‘It’s looking up’

Winnipeg couple purchases Adventures East Campground and Cottages in Baddeck

A Winnipeg couple, originally from mainland Nova Scotia, have purchased a campground in Cape Breton.

Shane and Marie Thomsen are the new owners of Adventures East Campground and Cottages, located on Highway 105, the Trans-Canada Highway, in Baddeck, one kilometre east of Exit 7.

Shane Thomsen said the couple has been living out of province for 30 years and made the decision to move back to Nova Scotia.

“We looked around, my wife’s retired, and I’m still working, we’re in our early 50s, so we thought we can’t stop now, we need some type of employment, so we decided to go with a campground,” he said.

The family purchased the campground from Earl Timmons and Gary Roberts, the co-owners of the Red Barn, just down the road from the camping facility. Details of the sale, including price, were not mentioned.

Although Thomsen, who now calls Baddeck home with his wife and two young daughters, only began operating the campground on April 1, he has already started expansion plans to the facility.

“We’re going to do a 25-site expansion, we’re going to upgrade the facilities, somewhat,” said Thomsen. “We’re going to have some theme nights, and have some stuff for the children. We just thought it would be more family based, try to keep it along

those lines.”

“I’ve already started to clear land as of Tuesday,” he said. “By the end of next week, I will have an engineer in there for the septic systems and then after that, weather permitting, I just have to wait for the permits, the approval from the province.”

Other renovations planned for the facility include the addition of a canteen area for campers.

The campground was originally built in 1974 by Don and Gloria MacNeil. The MacNeil family later sold the facility to Timmons and Roberts in 1989, before they sold it to the Thomsen family.

Currently, the campground has 29 three-way sites, 42 way-sites, eight tenting sites, three cabins and a pool.

Timmons and Roberts made the decision to sell the campground in September.

“If I was only 69 again, I’d probably still be there,” laughed Timmons. “It’s just a matter that we are both in our 70s and health is an issue.”

Timmons said the business partners never had any plans of selling the campground until they were contacted by a broker with interested buyers.

“We weren’t really thinking about it, although after sitting down with this guy (the broker), it was obvious that we should be thinking about it,” he said. “He indicated that he had a couple of buyers that would be interested in it, so away we went.”

Timmons said the campground was posted for sale around the Labour Day weekend. He said the facility was sold within two days of the posting.

“We have had other inquires since then, directly to us, so I guess campgrounds are in demand, apparently,” said Timmons, a resident of Nyanza. “People are getting back to nature, and it’s a great family business to run, but it’s a great lifestyle for families as well.”

The campground, which will remain Adventures East Campground and Cottages, will officially open for the season on May 19, the start of the Victoria Day long weekend.

“Bookings are starting to come in now,” said Thomsen. “It’s looking up, it really is.”

Timmons has spoken to Thomsen a couple of times on the phone since the campground has been sold.

“We’re getting together on Monday, but we do have a list of things that we’re going to sort of guide him about, and he can take what he wants and throw away what he wants,” said Timmons.

“We will explain our experience and some things we tried that didn’t work, and things that we tried that worked out well.”

“He (Shane) has the enthusiasm,” said Timmons. “We brought it up quite a notch from the previous owner, now Shane is going to raise it another notch, so the real winners are going to be the regular customers, the regular campers.”

Timmons and Roberts have no immediate plans of selling the Red Barn. Timmons said now that the campground is sold, they can focus all their time on the Red Barn.

For more information and bookings at the campground visit www.adventureseast.ca or phone 1-800-507-2228 or email info@advenutreseast.ca.