cheeky bit of market research if you like!

[battybird]

Think it sounds like a great idea, especially if it was not too costly for families, maybe a camping option and a fee to participate in the activities would be an idea? I think you need to get the idea off the ground before someone copies it!

[Russian Doll]

ill offer me and my kiddies as your testers...id love that

[Cligereen]

Thanks for the encouragement - only thing is I won't be able to undertake this project due to lack of money and skills! It's a competition entry. If it wins the Govt. will invest half a million and get the thing going. There would be a prize for me too

I would love a holiday like this, but then that's why I'm addicted to this site.

I would think the cost of a holiday like this would be very affordable as the costs would be low (no electricity etc) and the holidaymakers (or Time Travellers) would be doing a lot of the work!

Would love to hear any more views, I may even be able to use some of it in my final proposal.

[Touchwood]

It's something that would definately appeal to both of us now, but going back a few years when I was a free'er spirit it it would also have appealed to me as something I would have felt happy to participate in

[Thomzo]

I think it's a fantastic idea. You could offer a 'basic' week of looking after animals, tending the vegetable patch and so on then add courses in traditional skills for extra dosh. Maybe have themed weeks where people could learn basket weaving, hedge laying, woodworking, needlework etc.

If you could find large, empty houses, you could do it on a bed and breakfast basis.

You could have children's clubs which focus on outdoor play, nature and wildlife, growing things (maybe in pots so they can take them home to watch them grow, but sprouting seeds would work in a week), etc.

I think the camping idea is a good one, it would help keep the costs down and I suspect would appeal to the sort of people who would like this sort of holiday. You could have static tents like they do on the continent a lot. That way people travelling from abroad wouldn't need to bring their camping stuff with them. Also, the tents wouldn't do so much damage to the area as fixed holiday villages as they could be moved around.

Just think of the marketing opportunities as well, book shops, gardening tools, clothes, photographs of them in their clothes.

The downsides would be the investment, particularly if you expect them to wear period costume. You'd have to invest in the clothes for them to wear. Although you could just have a couple of period dress dinners where they can hire the gear if they want to rather than wearing it all the time.

I'd definitely come along (especially if you don't charge a single supplement).

Zoe

[JulieSherris]

If you could find large, empty houses, you could do it on a bed and breakfast basis.

Zoe

Not too many of those out here Zoe.................... Just kidding!

Cligereen, have you seen the nots.ie website at all? I was looking into this earlier today - their courses look quite good actually & if you have staff who are trained in the organic ways, you could pass those skills on too..... just a thought.

I'd say that it's a great idea - we went to the Beamish museum a few years back & it was lovely - I would have loved to have stayed there & lived 'the old way'... I guess that's pretty much what we came out to do & although we're not quite there, we're doing our best!

[citizentwiglet]

Do you have to totally recreate an experience from scratch, though, or could you work with existing buildings, and restore them?

If you were building new, to look old, I dunno. I'm a historian, so I don't think I would take to the idea - to be brutally honest. I'd be picking holes in everything. If it was a restoration project on existing land used for purpose I'd be more in favour. If it's a replica built on a 'convenient' site, I'm not so sure. The idea itself is excellent, though.

[JulieSherris]

CT, my comment above regarding 'empty houses' over here is a bit of a clue....

For whatever reason, it seems that historically the Irish tend to do things differently with their property - especially in the country areas.
Instead of refurbing the houses over the years, or knocking them down & rebuilding, they choose a new spot on the land, build a new house & move into it, leaving the older house empty - we have a derelict in our garden, but I think the folks who lived here were quite well off because they had it extended twice! So we have 4 rooms in our derelict - actually, it's quite fixable with a bit of cash, but we use ours for storage/workshop/chook house!

Last year, we counted the number of derelicts along our lane. Now, this lane goes nowhere but to the bog and in parts is nothing more than a gravelly track.... (over here they are called borreens) but over 2Km there is a total of 12 derelict cottages - including ours & the farm next door has 2 - how greedy can you get
So there's absolutely no shortage of empty houses... actually, now I think of it, there's 12 derelicts, but only 5 liveable houses..... oh, I love Ireland!

[indy]

I would love that, it sounds amazing, I desperately wanted to go the cottage that was used in the victorian farm series for my birthday but they charged the absolute earth and I couldn' afford it, I would have needed a mortgage

[Cligereen]

So I could be on to a winner then? Camping is a good idea, it may help to keep the costs down but being as the 'cottages' would be electricity free and basic (as they used to be) I'm not sure how much it would save other than in the initial investment. The weather can be very much against camping here too! but it would be a good option to offer.

The cottages would probably need to be built from scratch although they would be very simple and about as authentic as you could get. All the internal furnishings can be got here for very little money if you know where to look (and I do!). There are a load of derelict cottages around as Julie says, the trouble is that as she also points out, they are usually in somebody's back garden! There is nowhere that I have ever seen that has enough derelict cottages in one concentrated area to make refurbishment a goer.

I had in mind one larger derelict house on land that would be refurbished and then cottages built around this. The larger house being used for a communal area.

I had also planned (in my mind) to have a shop selling the things that Thomzo suggested, a traditional Irish Pub for evening entertainment an organic restaurant and a barn/workshop to hold all the classes in.

I have even drawn up rough plans for all this - I do get carried away!

Indy, just out of interest, how much was the cost of the holiday in the Victorian Farm house? I was thinking that in these days of recession, this type of holiday would appeal to those looking to become more 'ish' and so I would have thought that it should be aimed at the more affordable end of the market.

I'll shut up now but if anybody has any more thoughts I'd love to hear them

[Thomzo]

The cottages would probably need to be built from scratch

How about holidays teaching traditional building methods while the cottages are built? Camping (probably for free) working part time learning walling, carpentry etc. In exchange for a certificate of some sort. You'd have to have the skilled trades to teach but that would be something for the Government to work out (and would provide jobs for builders during the recession).

Zoe

[JulieSherris]

Turf cutting by hand! And of course, if you ever have any that's left over, feel free to let me know!

[Cligereen]

Thomzo, that's a very good idea. I had thought about getting some of the gardening work done by suggesting 'work experience' to agricultural students, but I didn't think as far down the road as you! I like it - a lot

Julie, the EU are trying to ban turf-cutting so we'd need to be quick! I'd start stocking up this week if I were you. You know that May 1st is the day the Govt are increasing tax on ALL fossil fuels by 9% Turf, briquettes, coal, oil in fact anything that may keep us warm! We can't get gas here so our only option is to freeze.

[JulieSherris]

No gas here either - oh, apart from the bottle outside the kitchen feeding the hob!!

We've got 2 bog plots along the way, but we also have full turbary rights with the house deeds. In this part of the country, methinks the EU bods will have plenty of problems if they tell the folks they can't cut their turf.
Our local turf cutting man is the brother of the local Garda as well..... haha, I'm not sure that EU law will be pursued too vigorously

As for the fuel prices, yep, we have a coal order in already - our local place has done a 'Pay half now' deal. If you pay half the bulk order now, then you have your fuel delivered in September & pay the final half then at the price now. I'm not sure what sort of prices the trailers of turf will be, but hey ho.

Actually, if you were hand cutting turf & doing it as a training method, given the nature of the resort, then you might well be able to do it legally. After all, you're not going to be having stainless steel kitchens to demonstrate your cooking are you? The Heritage label is always a good one to pull when the EU bureaucrats raise their little heads!!