“I remember being in a windswept cemetery and thinking life is short.” Paul Carter on why he swapped corporate life for the country, returning to his repping roots and being diagnosed with ADHD.
- jeremyskidmore8
- Mar 25
- 8 min read
By Jeremy Skidmore
In many ways, Paul Carter feels as though his working life has come full circle from his days as a young ski rep, when he looks after guests at the cottages he owns in Herefordshire.
Most of them are delightful and, just like customers on a ski holiday, you get some interesting characters.
“We had a lovely Dutch guy and his son staying for a quiet break and a young couple were in the cottage next door loudly enjoying themselves.
“Luckily, we had room in another cottage so I asked the couple if they wouldn’t mind moving. I gave them a bottle of fizz and they wrote us a beautiful testimonial and have booked to come back.
“Another time we had a former Green MEP staying with his teenage girls. I went out cycling with him and we had some great chats.
“But the surprising thing was that he didn’t exactly practice what he preached. He had a lot of single-use plastic, which we’re not keen on, and they didn’t separate their rubbish for recycling.
“I try to meet everyone when they arrive, and you get a feel for whether they want to engage or just do their own thing. You need to know how to read people and the best way to communicate with them. It is very much like being a rep!”
Time for change
Up until 2020, Paul’s life was very different, as chief executive of Hotelplan, but first Brexit and then Covid left their mark on him.
“Brexit changed our business model. We had 60 managed hotels and over 230 chalets and suddenly we couldn’t employ Brits overseas. That business was flying and then the sector was squeezed.
“And then of course Covid came. I was in the Italian Alps with some VIPs, and it was coming up the valley. Then it was crisis after crisis, we had customers getting sick in Italy and we were trying to get guests out of resorts as the borders were closing. We had 250 staff stuck in St Anton for weeks.
“After that, I just felt I was done. I was 55 and I didn’t find any joy in it any more. My Swiss boss suggested I take a year out and come back refreshed, but I didn’t think it was fair. As a boss, you need to be dealing in hope, and I needed a break.”
Paul says the over-riding drivers behind his decision to change course were events in his personal life.
After spending time with his elderly father who was dying of cancer, he then also saw a good friend, Steph Pritchard, former Citalia and Sovereign Holidays managing director, succumb to the illness in August 2020.
“It made me stop and think what I really wanted from life. I remember being in a windswept cemetery in Shropshire and thinking, life is short, I’ve got to live in the moment and make the change.”
Buying the cottages
In 2022, Paul and Angela uprooted from their old lives in Leicestershire and London. They invested in a 400-year-old farmhouse to live in plus five cottages, in Herefordshire, and refurbished them into modern properties to rent out for holidays.
“We spent £50,000 alone on bathrooms. Everything was avocado green and the power in the showers was non-existent.”
The purchases might have seemed like a rash decision but in truth they were anything but – Paul has always been a meticulous planner, and the couple carried out extensive research before taking the plunge.
“We had a wonderful nine months travelling around, staying in different parts of the country. We saw 27 different places and had so much fun. We kept thinking ‘could we live here?’
“At Cendant, we’d acquired Holiday Cottages Group at the turn of the century, so I understood the business model and this idea had been kicking around my head for a long time.
“We ended up in Herefordshire, partly because your money goes a lot further than it does in Devon, Cornwall or The Cotswolds.
“Angela and I are very much a team, and she reigns me in. I looked at the big picture and wanted 80 acres, but she restrained me, and we met somewhere in the middle.
“We were staying in one of the cottages in Herefordshire, found out they were for sale, and we just fell in love with them. They needed work but we wanted a project. We have re-invented ourselves, but it wasn’t done on a whim. I’ve always done my homework and my advice to anyone is to do that.
“We have lucked out being in a wonderful community that is very supportive, but we have worked hard to integrate ourselves and host local people.”
Since the purchase, Paul admits that running the cottages business has been a huge learning curve, but bookings are now strong with 60% average occupancy throughout the year.
“We’ve now on various hosting sites and we’ve got a good website that people can book through. We’re not great at social media, so our daughter and her partner help, and I used to have a marketing team, but it’s been just the two of us learning. We’re now in the fortunate position to be able to pay people and have friends and colleagues who help us to promote the business.”
Hard work
Peruse their impressive website, whitehousecottages.co.uk, and you might imagine that Paul and Angela have an idyllic lifestyle. In many ways they do, but Paul readily admits it’s hard work.
“We’ve got 200 five-star google reviews, and really, I want to give a six-star service, which takes a lot of work.
“When it’s pouring with rain I might be clearing the gutters, when it stops, I’ll be mowing the lawn. We’ll be sweeping up the leaves before people arrive.
“We have a housekeeper and a cleaner and we’re constantly going around checking everything is perfect – you can forgive the odd missed cobweb but not a hair on the toilet seat.
“I’m usually at the front of the house greeting everyone, while Angela has a brilliant eye for detail and brings a warmth to the business that makes it feel like home. She’s the reason guests feel so looked after from the moment they walk through the door.”
Paul says he has changed from the stressed-out businessman and even admits to hugging trees while practising forest bathing, which involves spending time in the natural environment to promote relaxation and well-being.
“I suppose I have become more spiritual, living in the moment. We are heading for 777 bookings since we’ve been here which is hugely significant because it’s an angel number, meaning it has spiritual significance that we are on the right path.
“We offer forest bathing for guests so, yes, we do hug trees. It’s wonderful to notice things in nature, you should try it.”
Non-executive roles
Paul is still part of the travel industry through various other roles, such as non-executive chair of Simpson Travel, Macs Adventure and Host & Stay.
“I thought I would retire completely but I suppose I’ve failed at that. Helping businesses to grow and coaching is something I still get a huge amount of value out of and I couldn’t quite let go of it.
“I have a lot of experience which I feel can benefit the companies I work with, and it keeps me in touch with people. Also, you keep learning and that can be useful for my new life.
“People often ask me about becoming a non-executive director or joining an advisory board and I tell them to go for it. If you’re in full-time employment, then negotiate with your employer to allow you to do it because you’ll learn so much and can take that back to help your company.
“If you’ve left a full-time role, don’t wait around for too long before doing it because the world quickly moves on, and you’ll be forgotten.”
Paul still regularly attends industry conferences, making the three-hour trips from London to network with colleagues old and new.
“People ask me why I bother but I deliberately make efforts to talk to people and that is helpful. Every time I’ve gone, I’ve learnt something and made connections with people that might lead to something.”
Paul says it took time to adjust to his new life and there are some things he misses about his corporate life.
“Your work is so much about who you are, I’m not talking about status but more about being fulfilled. You have some soul searching and you must find what’s right for you.
“We honestly have never had a ‘what the hell have we done?’ moment, but of course there are some things you miss.
“I miss having teams of people to work with who help you get things done, that camaraderie you have all the time.
“Also, we have to plan our holidays and make the decision to shut at certain times of the year so we can get away. For my 60th birthday [coming up] we’re taking time off and all going skiing. We close at certain times so we can have time off.
“In my last year at Hotelplan I took 50 flights in a year and I wouldn’t want to go back to that, but it would be nice to have more spontaneity.
“We’re lucky it’s a lifestyle business and the positives of what we are doing massively outweigh the negatives.”
Diagnosis explains behaviour
Paul has always been hyperactive and was recently diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) after waiting nearly two years for an assessment. He thinks it explains a lot.
‘When you are working with someone all the time, as I am now with Angela, they notice it more, so she encouraged me to get checked. I’ll ask her if she’d like a cup of tea and then I’ll find four other things to do which seem more important, and after a while she’s saying, ‘where’s my tea?’
“My head is like a laptop with 25 tabs open and I’ll have 15 books on the go at once. So, I’m very active but sometimes struggle to finish things and have always been like that. I’ve done well in my career, and I have got stuff done but I’ve had people to help me, and it has been difficult.”
Paul usually sets himself five-year targets but thinks they may run the business for another six years before selling up and slowing down. Before that, there are plans to expand but he’s keeping that to himself for now.
“I don’t think we’re meant to do that thing of working hard all your life and just stopping when you’re still relatively young. So I just see it as changing tack and putting energy into something else.
“It’s a privilege to create a space where people can escape, switch off and just enjoy life in the slow lane for a while. And in a way, that’s exactly what I needed too.”
I’m about to ask another question on our second video call but Paul suddenly looks up from his laptop, sees someone approaching the farmhouse and offers profuse apologies with a big smile on his face.
“I’m really sorry, I have to go. I can see a customer wants some help with the EV charger. It’s all part of the service!”
Comments