MORTON OF PITMILLY CELEBRATES 25TH ANNIVERSARY

Thursday 9 July 2015

With The Open about to come to St Andrews once again, a Kingsbarns based holiday business is looking forward to enjoying full occupancy throughout the competition – a welcome bonus as it celebrates 25 years of successful operation this July!

Morton of Pitmilly countryside resort, a multi award winning family business run by keen tennis player and business woman Eilidh Smith, and her step father, John Parker, has grown to become one of the most successful self catering businesses in Fife, with its range of four and five star holiday properties attracting holidaymakers from all over the UK.
In 2011, the business took the opportunity to add an indoor tennis court, spa hub and gym to its offering, by converting a farm barn on the estate. In the past three years, the business has also gone through a business growth plan with Scottish Enterprise to increase visibility and enter new markets.

Said Eilidh Smith, pictured here with step father John and other key members of the team: “We are delighted to be celebrating our Silver Anniversary just weeks before another Open tees off in St Andrews – there is always a fantastic buzz in the air as the event grows closer. Obviously there is a significant spin off for a wide variety of local businesses in the area, from accommodation providers like ourselves to the retail and food sectors.”

“We have all worked really hard over the past twenty five years to make Morton of Pitmilly  Countryside resort what it is today – a business which attracts top class reviews and regularly catches the eyes and ears of the judges in the various tourism sector and business competitions that we enter. We like to keep setting ourselves fresh challenges and to feel that we can continue to develop and improve the business even further,” she said.

As Eilidh outlined, it was very much the right decision to add more leisure facilities to the mix, with these facilities being widely used by the local community too, as well as holidaymakers.

“We are still a working arable farm and also grow a great deal of fresh produce on site. Our orchard and our lovely walking trails and open fields are as much an attraction of coming here as the boutique holiday homes,” added Eilidh. “The challenge for our business has been to retain our character  in this rural setting but also to offer the facilities that today’s leisure and corporate customers want.”
“I would like to thank John, my step father, for the opportunity to take on and further develop the business, and as ever, my hard working team, “said Eilidh. ”We are looking forward to tucking into our special anniversary cake made for us by Fishers and Donaldsons.”

“Our official anniversary is July but we are thinking about holding an autumn event too, to mark the Anniversary at a less busy time. It may be some type of charity fund raising craft event in the central courtyard with stalls from local artisan food providers and so on. It would be brilliant to make this a pre Christmas shopping event and we could raise money for a local charity at the same time.”
Finished Eilidh: “We are still at a fairly early stage on planning this but think it has lots of potential  as our central courtyard is a very good workable space for an event of this nature. We will be very busy with The Open and the rest of our summer season but are thinking that perhaps November would be a good time to do this to end this very special year on a high.”

For more information on Morton of Pitmilly go to www.pitmilly.co.uk