Steading Holidays - A History

From Jacqui Chapple

Thirty two years ago, I came to live in Kilchoan. I’d had an association with Ardnamurchan for some time because my parents had moved to the area during my college days and I’d come to visit them for holidays. At that time they lived in the newly built Chris’s Ranch, and then in the late 1970s they had the opportunity to buy a second home on the site of the Old Golf Course and they bought Saltacre, now owned by my brother, Geoffrey Campbell.

At that time, the A Frames and Lodges on the Old Golf Course site were still under construction and soon the Saltings was available to buy as well. My parents decided to buy it and let the two houses they didn’t live in as holiday homes. Gradually, over a couple of years, more and more A frames and lodges were sold to people who wanted second homes and as they didn’t necessarily live in the area themselves, they asked my mum to manage the letting of them. Soon the opportunity to start a small business presented itself and Steading Holidays was born!

In 1980 my father sadly died and I decided to make the move to Kilchoan. I had been living and working as a chef on boats in the Caribbean for two years, so you can imagine the shock to my system returning to a wet and wild Highland village! I decided to move into the Byre, at the far end of the Steading, which at that time was barely habitable, and slowly began the process of converting it and the Steading into a home.

In 1981, John moved to Kilchoan and in 1986, we eventually married. Bruce arrived about 10 days later! During this period, Steading Holidays had grown into a viable and successful business which my mum ran from Saltacre with the help of Pat MacPhail (then Porteous) and latterly, John. It now managed up to 20 holiday lets in the area. Mum was a very good business woman and trying to move with the times, was one of the first people in Western Ardnamurchan to have a computer (along with John McPhail, Helen Ferguson’s father).

Time moved on, John and I had two more children (Katie and Peggy-May) and eventually in 1998, mum decided that she would like to retire. At this stage John had been helping her in the office for over ten years and it seemed liked a natural succession for the business to pass over to us. However, with the children at High School age, we had just decided to move the family over to Tobermory - so with mum’s retirement imminent, we were put in a difficult position. We didn’t know what to do, but in the end we decided to keep the Steading on, with John staying in Kilchoan during the week and running the business, whilst I lived in Tobermory with the children. During this period, I took over the marketing of Steading Holidays which resulted in our first website being built, glossy brochures being produced, and the arrival of our first email enquiry in 2001. To help John out in the office, we took on Bill Lloyd, who has worked with us ever since.

In 2006, the children and I returned from Tobermory and I gradually took over the business, dragging it kicking and screaming into the 21st century! Since then, we have upgraded the database, sorted out a new website and moved away from traditional methods of advertising. John has moved away from the business to concentrate on other projects and in 2009, Lara Van de Peer joined us to help with business procedures and marketing. The last few years have seen us develop social media within the business and we now have regular updates on facebook, twitter and a blog. We also have films of our cottages on Youtube. We have found social media platforms the best way to reach a new audience and using them has generally resulted in a more efficient running of the services that we provide.

We feel that the success of Steading Holidays over the years has been its ‘personal touch’. We are a small local business borne out of local needs and it’s rare for a business like ours still to be thriving in the multi-national, big business world that we live in today. Each property we let has a different owner, some who live locally and some far away, but all have the benefit of being cared for personally by a local housekeeper or manager. In addition, John, Bill and I know each property thoroughly and are always on hand to deal with any issues or needs that might arise. This personal touch is rewarded by up to 50% of our bookings coming from regular, repeat visitors, some of whom have been coming to the area so long that they now bring their children and grandchildren along to experience all that we have to offer.

As long as we can keep our unique personal touch, move with the times and embrace new technologies, we believe that Steading Holidays has a long and successful future to look forward to!

The properties pictured are offered by Steading Holidays: the Keepers' Cottage at Ardnamurchan Lighthouse, Grigadale House, and, for something completely different, the Inverockle Yurt.

Steading Holidays' website is here.