Meet the Team...Finding exclusive holidays for you
Sarah Stanley
Director
Founder of UHS, Sarah puts the ‘m’ in multitasking. With a background in farming, Sarah spent a good few years travelling the world before settling in Australia for 12 years. Returning to her Cornish roots in 2000 to turn the seed of an idea into a reality, Sarah launched Unique Home Stays identifying a niche in the market for exclusive holidays and began the business from her living room whilst juggling a day-job and three young children – Morgane, Josh and Bryce. A keen horse rider, latterly Sarah has had few spare hours in the day to indulge in hobbies, but now that there’s a larger team at UHS, she is planning to be able to spend a little more time away from the computer;! A wealth of knowledge on anything UHS, and renowned for hatching a new idea a day, Sarah’s enthusiasm, zeal and passion for the company is contagious, just don’t ask her to do anything technical – she has an aversion to the credit card machine!
Michaela Hamshaw
Office Manager
With the patience of a saint, Michaela aka ‘The Accountant’ is the soothing voice that explains to the rest of the team for the umpteenth time how VAT works! A Cornish lass born and bred, after a spell living in London with her husband, Michaela moved back to Cornwall in 1999 to start a family, and joined UHS in 2005. With a background in customer services, Michaela is by far the most pragmatic member of the team, a brilliant trouble-shooter and general ray of sunshine in the office. Out of the office, Michaela loves karate, swimming, walking the dogs and cheering on her son in karate competitions... she has even been known to compete herself! Having fallen in love with the Isles of Scilly, we fear that she might be requesting to remote-access in from the islands!
Jess Clark
Press & Marketing Manager
Jess is originally from Wales, and can often be found heading valley-ward of a weekend. After a couple of years travelling in the southern hemisphere, Jess headed back to the UK to find an equally beautiful NZ-equivalent in Cornwall (though she does tend to pine for warmer climes during the long, dark winter months.) With a degree in English, although most renowned for her malapropisms, Jess enjoyed an eclectic selection of ‘character building’ jobs, then working for a couple of years as a journalist at Cornwall Today magazine before joining UHS, where she now heads up the exclusive house party team. Possibly possessing the least geographical know-how of the team, Jess feels most comfortable when sat in front of her map of the UK. When out of the office, Jess can occasionally be found power walking, often with pasty in hand, along the north Cornish coast.
Kahdine Weldhen
Property Operations Manager
Whilst a Cornish girl at heart, Kahdine’s sense of adventure has lead her to the more distant shores of Indonesia and Australia and can often be found mapping her next overseas trip. A keen equestrian and animal lover, Kahdine spends most of her spare time hacking the moors or mucking out the stables. At the weekend Kahdine dons her heels and often heads to the city to enjoy a London show and take advantage of the enviable shops before returning to more laid back living in Cornwall. With over 7 years experience in the Financial Industry, Kahdine joined UHS in March 2010 having recently been appointed Property Operations Manager.
Sarah Milligan
House Party Co-ordinator
Having studied Hospitality Management at University many moons ago, Sarah spent time organizing corporate events before being tempted by the bright lights of London and the music industry. She then spent six fun years gallivanting around town working for various records labels and pop artist managers. In 2005, when the thought of listening to another new band in a smoky Camden pub filled her with dread, she decided to find an alternative life in sunny Cornwall. Sarah joined Unique Home Stays House Party team in 2007 and looks after our corporate clients, as well as the overseas members. Her passions include beach walking, cooking for friends, music and dogs! After patiently waiting for the perfect pup, Sarah is now the proud mum of her gorgeous shiny black Springer/Labrador puppy called 'Buddy' full of character and life!.
Jen Morgan
Property Advisor
A true Cornish girl born and bred, Jen has returned to the county she loves after many travels away. Since graduating with a Hospitality Management degree back in 2000, Jen has spent most of her career in the wine industry, her ‘enthusiastic’ and ‘healthy’ interest in wine and all things bubbly led her to manage one of the largest wine merchants in Covent Garden. After four merry years in London, Cornwall and the sea beckoned. Jen joined the Unique Home Stays crew back in October 2007 and is part of the house party team looking after the new membership enquiries and our wedding clients. A keen photographer, sailor and wine lover, Jen really enjoys the finer things in life!
Tabitha Corbett
Accounts Assistant
Possessing the most creative doodles of the team, ever since her arrival in the UHS office in January 2008, as well as organising all the UHS paperwork Tab has been allocated role of chief birthday card designer! When she’s not painting, drawing or making things, sea-loving Tab, who’s originally from the Roseland peninsula, loves snorkelling, the sunshine and generally spending most of her time with her toes in the sand. Planning to wed, with a head full of dresses, venues and invitations, it’s a wonder that Tab can concentrate on sorting us all out; but there’s no unpaid monies due, no form left unsigned with the queen of the spreadsheets, dividers and filing system at the accounts helm!
Lucy Thompson
House Party Co-ordinator
Lucy grew up in the fresh air and green dales of North Yorkshire and enjoyed the stylish lifestyle of Harrogate living. Lucy and her husband Neil were soon tempted by the sun, sand and surf of the Cornish coastline so moved to Newquay some 7 years ago where they enjoy a more peaceful way of life by the sea. Having had a varied career, predominately in sales, Lucy was integral to the development and successful integration of a superb retirement village in Cornwall where she met and still keeps in touch with the residents. Lucy joined UHS in August of 2008 with a focus on the sales and development of our ‘for sale’ section, her thirst for knowledge saw her more recently undertake her RYA Onshore Skippers which she passed with flying colours, watch this space for Lucy’s next challenge! The very recent and welcome addition to the Thompson family has arrived and Lucy is now a proud mum to her beautiful baby girl, a huge congratulations to Lucy and family from the rest of the UHS team.
Samantha Lygo
House Party Co-Ordinator
Whilst Sam was born in Italy and grew up in London, the country life beckoned and she and her family moved to Cornwall some 15 years ago. Her passions are for horses and all things equine, she regularly can be found mucking out in her wellies before taking part in the local jumping and dressage events, the rosettes speak for themselves! Sam has spent most of her career within the hospitality industry with a more exotic stint in one of Dubai’s fabulous Ramada Hotels. Her interest and love in renovating beautiful homes became a real passion after Sam undertook a renovation project of her own converting a traditional Cornish farmhouse to its former glory. Mother of James, now 7 and a keen bodyboarder, Sam is a fab addition to the sales team!
Kirsty Goode
House Party Co-ordinator
Kirsty was born in Northamptonshire and moved to South Africa when she was 6. After 13 lovely sunny years she moved back to England in 2002 (although South Africa will always be home!) She studied Travel and Tourism in South Africa and has since worked as a travel agent and for a major components company. She has been singing, acting and dancing since the age of 10 and can always be found singing away at the local karaoke. She tries her hand at piano, and on her ‘list of things to do’ is learn to play the guitar and get up and show what she can do at an open mic night (hoping her boyfriend will be on hand to save her if her skills fail her!) After a holiday to gorgeous Cornwall she decided what better place to be and within a few months had packed up life in Northamptonshire and moved to her new Cornish home. Kirsty can’t wait to learn to surf and explore all that Sunny Cornwall has to offer! Kirsty is our newest addition to the House party team joining us in February 2010.
Bethany Conlay
House Party Co-Ordinator
Bethany joined UHS at the end of summer 2009 and has already settled in the buzz of the sales team. Cornish born, Bethany has had a varied career including local care-work and more recently the hospitality industry turning her hand to anything from waitressing to chefing. Bethany and her family continue to run a very successful catering business, and thankfully for the team, the occasional chocolate cake finds its way to the office! Bethany can often be found with her nose in a good book or walking the banks of the River Fal with her gorgeous Irish Wolfhound, Paddy. Bethany has taken the plunge now and as well as working part time at UHS, has embarked on her further studies of Physics, Chemistry, further mathematics with a view to completing a logistics degree, we wish her all the luck.
Dave Marks
Web Developer
Dave, commonly known as ‘the only guy’ on the UHS team, thanks his lucky stars that he’s not based in the same office as all the girls, who look at him blankly as he launches into what they class as ‘tech speak’ as such Dave gets quite of lot of ribbing from his co-workers, who he is sure endeavour to make his life as difficult as possible by sending through a constant stream of website requests. UHS called upon Dave in its infancy, at which point he rebuilt the site you see today from scratch and has been responsible for its on-going evolution ever since. How he finds time to actually do any work for anyone else is a miracle, although UHS is just one of an ever-growing client base both in and outside of the county. During the rare moments that he manages to escape from in front of the computer, Dave can be found pursuing an in-depth study of the locally brewed delicacies.
Hayley Spurway
Journalist
Having spent years trotting the globe, from the ski slopes of Europe to the vineyards of Australia, Hayley came back to the UK and got her first proper job at a travel magazine. A swift three years in London was more than enough to make her see sense, so she swapped the rat race for beach life when she relocated to Cornwall in 2003. With a passion for writing and the great outdoors, she now writes for various magazines, websites and guidebooks. Whilst keeping up with the words for Unique Home Stays, she aims to get a non-fiction book or two under her belt before living out the rest of her working days as a lollipop lady and novelist. Hayley is now the proud mum of gorgeous Oli born in May 2009.