How owner of Beauly Holiday Park turned ‘one of the worst campsites' he had seen into site with triple the occupancy

Press and Journal

05-07-2025

Less than 10 years ago Beauly Holiday Park was falling apart, but now it is now one of the most thriving campsites in Scotland.
When Highlander Alan Hogan and his wife Lori decided to buy the business in late 2016, the site was in a state of disrepair, with untarred roads and broken toilets and showers.
The couple completely transformed the site and since 2017, their occupancy has 'more than tripled'.
Nature has been welcomed in with a six-acre reserve that is home to beavers, otters, pine martins alongside sightings of species rarely seen in the Highlands.
The campsite has also become well-known for hosting festivals.
The owners organised their first one, Beauly Buzz, in 2022, which attracted about 100 people.
They now have four festivals a year, all welcoming 250 people and with tickets sometimes selling within minutes of going live.
Mr Hogan left his career in the marine industry in 2011 to go travelling for a year.
Within a month he met his wife Lori, who is from the US, with the couple starting their first motorhome business in 2013.
Mr Hogan said: 'We just had two vans and we parked them at a friend's farm.
'The following year they became four vans. However, the following year we had a bit of a crisis. The business was going to become homeless because our friends were going to sell the farm.'
That is when the hunt for new premises started, with the pair buying the Beauly campsite in late 2016.
However, the 48-year-old explained the site was 'quite run down'.
'It was a bit crazy buying it in the first place,' he said.
Mr Hogan recalled: 'We've tarred all the roads through the park. We've put in new hard-standing pitches and fixed all the electrical outlets.
'I had to change one shower and we had broken toilets too, the drainage barely worked.
'So, basically, we completely closed that down. And we rented toilets from a local hire company. And we ran with that for a few years until we could build a new toilet block.
'From my own experience travelling around, I've been to hundreds of campsites over the years, and it was easily one of the worst I've ever seen.'
However, he said that they 'completely turned it around'.
He continued: 'We have a really loyal customer base now who absolutely loves the site and our occupancy rate has more than tripled since 2017.'
When they took over the site in 2016, the bottom of the park was unusable for camping, so the couple decided to make the space into a nature reserve.
The reserve is home to beavers, otters, beavers, pine martens, roe deer, dragonflies and bats.
'We've managed to create a nice little haven for wildlife that our customers can enjoy as well,' the owner said.
He explained: 'We have 17 acres and have dedicated six to the nature reserve.
'We've put in ponds and we see a lot of species there. A couple of years ago, Lori took a picture of a caterpillar she hadn't seen before.
'I shared it on a wildlife Facebook group that I run locally, Wildlife in and around Inverness, and suddenly people said, that's really unusual.
'And it turned out to be the first sighting of that species this far north.'
Mr Hogan remembers he was worried when a woman came running out of her caravan in 'floods of tears'.
He said: 'I thought, 'Oh no I'm in trouble for something'.
'She eventually said 'owls'.
'She'd actually seen some tawny owls in our nature reserve. She just saw them and burst into tears because they're so cute.'
In 2023, the couple were finding it challenging to run the motorhome rental business and the holiday park together.
They then decided to close the motorhome rental side while bringing in another element.
A customer suggested they should try organising a festival on the campsite.
In May 2022, they hosted Beauly Buzz, which successfully welcomed about 100 people.
They ran it again in 2023 and it grew to attract about 150 people.
That year, they also organised Mutiny on the Beauly, a pirate festival celebrated in September.
Last year, they brought in a blues festival, Bluesey Beauly, in June and a fourth in August named Beer'n'Bands'n'Beauly.
This year, they will host four, with September's one changing its name to Beauly and the Beast, with people encouraged to come dressed as monsters.
Mr Hogan said: 'The festival idea really took off.
'Typically, we have about four bands on each night and 250 people per festival.
'This year, for Beauly Buzz, tickets sold out in 45 minutes.'
The festivals are also a platform to support local talent.
Mr Hogan explained: 'The furthest that we'll take a band from is 100 miles away. It's got to be somebody based in the Highlands.'
The same happens on Friday nights, when there is live music at Captain Faff's Bar, the campsite's pub.
'It's local musicians only,' he said.
We also asked Mr Hogan whether the North Coast 500 has been positive for his business.
The route was officially launched in March 2015, just over a year before he and his wife took over the campsite.
He said: 'Absolutely. Probably at least 50% of our camping customers are doing the North Coast 500 or a variation of the North Coast 500.
The owner added he has seen an increase in people with tents at the campsite during the first part of 2025.
He said: 'We're seeing a lot of people with roof boxes, which is something that has exploded.
'One of the things that I don't think I've mentioned, for every pound that somebody spends with our business here in Beauly, they'll spend at least another pound at the Co-op or at the filling station or at one of the restaurants.'