History! Written By Billy Harper.
On the 10th May 1939 a young couple Ken and Nell Harper arrived at Plompton Mill farm with their 15 month old son William (Billy) as tenants of 65 acres of what would become the Lido. The old farmhouse had 1 tap in the kitchen and a farmhouse range with the fire in the middle, the oven to the right and a boiler to the left for hot water. There was no toilet, no bathroom basically nothing and only oil lamps for lighting.
Across the yard there were two toilets side by side which were dry ones, paper was squares of newspaper on string hanging on a nail.
Ken and Nell were 28 and 27 in 1939. On the 3rd of September only 16 weeks after their arrival war broke out and their lives were changed forever. When they arrived there was one small brown caravan down near the river. People had from time immemorial come to camp in tents and swim in the river, and this was why people called Plompton Mill Farm the Lido (a bathing place). The Plompton Mill was still a working mill at that time and the farm was part of the Harewood estate. Ken was in partnership with his brother Reg, they actually worked for their mother Annie Harper who owned Claro Dairies in the town centre. They delivered milk for her and she had agreed that they could have the farm.
With the outbreak of war came refugees, we had two, a boy and a girl, nothing is remembered about the girl but the boy was from London and was called Leslie Stevenson. He had the same birthday as Billy but was about 10 years old and a long way from home and away from the Blitz. Others followed form London, Plymouth and other southern towns that were targets for the bombs, they dragged old buses onto the fields and some even built huts, anything to have a roof over their heads safe in the countryside. Terry was born in the farmhouse in Jan 1943
By 1944 there were quite a few families living in the old huts and buses, and this was really the start of the Lido caravan park, but no caravans as yet!
In 1944 came a great event for the family they got a German prisoner of war he was called Ernst Faust. He arrived every morning from the POW camp at Wetherby and returned every night. He was allowed to be fed but not in the house. He was tall and very thin with a touch of red hair. The family had decided that if he was to be fed that he was to eat with them in the house. Ernst was a big hit with Billy making him a bow and arrows and catapults. But as time went on and the allies won the war peace was declared in 1945 and Ernst left to go back to Germany, others decided to stay and so the beginnings of a caravan park evolved.
All through the 40's and 50's more and more people came to stay and enjoy the pleasures of the countryside. People built homemade caravans and brought them and stayed in them. No electric, toilets and very basic cooking, mostly by primus stove.
In 1961 the Caravan Site Development Act was introduced, Ken and Reg eventually obtained a Established Use Certificate which evolved into a Caravan Park Site licence. In 1962 after the death of Ken events took a change and found Billy, Reg and Terry now running the farm a lot of hard work and not much return, so in 1973 the decision was made to move away from farming and start a new business. As caravans were now being built in factories and costing around £400 people loved them and buy 1975 things took off with 51 new caravans a new toilet block with showers and land facilities. The next year Billy bought 4 caravans with all the mod cons which meant that the Lido had supply mains to everything. Everyone involved worked very hard and no one harder than Tony Broadbelt to get the Lido on mains water, gas and electric. Billy and his wife Brenda, Terry and his wife Doreen all worked together as a family business, but time moves on and there is a new generation of family running the business, these consist of Ken and Amanda Harper and Jonathan Harper.
In 1985 a pub/club was built the Plompton Mill Bar, this is now run by Donna Harper.
There has been a lot of changes with computers being the order of the day, but the grass still needs cutting on a regular basis something a computer can’t do! So we have a great team working both outdoors and indoors keeping up with the paperwork and the maintenance of the park.