How Colman’s of Antigua came about

2012 – Chartered Accountant Clare calls up a local builder to make some alterations to her home. The builder in question, Matt Colman, takes his 10-year guarantee literally and although not anticipating that Clare will have any problems with his work, he sticks around just in case.

As a mutual appreciation of home renovations turns to love, many happy weekends are spent exploring the Yorkshire Dales in their campervan.  The campsite offerings of the day leave a lot to be desired, so Matt and Clare set about finding a place of their own, a step away from the stresses and strains of city life, to offer exactly the sort of weekend retreat they long to find and believe other people will love too, if only it existed…

2015 – A somewhat whimsical idea finally gets off the bucket list and a shopping list emerges.

Wanted: a couple of acres of flat-ish land on the outskirts of a pretty Yorkshire Dales village with a house in need of renovation.

Unlikely as it sounds, a few months elapse before chancing on ‘Town Ends’ in Aysgarth.

Three months later, the sale is complete (never mind the water pouring through the roof).

2016 – After months of heartache and hard work ‘Town Ends’ is re-born as Colman’s of Aysgarth, a touring caravan and camping site and luxury B&B.

2020 - Fast forward five years, and the hard work has paid off.  Colman’s of Aysgarth is awarded the Camping and Caravanning Club’s highest award of best site for Matt and Clare’s warm welcome and family friendly facilities and the luxury B&B has been awarded a Travellers’ Choice award by Trip Advisor with the beds being described as sleeping on clouds and pillows like marshmallows.

Matt and Clare’s love of travel leads them further afield to the Far East, India, Australia, New Zealand and the Caribbean.

In early 2021, facing another temporary closure of Colman’s of Aysgarth due to Covid lockdown rules, Matt and Clare race to leave the country before travel restrictions are introduced.  They know exactly where to head to ease their battered souls and lift their spirits…

… Antigua.

The island with a beach for every day of the year, sea temperatures of 29°C (84°F) and 3,000 hours of sunshine a year.  An 8 hour flight from the UK sees you arrive to a lush, green tropical paradise.  At just 13 miles by 11 miles, you are only ever 45 minutes away from where you need to be.

As lockdown restrictions at home are extended, a love affair with the tiny Leeward island is beginning.  Exploring the island using the local buses, Matt and Clare fall in love with the people, the beaches, the history and the rum.  On a visit to Valley Church beach on the west coast they are met with powder white sand, turquoise blue clear water and palm trees rustling in the gentle breeze, paradise!

Waiting for the bus back to their hotel, they see a ‘For Sale’ sign.  Curiosity gets the better of them and they set off to have a peep at what they assumed would be a multi million dollar luxury villa.  But fate had other ideas that day, and they walk up the drive to Hamilton House, an exclusive development of 4 apartments with a shared pool and gardens. Unable to believe their luck, Matt and Clare arrange to meet the estate agent.  Walking through the apartment to the first floor veranda, the sea views take their breath away.  Without a word, they both know that this is the dream.  And so Colman’s of Antigua is born.

While it may be 4,000 miles from the UK, the things that set Colman’s of Aysgarth apart from the rest are in abundance at Colman’s of Antigua.  Being wrapped up in a virtual hug from the moment you step off the aeroplane with your driver waiting for you at the airport, to a warm welcome at the door of the apartment after a long haul flight (none of those fiddly key safes and stumbling into a room in the dark), you have arrived at your home away from home.  And have we mentioned the views…

If you want peace, tranquillity, space to unwind, views of the turquoise Caribbean sea and a place to let your dreams drift freely, then this is definitely the place for you.

Matt and Clare built the dream so you don’t have to.