This year we are celebrating the 80th year of the Valley Camp as it was known in 1945. William and Benita Taylor (my parents) started the camp site in 1945. My dad used to say it was his baby, one day mum said "Your baby has got too big!" The site gradually grew and it was Lord Baden Powells holiday destination for the boy scouts a few years later (the postman was quite impressed with having to deliver post for a Lord, “a big day!”)
I took over running the campsite in 1965 when my dad sadly passed away. We gradually grew and we built a café/gamesroom/shop which many older customers and locals will remember. We were one of the first people hiring out surfboards in Polzeath and I even made my own wetsuit and board. Unfortunately, the building started to sink at one end and this made keeping the snooker and pool tables level harder each year so it had to go!
Our new building built on solid rock foundations is the building you see now although it has been modified over the years and we now have some apartments. The toilet blocks have made some advancements too since my fathers day, he would never have imagined underfloor heating in the shower block!
I would like to thank all our customers/families/friends new and old who come to us to holiday and without whom the camp wouldn’t be as it is now and there would be no one to invite me in for a cup of tea as I mow the camping field!
With this in mind I am giving out some prizes (details to be announced) for photos and stories from the past. A heartfelt telling of generations of one family coming to stay, a funny story or photos new and old. We would love to hear and see them all and use some in a book we are going to put together as part of our 80th celebrations. Entries can be sent by email, facebook, post or pop in to see us.
I wish you all well and hope to see you in our 80th year,
Martin
Dad and I in the camp entrance