Coastal guesthouses fill quiet months by bundling walks and food breaks

The end of the summer used to mean shutters for many of the guesthouses that line the little harbours around Greyling Bay. This year a growing number are staying open, and some are close to full. A joint scheme run by 34 small accommodation businesses reports out-of-season bookings up 22 per cent on last year, with the strongest growth in midweek stays.

The idea is simple. Instead of selling rooms alone, owners sell two- and three-night breaks built around something to do: a guided coastal walk from Fenwick Point to the Saltings, a morning in a smokehouse, a pottery class with the Saltings Pottery Guild or a long supper cooked from the day's catch. Each package is booked through a shared website, and the revenue is split between the guesthouse and the local guide or producer.

Smaller groups, longer stays

Owners say the visitors are different from the summer crowd. They tend to be couples and small groups of friends, often in their fifties and sixties, who stay longer and spend more on food. Average length of stay under the scheme is 2.7 nights, compared with 1.9 nights for standard bookings in the quieter months.

Morwenna Ellery, who runs a six-room guesthouse overlooking the harbour at Fenwick Point, said the packages had allowed her to keep two staff on year-round for the first time. She now closes for just three weeks after the new year, rather than the four months she took off before.

Rain does not put people off if you give them a good reason to come and a warm fire at the end of the day.

The scheme has also spread money beyond the guesthouses. Guides, boat skippers and food producers involved in the packages received about €310,000 between them last winter, according to the group's accounts. A smokehouse near the Saltings now runs morning sessions three times a week, and two walking guides who used to work only in the summer say they are booked most weekends until the spring.

Gareth Lyle, president of the Wrenhaven Chamber of Commerce, which helped set up the booking site, said seasonal work had long held down wages in coastal villages. Keeping businesses open longer, he said, gave young people a reason to stay. The chamber now wants to add rail and ferry tickets to the packages so that visitors can arrive without a car, and it is in talks with Bay Ferries about a combined fare to the Saltings next spring.