About Us

Your Hosts

Will and Sarah Draper

We took over at Badwell Ash Holiday Lodges in July 2020, fulfilling a dream to work for ourselves and move to a beautiful lakeside retreat in a rural setting. We both come from families that ran successful small businesses in rural Leicestershire, so we understand the hard work and dedication that is involved. In particular, we are grateful for the opportunity to begin a different, less corporate lifestyle for ourselves and our family, and focus our energy on maintaining and enhancing this quite beautiful countryside retreat. We are especially keen to provide our guests with a relaxing, tranquil and truly memorable experience in this idyllic lakeside setting. On the rare occasions when we are not working on the site, we can be found enjoying time with our family and friends, sharing good food and wine, staying fit, and exploring the county of Suffolk.

Will
Will grew up in Leicestershire and went on to study at Durham University, developing a career in financial services in London for twenty years before deciding to call it a day whilst still young and energetic enough to take on his own business. He learned to fish with his Dad from a very young age and had the honour to belong to the Leicester Angling Society, which numbered the great Ivan Marks and Roy Marlow amongst its members. He loves any form of fishing, with trout and carp being his favourite quarry, but is equally content to just be in the countryside spotting birds and animals. Will first became acquainted with East Anglia at the age of eight on a boating holiday with his Grandad on the Broads, who kept a boat at Horning, and has been a regular visitor ever since. He is keen that his four kids grow up with an appreciation for the countryside and as anglers! The opportunity to manage Badwell Ash Holiday Lodges is a dream come true for Will, and he intends to make sure it remains a truly special place.

Sarah
Sarah is from rural Leicestershire too and is at her happiest walking through the countryside on a sunny day – that or sipping a Sauvignon Blanc or two at a Bury St Edmunds wine bar – work commitments allowing! She has a particular affinity with this part of the world having studied at the University of East Anglia, and enjoyed a successful career in television working at Anglia TV and the BBC, learning a few skills she could put to good use at Badwell Ash Holiday Lodges after a spell working on Charlie Dimmock’s Garden Army. After a time in more corporate business development roles in the UK and Australia, Sarah re-trained as a psychotherapist whilst caring for her family of four lovely children.  She went on to establish a successful practice in Hertfordshire where she lived for nine years. One of her proudest fishing moments was her first catch of a 16lb carp around 15 years ago – apologies to the local Isle of Wight fishermen that witnessed the commotion! Sarah relishes this next challenge of running her own business and creating a haven of peace, wellbeing and tranquility to share with her guests.