Open Air Business December 2018

EVENTS
How do you manage admissions
and visitor safety?
Our events and experiences are all
run on a ticket basis. Guests arrive
at our established reception desk
and then enter into the woodland.
Even though a lot of our offer is
within woodlands we are fully
accessible and have created
wheelchair friendly footpaths and
a safe environment for children
with special needs, who use our
facilities often. We provide an
experience that enhances all the
senses, allowing visually and
hearing-impaired visitors to enjoy
the experience as well.
How do you publicise the event?
At the end of each Birds of Prey
experience our team tells guests
about our events. A lot of our sales
come from gift vouchers which
we promote on every enquiry
and especially over the Christmas
period.
We tried something new at
Carfest this year; we did a Birds of
Prey display and had a trade stand
where we created a Christmas
display to promote our Christmas
event. We had fake snow, a sleigh
and characters.
For our Christmas Wonderland
we encourage repeat business by
changing the characters within the
story each year. We also introduce
the characters into the woodland
throughout the year so children can
begin to feel the story developing.
We feel people need to see the
brilliance of the event and therefore
video is our main marketing tool.
“THE BIGGEST
CHALLENGE
WE FACE HAS
ALWAYS BEEN
GETTING THE
MESSAGE
OUT TO
THE PUBLIC
REGARDING
OUR
WOODLAND
EXPERIENCES”
We create YouTube videos, which
can be inserted in social media
and on our website, promoting the
new characters but also showing
previous years’ experiences.
What challenges have you faced?
The biggest challenge we face has
always been getting the message
out to the public regarding our
woodland experiences. We try
and make our experiences unique
for the guests to enjoy the great
outdoors. Trying to get that
message across to all markets is
a challenge, but we keep working
on it.
How have you financed the event
and how profitable is it?
Everything we do is self-financing.
As the Magical Woodland is
such as big event and required
the development of a large
infrastructure, we have sourced
a partner, Richard Warrener from
Event Equipment. We both believe
in the opportunities this event can
bring to the area and are willing
to invest our own funds, time
and equipment, understanding
that in the first two years we will
receive limited returns. We were
also successful in bidding for
and receiving £5,000 in funding
from Marketing Cheshire, via the
SLANT project to help us develop
the Magical Woodland marketing
progamme.
What other outdoor hospitality
sectors do you operate in?
We have mentioned our
experiences and falconry days, this
was the base from which we have
developed. Woodland weddings are
our new challenge growing from
this year’s base of five weddings.
What advice could you give to
someone coming into the outdoor
event industry?
Never stand still, keep coming up
with new ideas, always believe
you can do it and it will happen,
be flexible and respond to your
customer and they will reward you
in the long run!
ADDRESS BOOK
LIGHTING
Event Equipment
www.eventequipmentltd.co.uk
Stanwax Laser
www.stanwaxlaser.co.uk
ENTERTAINMENT
Aqua Rhythm www.aquarhythm.co
DETAILS
Christmas Woodland
8-9, 15-16, 22-24 December 2018
www.christmaswoodland.co.uk
Magical Woodland
19 October – 1 November 2019
www.magicalwoodland.com
Blakemere Village
Northwich
Cheshire CW8 2EB
58 WWW.OPENAIRBUSINESS.COM