About a year after buying my first holiday let in York - during the middle of lockdown - I got a phone call from my rugby club friend, Mark who was telling me that he had bought three apartments in the Quadrant Building which is a new build - New York Loft Style building right next to the heart of the City and a 10-minute walk from the Minster.

He had bought one for his Mum, one for his Sister and one for himself and his wife, Daisy. And that there was another one available as the buyer had just pulled out due to restrictive covenants included in the original transfer of the property from City of York Council to the developer.

So, I called the solicitor acting for the buyer (who didn’t know that his client had pulled out) and offered to step into their shoes. Then I made an offer to the developer - who also didn’t know that the buyer had pulled out - and again - offered to step into their shoes. Luckily, they all agreed!

So, several weeks later I was the proud owner of my second holiday let in York - the Ruskin Suite – in the Quadrant Building, which is in an amazing location, is modern and bright and has a lovely balcony with a view of York Minster.

Despite some completion complications, I got there in the end and I had it furnished in the September, with 80% occupancy in the October.

It is still going strong especially considering that, after the school summer holidays, the York tourist market tends to be couples and not families, so the one-bedroom apartment is perfect, especially given the close proximity to the City and the view of the Minster.

The only problem with this particular apartment is that it did not have a car park and whilst it is only a 10-minute walk from York railway station, many people prefer to drive on their holidays, especially as they tend to go on to visit North Yorkshire Moors or the North Yorkshire Coast, both of which are truly beautiful.

So, therefore I did it deal with next door. There is a good old pub where the landlord has been running a free house for over 40 years and is a bit of an institution in the City of York.

After a good chat, I became the proud owner of a parking space right behind the Ruskin Suite and the Quadrant building. I will not charge extra for our guests for the benefit of a parking space which is incredibly rare in the City of York, but it does mean that occupancy goes on something like 70% to 90% because so many other apartments do not have that benefit.

What I have also found is that we also have a really good weddings business because the City of York registry office is on the same road, and we tend to find that Mark & Daisy’s and my apartment all get booked up a year in advance by couples getting married, or those sharing the magical day with the happy couple.

With being so close to the middle of York that they can go for an amazing meal or drink to celebrate and also only 5 minutes’ walk from the registry office, I have accidentally stumbled into the wedding business which is ironic as Daisy is actually an official registrar who hosts the weddings!