Growing with placemaking and personality

Harnessing Your Strengths: The Goymour Group

From its origins in the bakery, to its current form encompassing leisure and property management, developing a distinct personality has been fundamental to its growth and continued success.

The Goymours have been in business since the early 1900s, when my great-grandfather Charles Alfred set up his bakery. Now the fourth generation continues to develop the family businesses through my sister, Kiera, (Director at Applewood) and me, with support from our father Martin, who managed the group’s wider portfolio for several decades.

Family is integral to our team, and I don’t just mean those that are related. We consider our whole team to be our family, and many have been with us for so many years that they truly are a part of it. Matt Bundock, who originally joined in 1996 as Head Horseman to help care for Martin’s heavy horses, now supports us with grounds management and event creation, from the Spring Fling and Halloween Spooktacular at Applewood, to PrimEVIL, the annual scream park event at ROARR!.

Main character energy

Across The Goymour Group, the customer is always our ‘main character’. We strive to provide the best possible experience, whether it’s a family enjoying a day out at ROARR! or holidaying at Applewood Countryside Park, or tenants of our properties in Norfolk and Suffolk, or a newlywed couple celebrating at Applewood Hall.

We create longstanding, trusted relationships across the sectors we operate in and beyond, by delivering consistently high standards, with a friendly and efficient approach that draws heavily on our family values.

For Applewood Hall and Countryside Park in Banham, Norfolk, placemaking and harnessing the special character of the location are key to the development strategy.

The concept for the new Apple Harvest Adventure Play (which opened in summer 2025) came entirely from the former use of the same space as an orchard. For events at Applewood Hall, we offer guests every opportunity to make use of the outside space as much as the interior. We love to incorporate as many unique add-ons to weddings and corporate meetings as we can, thanks to the venue’s idyllic south Norfolk location and its close proximity to neighbouring Banham Zoo.

Developing personalities

The group has now owned and operated ROARR! for 20 years, and our mascot, Dippy the Dinosaur, is an essential childhood memory for many in the region. Dippy was first introduced by the previous ownership, but he has since been updated and modernised as a trademarked IP, after I saw the popularity of similar characters at US theme parks.

As the embodiment of ROARR!, Dippy leads live shows and ‘meet and greets’; he is visible throughout the park in depictions ranging from murals to attractions to cuddly toy versions in the shop, and he features across the park’s digital platforms providing a consistent brand identity.

Park Director Ben Francis, who is a leading personality behind the scenes, is not only the creative genius behind the Dippy & Friends live show, but he has also authored a storybook based on the characters, with a sequel book in the pipeline.

We do our utmost to empower our staff to show their personalities at work, which often leads to huge benefits all round. Connor – the resident Dino Hunter at ROARR! – first started at the park as an attractions assistant in 2021. His flair for performance and guest interactions, along with an incredible ability to remember dino-facts, led to the expansion of his role to include an entirely new element, making the most of those aspects of his personality.

As an independent group, we believe that embracing both our individual personalities and those of the wider business, is one of the best ways we can differentiate ourselves from larger, more faceless corporations. It certainly works for us in terms of staff and customer loyalty.