The Sunshine Holiday Camp
Chapter 1
Stuart was 25, he was a good looking young man, 5 foot 6 inches tall with light brown hair, grey eyes and a cheeky grin on his face, he was the outdoors type of guy, happier walking around his place of work, than in the office doing paperwork. Stuart was the under manager on a very large campsite in Devon, his boss was very seldom at the site so that Stuart had full control of everything that went on, and with Stuart in charge and the sort of manager who was more than happy to talk to all the guests, the site was full most of the time. Stuart had been at the site since leaving school, at 15, seems his father and the owner were friends, and to be honest Stuart's father wanted his son to, a) get from under his mother's feet and b) get a worthwhile job. At school Stuart was the dunce of the class, he was in the lowest stream in the school and whenever he had maths or English, he was almost permitted to do his own thing, he did learn a bit about money, and he could write, but even at 15 his spelling was no better than a 10 year olds, it was in woodwork and metalwork that Stuart came into his own both his teachers in those departments has the highest praise for as they said, the lad. So when Stuart left school, his mother packed his suitcase and Stuart was put on a train and sent to Devon.
On the site, he was given a 10 foot caravan to live in and was told he would be the groundsman and have to look after the whole site, he was shown how to use the three wheeler truck they had on the site, and throughout the summer months he removed rubbish bins, cut grass and was in all intents and purposes a dogsbody, but he was getting paid a good wage, and with the caravan having everything he needed as time went on he learned a lot. The bosses wife was a lovely lady and soon became like a second mother to Stuart, she taught him how to cook and when she went into the local town, she would first go to Stuart and pick up his shopping list, then bring the shopping back to his caravan and put it away for him, and Stuart did his best looking after the site. When Stuart was 18, the boss got him in the office and told him he had done such a good job, he was going to get a pay rise, and a promotion to head groundsman, no more picking up rubbish bins and cleaning up behind bad campers, he was now in charge of the pitches and nothing more. On his 18th birthday, Stuart was told that he could have the afternoon and evening off if he wanted, so Stuart worked until 12 then went back to his caravan. Stuart's caravan although small, it was well designed, with a double seat at one end with a table, a single bed at the other end which Stuart kept made up all the time when he finished work, he was so tired he would lay on his bed, and when he woke up, it was morning again, The middle of his van was laid out with a kitchen area on one side and the other a small wardrobe and the van door, but Stuart had by now got used to his home and was very happy. On his birthday he made his way back to his van thinking what he was going to have for his birthday lunch, as he went to open the van door her heard music being played, and on opening the door he was confronted with Brenda, the bosses wife, she was standing over the cooking area, there were two pans on the small cooker one with some sort of meat inside, and the other one had mixed veg and potatoes, but the smell that came from both pans, was fantastic. As Stuart walked in, wondering what was going on, Brenda said Sit yourself down son, oh and happy birthday". as Stuart sat at the table he saw a small pile of cards, one from his mother and father, one from the rest of the staff on the site, and one from his boss and his wife, the last one was a little bit larger than the others, and when Stuart opened it, it was from Brenda herself and as Stuart read the words he looked at her, but she had a wicked glint in her eye. "Stuart son, I have always treated you as one of my own, you were the son I never had, and to be honest, it's far too late for me to have children, but I have tried to love you as a mother would. Now that you are 18, you are a man, and as such I want you to do your best to give my husband more time to be with me, I want you, to start running this site as if it was yours, can you do that". she kissed his cheek, then standing up she took a plate from the shelf and put it on the table in front of Stuart, then filled the plate with the meat and veg from the two pans. "There you go Stuart love, enjoy". she then walked out of the van leaving Stuart to wonder what had just happened.
Over the next 7 years, Stuart did do as Brenda had asked him to do, he took over the site so that in the end he never saw the boss, all he would get was a phone call every morning saying the same thing. "Any problems, in that case, I'll try and come in later". but he never did, Stuart ran the site, he got to know the people who came back year after year and they became his sort of family. During those 7 years, Stuart made a lot of alterations to the site, he put in hard standings for caravans and motorhomes, he flattened out the tent area and seeded it with a better grass, something that was hardy and could stand being covered for a 14 day holiday without going brown and horrible, so over the years Stuart became more and more popular with the holidaymakers and was able to make sure they all had a great holiday. Stuart enlarged the clubhouse so that on a Saturday night they could have a dance, with a local 4 piece band that was more than happy to play for them, things were going very well, the site was becoming bigger, and more and more people wanted to come there for there summer holidays so that in the end, the site was having to turn people away.
It was Saturday, Stuart had just finished a load of paperwork and was getting ready to do his rounds of the site when the boss walked into the office, Stuart sat back in the chair his mouth open. "Stuart old son I need you to meet someone". he stood to one side and this woman walked into the office. "This Stuart, is Hannah, she will be working with you for the next 6 to 8 weeks, I want you to not only show her round the site, but how we do all the paperwork, everything we do here, she needs to know and understand". Stuart sat there, his mouth still open, Hannah walked towards the desk, but she didn't shake his hand, she very gently placed her fingers under Stuart's chin and closed his mouth. "Hello". she said. "I hope we can work together and we can be friends". Stuart was still speechless, all he could do was nod his head and smile. Hannah was very beautiful, she was a little taller than Stuart, but then he did notice the high heeled shoes, her hair was jet black and shiny, she was slim and even in the two piece suit, she was wearing it was clear to Stuart she had a figure that most men would die for. As Hannah went back out into the outer office the Boss told Stuart of his plan. "Look son, you have done me proud over the time you have been here, the campsite is making money hand over fist and to be honest, it's all down to you, you have put your whole life into this site and made it what it is today. I have been offered a fantastic new venture, Hannah is over here from Malta, seems some of there local government ministers have heard about our site and want to set up the same sort of thing at a place called St Pauls, now son, this is the thing, you are my best man when it comes to what we do on this site, would you be willing to work with Hannah, then in 8 weeks time go to Malta with her and set up this new site, it's a 3 year contract, with a further 3 years if you want it, but I would like you to go for the first 3 years to set it all up, how do you feel about that". Stuart was listening, he had heard what his boss had said, but he could never believe that he was going to leave this site or for that matter England. "Well boss, If you are happy for me to do it, then I will, but who will look after this site". "Dont you worry about this site, it almost looks after itself, but this site in Malta will be our sort of flagship in Europe, it's about the same size as this site, so you can use everything at your disposal, if you can give it the same sort of look as we have here, then people from the U.K. who go out there will know just what they are getting. So son, how about it, are you up for the challenge". Stuart didn't need much time to make his decision, "Ok boss". Stuart said. I will do the job". he smiled. "And make you proud of me".
Stuart took Hannah to a caravan like his own that was next to his, he then showed her how everything worked, but also said."Hannah, I have a very nice stew ready to heat up, if you knock on my door in say an hour, then I will treat you to dinner". he then left Hannah to get herself settled in. An hour later there was a knock at his door and he opened it, as Hannah stepped into his own van he caught the strong whiff of perfume, but it smelt ok, he also noticed that Hannah had changed out of her suit and was now in slacks and a V necked cotton jumper, Stuart invited Hannah to sit at the table and he placed a plate in front of her, then one for himself, then putting some of his homemade stew on each plate he sat down himself. Hannah seemed a little wary at first, but after she had taken her first mouthful, she looked at Stuart, smiled and with her fork and spoon waded through the stew that Stuart had put onto her plate. Sitting back in her seat her plate empty she looked at Stuart. "That was wonderful, I loved it, you will have to give me the recipe". Over the next couple of hours they talked, they talked about themselves, about Malta and about the campsite. "Do you think we can make the campsite in Malta as good as the one here". Hannah said. "Well, i don't know". Stuart said. "Until I have seen the site, I can't really say anything". Hannah got up from her seat. "Wait a minute". she said and was gone. A few minutes later she returned with a large A4 notebook, she placed it on the table and on opening it showed Stuart all the details she had on the site in Malta including half a dozen photos Stuart looked. "So, we have a blank canvass to work with I see". he said. "Blank canvass, what do you mean, blank canvass". Hannah said Stuart looked at her. "These are the photos you have, right". Hannah nodded. "So we have to start from scratch, right". Hannah again nodded her head. "The only thing there at the moment is a large shed, and a small shed". she looked at her notes. "The small shed is 8 by 12, and the large shed is 36 by 24". "Ok". Stuart said, "We have our shop and our reception area, we need a clubhouse and an indoor and outdoor pool, and of coarse out pitches for vans and tents". he looked across at Hannah she looked tired. "Go on girl". he said with a cheeky grin on his face. "Get your head down, I will see you in the office at around 10, then we will do the rounds of the site, you will love that, they are a good crowd and are more than happy to see a new face in the van". Hannah stood up and said goodnight, Stuart washed up the dinner things then climbed into his own bed, as his eyes closed, he was thinking of Hannah, she was very good looking and like himself single, but, he had no wish to let his boss down, so the job must come first.
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