MP meets staff enjoying free stays away from front-line

North Cornwall MP Scott Mann swapped the Common s for Constantine Bay recently to meet key workers enjoying a free respite break at a boutique holiday retreat.

Mr Mann was at Martha’s Orchard where owner Patrick Langmaid is providing no-cost stays to some of those helping Britain keep going during the Covid crisis.

Free respite breaks for Key Workers

More than 20 lockdown workers and their families are being welcomed at Martha’s Orchard in December, accommodated in fully-equipped luxury lodges.

During his visit, Mr Mann met with guests including Cindy Allen who works in the emergency department at the nearby Royal Cornwall Hospital in Treliske.

Cindy was staying at the retreat with her partner Gary John, and enjoying what Patrick Langmaid described as a “small token of our gratitude” for her dedication and bravery:

Staycation thankyou’s

“You can not overstate the hard work and relentless pressure which key workers have had to endure this year, both during in between the lockdowns,” he said.

“We are very fortunate to be in the position of being able to provide these holidays as a mark of the respect and admiration which everyone feels for these front-line workers.

“This has been a very tough year for the hospitality industry, but our business has survived and I can think of no better way of finishing 2020 on a high!” said Mr Langmaid.

As well as Martha’s Orchard, Patrick Langmaid’s family business also owns the highly acclaimed Mother Ivey’s Bay holiday park in Padstow.

He said he was very grateful to Mr Mann for his championing of Cornwall’s tourism industry throughout the crisis and his support for local communities.

Next year, Mr Langmaid told the MP, would also be a tough twelve months for his sector despite the vaccine roll-out, and that this year’s losses could never be recovered.

At the top of his wish-list, he said, would be a reduction in VAT to 5% for tourism providers to support their efforts to trade their way out of the pandemic.

Martha’s Orchard special holiday visitor

On a lighter note, Mr Mann was intrigued to learn on his visit that Martha’s Orchard was previously the location on a small holiday park which included a hair salon on the site.

Amongst its customers, explained Mr Langmaid, was his party’s former leader Margaret Thatcher who often used to pop in for a tidy-up during her holidays in Constantine!