How We Became the Lodge Guys

Last updated on June 30th, 2026 at 03:42 pm

Hello, Lodgers! One of the questions we get asked the most is how we actually became The Lodge Guys on YouTube.

You’ve probably heard us mention that I (Leigh) had a health scare a few years back. That moment was a massive wake-up call and the true catalyst for the journey that led us to exactly where we are today.

We thought it was finally time to sit down, write a proper blog post, and share the full story behind the channel.

Where it started

The health scare actually happened a little after we bought our first lodge, but we’ll get to that bit later.

Our journey into lodge life started purely by chance back in 2016.

At the time, we were still running our own business. I took the morning off to attend the funeral of a close family friend, while Nick went to work as usual.

We’d been talking about a weekend getaway for ages. The demands of the business made it hard to plan trips abroad, and it had been years since our last proper holiday.

We just really needed a quick break away somewhere to recharge our batteries.

While Nick was in the office, he started searching online for a quick getaway.

He called me at the wake to say he’d found a great three-bedroom caravan on the East Coast of Yorkshire.

It was big enough for us to bring our niece, as well as our friend Sarah (Sazzle) and her dog. Being at a funeral was a stark reminder that life is short, so I just told him, “Book it.” We desperately needed an escape.

We packed our bags for our first real break in years. It wasn’t a luxury holiday, but stepping away from the staff, spreadsheets, and the daily grind of the business was exactly what our minds needed to recharge.

I’ll always remember lying on the bed in that caravan and having a sudden realisation: We can’t easily travel abroad right now, so maybe we should buy our own caravan!

It was a thought I never expected to have. You usually associate caravans with older people (which we definitely aren’t, obviously 👀). My parents had one years ago, but owning one ourselves had never even crossed my mind until that exact moment.

As my mum’s birthday was approaching, she booked a caravan weekend away with my sister. Nick and I decided to tag along to scout out a few local parks for ourselves.

We scheduled viewings at a couple of places, but the second we arrived at the park we live on now, something just clicked. We looked at each other and instantly knew: this is it.

The feeling was undeniable. Driving into the site, surrounded by lodges, greenery, squirrels, deer, and geese (we didn’t know back then that they’d constantly poop on our cars, so we actually liked them at the time!), it just felt right.

The moment we set foot in the park, we were sold. We stepped inside a small lodge, technically a brown caravan, but they called it a lodge, and fell in love immediately.

The first health scare

While we were chatting with the sales rep, my sister rang. Mum had been taken poorly. This was the health scare that truly kicked our lodge journey into gear.

It was actually Mum’s birthday. She’d woken up with stomach pains, assuming it was just from the pizza the night before, but it kept getting worse.

It got so bad during a walk with my sister that they had to get a taxi back to their caravan.

By then, Mum was in absolute agony, and the park staff called an ambulance.

We dropped everything and rushed straight over to her.

Before we knew it, Mum was on gas and air, being rushed to a hospital in Hull.

I rode in the back of the ambulance with her, while Nick followed close behind in the car.

As I sat there, just relieved she was finally in good hands, it suddenly hit me: We have to buy that lodge. Look how fast life can change.

When Nick arrived at the hospital, he had been thinking the exact same thing. If we’d come up with our motto back then, we definitely would have looked at each other and said, “Every day is best,” right at that very moment.

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“Everyday is best.”

— Leigh & Nick, The Lodge Guys

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As it turned out, Mum had appendicitis and needed to have her appendix removed. Thankfully, the operation went smoothly, and she made a full recovery!

Once things finally settled down and life got back to normal, we rang the park straight away to let them know we were officially going ahead with the purchase.

We were absolutely buzzing at the thought of having our own little weekend escape.

Little did we know at the time, but buying that lodge was about to completely change the trajectory of our lives forever.

Our first lodge

Just after my 40th birthday, we finally got the keys to our very first lodge!

We spent the weeks leading up to it completely obsessed with shopping for accessories to make it feel like a proper home away from home.

Our new routine was brilliant. We’d leave work on a Friday afternoon, head straight to the coast, and grab a meal at the local pub while the heating worked its magic in the lodge.

Those Friday nights were absolutely wonderful. We’d spend all of Saturday soaking up the peace and quiet, before reluctantly heading back on Sunday afternoon to prepare for the 6 a.m. Monday morning grind.

We quickly started dreading Sundays. We never wanted to pack up and head back to reality; we just loved the peace and quiet too much.

For a few months, this was our new routine: grinding at the business during the week and escaping to the lodge on the weekends.

Just down the road from us was a street lined with much bigger residential lodges. We’d take a stroll down there, having a nosey, and just daydream about owning one.

Back then, it felt like an impossible dream. I distinctly remember looking at the exact lodge we live in now and putting it out into the universe, thinking, “I want to live there one day.” So, when I heard it had been sold, I was absolutely gutted, even though it was only ever a pipe dream.

We had officially settled into our first lodge in September, and spending that first Christmas there was brilliant. Naturally, we had a perfectly decorated tree (We loves Christmas!). That’s when it really hit us just how much happier we were. Time just seemed to slow down at the lodge, and we were finally finding the magic in those everyday moments.

But, as we all know, life loves to throw a curveball when you least expect it.

That February brought the health scare you’ve probably heard us mention in the vlogs.

It served as a massive wake-up call and a stark reminder of just how fragile life and our health can really be.

The health scare that altered the course of our lives

It was Valentine’s week. After a normal evening of hanging some new curtains, I started getting an ache in my side.

I brushed it off as indigestion, but by 2 a.m., I woke up in absolute agony.

It felt like I was being stabbed. Nick immediately called for an ambulance, and the pain was so intense I needed gas and air just to make it down the stairs.

At the hospital, after a painfully long wait and one very dismissive nurse who tried to tell me it was just “random pain,” an X-ray finally revealed the truth: a 10cm cyst on my spleen had ruptured.

I ended up in the hospital for days, facing surgery to have my spleen removed and the reality of taking antibiotics for the rest of my life.

While Nick was sleeping by my side on that cold hospital floor, it gave us both a lot of time to think. We realised we were approaching life all wrong working relentlessly on the business and missing out on actually living.

When Nick came to visit me on the ward, he just looked at me and said, “As soon as you’re well enough to get out of here, we’re getting the keys to view that bigger lodge.” (The sale on the exact one I’d always dreamed of had miraculously fallen through!).

And just like that, the universe stepped in, and our lives changed all over again.

A couple of months later, we took the plunge and officially upgraded to the beautiful lodge we live in today!

During that recovery period, I leaned heavily into the Law of Attraction. I’d originally discovered The Secret by Rhonda Byrne years ago during a trip to Walmart, and I truly believe in the power of positivity.

I stumbled across a story online about a woman who healed her spleen using positive thoughts rather than having it removed. I figured, if she could do it, why couldn’t I? 🤔

So, I decided to decline the surgery and focus all my energy on healing myself from the inside out.

It wasn’t an easy road. There were definitely ups and downs, and the pain even landed me back in the hospital at one point. But I stuck to my guns and trusted the process.

Fast forward to my final scan. As I lay there with the scanner moving over me, I just kept repeating : “My spleen is healthy, my spleen is healthy.” When it was over, the technician looked at me and said the words I’d been visualising: “Everything looks clear and normal.”

I walked straight out to Nick in the waiting room and said, “It’s completely cleared up! Let’s book a holiday!” And just like that, for the first time in years, we packed our bags and flew off to Cyprus!

Over time, my take on the Law of Attraction has shifted a bit. I see it more as the incredible power of positive thinking and how a good mindset directly impacts our bodies and our lives (but we’ll save that deep dive for another blog post!).

Whatever you want to call it, it absolutely worked for me.

My spleen had completely healed, which was a massive reminder of just how powerful the mind really is.

Right, let’s get back to the story!

Our First Taste of YouTube: ToyfunTV!

The year before we bought our first lodge, we actually started a YouTube channel called ToyfunTV.

It was a totally unexpected hobby born out of watching toy-unboxing videos with our niece.

We saw the crazy view counts those channels were getting and thought, “Why don’t we give this a go?”

We transformed our old home office into a full-blown YouTube studio complete with cameras, lights, a desk, and so many toys. Our niece was absolutely in her element she loved coming over and pretending to film her own videos!

Eventually, Nick got a bit bored of opening toys and stepped away. I, on the other hand, kept going.

I quickly realised how much I loved the actual process of filming and producing videos.

It became the perfect creative escape from the business. Every night, I’d shut myself in the studio, away from the stress of customers and staff, and just lose myself in the joy of creating content.

The Birth of The Lodge Guys!

I’d joined a YouTube network (an MCN) to connect with other creators, share tips, and learn the ropes.

My routine was pretty full-on: running the business all day, then sitting down to edit ToyfunTV videos all evening.

But once we upgraded to our second lodge and started spending most of our time there, we hit a practical snag—a lodge simply doesn’t have the space for a massive toy-unboxing studio!

Even without the space, I still had a massive itch to film and edit. I just needed a new outlet that actually fit our change of pace.

Then, the idea hit me: “Why don’t we just vlog our lives?”

It was the perfect solution. And just like that, The Lodge Guys channel was born!

Transitioning away from the toys felt like a completely natural progression.

It gave us a brand new platform to keep doing what we loved while fully embracing our new lifestyle.

It started as a simple way to document the peace and quiet of the park, our everyday life at the lodge, and our travels, and it has blossomed into so much more.

As time went on, The Lodge Guys channel really started to gain traction.

What began as a quirky hobby opening toys completely transformed into a true reflection of our lives.

We started sharing everything—from the peace and quiet of the lodge to our love of Florida!

Before we knew it, an incredible community of like-minded people—our amazing Lodgers!—started building around the channel.

Looking back, it’s honestly remarkable how this whole journey has unfolded.

We are endlessly grateful for the support you guys show us every single day.

We can’t wait to share even more adventures with you all, whether we’re hitting the road in Elvis, heading back to the theme parks in Orlando, or just finding the magic in a simple, everyday moment back at the lodge.

We hope you’ve enjoyed reading the story of how we got to where we are today!

We absolutely love reading your thoughts, so please drop us a comment in the box below.

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