‘Cavewoman’ Lisa Bowerman the owner of Stump Cross Caverns one of the biggest tourist attractions in the Yorkshire Dales put up her beloved VW camper van to raise £50,000 to save it from closure.
The crowdfunding draw has now passed the initial target but Lisa is hoping by the time it closes on March 31 they can get more investment to help cover the crippling £350,000 losses of the past pandemic year.
Lisa bought Stump Cross Caverns in Nidderdale 18 years ago and in 2019 carried out a major redevelopment installing a new cinema and café just before the lockdown.
"It has been horrendous," said Lisa. "Normally we have 60,000 visitors a year, we had 15,000. We were looking forward to our best year ever. I tried to get grant money and from our insurance which would have saved us but couldn’t.