The year 2007 was the busiest year in the history of Itchyfeet and the winter of 2007 must go down as the busiest period of that year – even though it is recognised as a time when trade slows down and people generally hibernate through the bad weather period whilst waiting for the sun to return. At Itchyfeet everybody on the workforce has been stretched almost to the limit in clearing up the business created from Show attendance during the year, dealing with new business from passing trade, preparing and maintaining the Carvynick cottages for the year to come, installing new leisure equipment for guests at Carvynick and Itchyfeet, at the same time as preparing for an even busier year to come in 2008. In short, preparing for spring 2008 at Itchyfeet started in October 2007 and goes on as I write this article in March 2008 – even though it would appear that the Staff have made time stand still in order to accomplish the results so far achieved, there is so much more the Boss, Eric Randle, wants them to do and time is flying by so quickly that they will have to work even harder to meet his demands for perfection and be ready for the onset of the new season.
So what has been done thus far? Starting with Carvynick – The continually ongoing repair, refurbishment, improvement programme for the cottages and the Leisure Centre has resulted in the award of ‘Silver Crown Resort’ from the RCI (Resort Condominiums International), the largest timeshare vacation exchange in the World, founded in 1974, now with over three million members worldwide. Improvements in the Leisure Centre include the installation of a 5-person spa/whirlpool bath, refurbishment of the general facilities and installation of various confectionary and drinks vending machines.
The biggest and most visible of the winter’s work is seen on the site at Itchyfeet where, currently, a mixture of thirty-four new and pre-owned RV’s are on sale with prices ranging from £35k up to the top of the range £210k and even though the RV market is supposedly going through a hard time at present due to the unstable money-markets and the rising fuel prices, Itchyfeet is still regularly selling at least one new coach per week, a fact which proves beyond doubt the view that Itchyfeet is now recognised by many (both in the UK and the States) as being the largest ‘independent’ dealer in American Motorhomes. Itchyfeet is now a registered Fleetwood stockist and Eric together with various other members of the Randle family and staff have spent much time recently in the States purchasing a range of the 2009 RV’s, many of them factory-built models, designed to meet European Standards and ordered to a specific Itchyfeet specification. The Fleetwood Revolution 40L, which was very popular with the UK RV enthusiasts, has been re-established to an Itchyfeet specification and will be available once again – a new range of the Dynamax RV’s will soon be on show at Itchyfeet and one other outstanding vehicle, which I must mention, that is due to arrive in April is the 2009 Country Coach, once again factory-built specifically to an Itchyfeet requirement, the epitome of luxury and opulence in RV terms, a coach that is absolutely unique in Europe .
The result of the busiest winter ever at Itchyfeet has been reflected in another sight, which although not visible to all, is the enlargement of the workshop space and the prospective opening of a spares and accessories shop on site. Recent innovations have been the introduction of a fabulous new touch screen on-board PC built into the RV dashboard incorporating the latest mobile internet technology with the ability to view web, e-mail, DVD and much more from your dashboard or lounge TV, as well as the exclusive and superb hydraulic motorbike carrier (specifically built for bikes such as the Harley Davidson) built onto the rear of your RV. The garage space available has been almost doubled by virtue of the addition of a mezzanine floor surrounding three walls of the existing building – an area which is now filled with racks of spares for servicing, spares for sale, spares of spares and most of the more commonly required accessories.
Finally, Itchyfeet has expanded it’s horizons beyond the shores of the UK and is now to be considered a truly International organisation, by the sponsorship of several RV friendly Parks in Europe and the continued sponsorship of Moandick’s Big Pitch Guide. Recent RV magazine articles have highlighted the fact that you can now book and pay for a pitch in Spain (Camping Almafra or Playa Paraiso) directly through the offices at Itchyfeet – alternatively buy an RV from Itchyfeet and you can have a holiday in Cornwall or in Spain as part of the deal – what else could you ask for?
Visit our new website at http://www.itchyfeet.biz/ and thanks to Dick Kingswell for the article Mo & Dick Kingswell are authors of The Big Pitch Guide > http://www.the-big-pitch-guide.com/
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