Sarah and Lee have a passion for new places

Sep 8 2009 by Iain Laing, The Journal

A NEWCASTLE couple who set up a business to help families to find new and exciting places to go in the North East are fast winning support for the idea.

Sarah and Lee Sharp set up Families Recommend after being frustrated in their efforts to get good tips on new ways of spending their free time.

So they set up a website which allows families to post reviews and recommendations of places to visit online, in April, and the number of contributors has risen sharply over the summer.

The Sharps came up with the idea for their business after struggling to find online reviews and recommendations during their holidays last year.

Sarah said: “As a mother of a young child, every summer I would look for new and exciting things to do as a family, but each year I would struggle to find activities that would suit our needs. It was this dilemma that led to me setting up the business.

“In today’s economic climate, many people are short of cash and want to find the best activities, events or places that offer value for money and that other people have had a good time experiencing. They don’t want to be disappointed or ripped off and this is where our website comes in. The site is all about finding enjoyable days out and sharing recommendations with other people.”

The Families Recommend website, www.familiesrecommend.co.uk , allows users to post recommendations for services, activities, events and products, as well as places to go.

There is a ‘kid free zone’ online, where families without children can post recommendations for anything from bars and restaurants, to spa treatments.

Sarah said they had received important help in launching it from Business Link. “Lee and I had no business experience, so the support we received from Business Link really was crucial,” she said.

“The advice was really helpful, and enabled us to turn our business idea into a reality. I really do believe that without the assistance we have had, we would probably still be debating our company structure. Instead, we now have a live website and an exciting business future ahead of us.”

As well as providing advice and support, Business Link guided the couple through a successful application for funding to the North East England Investment Centre (NEEIC), which helped cover the costs of stationery, marketing materials and legal assistance needed in order to set the business up.

Bill Hartshorne, a Business Link adviser who worked with the company, said: “Working with Sarah and Lee has been great. They are so passionate about Families Recommend and helping other families to find activities to suit them.”