Kubota has a long relationship with the holiday park industry, and the new generation of its renowned compact tractors is finding its niche in this sector.
Family-owned and run Blue Anchor Leisure has 15 sites with 4500 plots offering holiday home ownership in the enduringly popular Lincolnshire coast resorts of Skegness and Ingoldmells, where generations have made the English seaside their go-to for relaxation and entertainment.
With the local population swelling from 20,000 to a peak of half million in the summer, the town is highly reliant on the tourist industry, which after the trials of Covid has seen a boost with the new popularity of staycations.
“We’re constantly seeking to move forward and improve to serve the needs of today’s holiday makers,” explains operations manager Steve Wymer. “So we’re developing new plots within our parks to take account of the increased size of modern vans and also the requirement for car parking adjacent to them, and increased space between each to meet fire safety rules.”
Manoeuvring a 14ftx42ft single axle static caravan around site is a skilled task; in dry conditions older vans can be removed and the new ones be sited with a 4×4 but when the going gets tough, a different kind of horsepower is required.
“We’ve invested significantly in machinery over the past 12 months,” comments Steve. “We have had a Kubota tractor on one of the parks for five years, which has been highly reliable, plus the reputation of the engines goes before them, so we knew it was a good choice. Irelands Farm Machinery, who supplied the L2-622, were extremely helpful and easy to deal with.”
The tractor will be fitted with ball hitches on the front of the chassis frame to allow the vans to be pushed rather pulled, improving visibility and safety.
Holiday home ownership gives customers opportunities for a getaway throughout the year, and with LPG providing the fuel source for cooking, heating and hot water, transporting gas tanks safely and efficiently around the parks is another important task.
“A specially-designed trailer allows four tanks to be carried at once which can be pulled with ease, and the tractor is highly manoeuvrable around the vans. The maintenance team have multiple roles from looking after the grounds to checking site services rather than being dedicated machinery operators, but the Kubota is very straightforward to drive so even those with no prior tractor experience have taken to it well,” says Steve.
He adds that while the original plan was to have a slightly smaller tractor, the extra horsepower has led his team to consider other tasks that could be accomplished with it.
“We’re looking at adding a flail mower to reduce the amount of time that is taken up with strimming, so we may find even more work for the L2-622 in future.”
