The UK’s best holiday park pools are celebrated at this year’s UK Pool & Spa Awards…
The overall category winner and coveted Holiday Park Pool of the Year title went to Tydd St Giles Golf & Country Club at the recent UK Pool & Spa Awards.
The UK’s multiple water leisure sectors celebrated their biggest night of the year at the hotly-contested UK Pool & Spa Awards last month. Overall category winners across 26 categories were each presented with a certificate and a trophy by Olympic swimmer and popular TV sports presenter Sharron Davies MBE at the special prize giving and networking evening, which was held at The Vox in Birmingham. Once again, the awards recognised the outstanding achievements of the country’s holiday park sector, with the Holiday Park Pool of the Year award. Within the category, six holiday parks were shortlisted and each received a Gold standard award. “Holiday parks play a big role in the UK’s provision of water leisure facilities and we’re delighted to be able to showcase some of the very best that the industry has to offer,” says Christina Connor, editor of Swimming Pool Scene magazine, the independent publication behind the annual competition.
STAND-OUT PARKS
“We received entries from a number of stand-out parks, who clearly value their pool facilities and work hard to keep them in top notch condition. The awards go some way in rewarding that hard work and raising the profile of those parks.” The overall category winner and coveted Holiday Park Pool of the Year title went to Tydd St Giles Golf & Country Club in Cambridgeshire, for its luxury heated swimming pool. The pool, which is located within a leisure complex on the lodge development, is open to holiday home owners, holiday guests and club members and welcomes around 23,000 bathers per year. The judges felt that the immaculate appearance and dramatic criss-crossing of exposed oak beams really makes this pool a head-turner. Meanwhile, the wellness facilities including a steam room and sauna further enhance the guest experience. The leisure complex at Tydd St Giles opened in 2013 and is managed by Lauren Buckingham, who has worked at the park in various roles since she was 13. Lauren is supported by a dedicated team who work hard to maintain the high standards that customers have come to expect.
GOLD STANDARD
Parks that achieved the Gold standard in the holiday park pool category included Lady’s Mile Holiday Park in Devon, Thornwick Bay Holiday Park in Yorkshire, Plas Coch Holiday Homes in Wales, The Pickaquoy Centre Trust in Scotland and Brean Leisure Park & Holiday Resort Unity in Somerset. The operators of Brean Leisure Park also scooped a Gold standard award in the Water Leisure Operator of the Year category. The parks were presented with their certificates and awards by Olympic swimmer and popular TV sports presenter Sharron Davies MBE. “We introduced the Holiday Park Pool of the Year award last year, and it’s great to see even more parks being recognised in this year’s competition,” added Christina Connor. “The holiday park sector has certainly raised the water leisure bar this year and we hope to build on that success in the 2017 awards.Watch this space!”
Founded in 2010, the UK Pool and Spa Awards are organised by Waterland Media, the publishers of Swimming Pool Scene and Hot Tub & Swim Spa Scene, the market-leading magazines for the combined water leisure sectors. The UK Pool and Spa Awards are open to the entire water leisure industry and aim to celebrate outstanding swimming pools, swim spas, hot tubs design, management and refurbishment and the outstanding people in our industry who make a difference. On-line voting accounts for 40% of the overall vote. Voting by the Judging panel – made up of industry representatives and professionals from all over the world - accounts for 60% of the vote.
For more information on the competition, or to get involved in next year’s awards, visit www.ukpoolandspaawards.co.uk.
Lady’s Mile Holiday Park
The pool at Lady’s Mile Holiday Park in Devon is well known for being one of the warmest and cleanest pools in the area, with the average temperature around 33C. Complete with a flume and a separate paddling area, the pool very popular with young families, couples and older guests alike. The park also has a close connection to Ratcliff School for special needs, which uses the pool for private school sessions.
Thornwick Bay Holiday Park
The main pool at Thornwick Bay Holiday Park was recently refurbished by Leisure Concepts. It features fun splash and spray jets, a new children’s pool area with water play slides, and an all new activity and swim pool. There’s also a new multi-lane family speed slide, new splash pool with tipping bucket, spray features and a bubble seat.
Brean Leisure Park & Holiday Resort Unity
The large modern splash park at Brean Leisure is used by members of the public, holidaymakers, schools and triathlete clubs, for swimming lessons and fitness classes.
The pool was in operation for 30 years prior to the rebuild in 2011. Over £5 million was spent in the first phase of the rebuild, making the pool into a 25m indoor modern leisure facility.
The pool is operated by the House family who have owned the site for the past 70 years, and are involved in the day to day running of the business.
Plas Coch Holiday Homes
The pool at Plas Coch park is open to private residents and offers a range of water-based activities such as swimming lessons, water walkers, snorkelling, scuba diving, pool parties, aqua fun and fitness classes. Welcoming up to 20,000 bathers each year, the pool is run by Park Leisure 2000, which operates ten holiday homes parks throughout the UK. The pool has recently had the walls, ceilings and floors refurbished and painted to ensure the integrity of the facility remains first class.
The Pickaquoy Centre Trust
The pool and spa the Pickaquoy Centre is used for a number of sessions from public swimming to group exercise classes, swimming lessons and inflatable sessions. Although the pool is part of the facilities the Trust manages on behalf of the Council, it is attached to the caravan and camping park and is used by holidaymakers and the general public. The pool has an annual bather load of 70,000.