Caravan Park

Holiday Parks In Multi-Million Buy Out

Posted on November 20, 2013

Holiday Parks In Multi-Million Buy Out

South Lakeland Parks, which operates nine holiday parks in the Lake District and Morecambe Bay area, has been acquired by Electra Partners, the majority shareholder of Park Resorts, in a £47m deal.

Park Resorts and Electra Partners worked in partnership to secure the takeover deal of the Cumbrian-based business from White Ocean Leisure and its lenders. The acquisition comes only two months after Electra Partners led the refinancing of Park Resorts which will provide significant further investment in the parks to improve facilities across existing holiday parks.

The addition of South Lakeland increases Park Resorts’ portfolio by nine holiday parks, making it the largest holiday parks operator in the UK with 48 sites across England, Scotland and Wales.

South Lakeland Parks was founded in 1988 and was previously known as South Lakeland Caravans until June 2006. Its sites range from traditional caravan parks to larger holiday villages complete with leisure facilities and direct access to Lake Windermere.

David Boden, CEO of Park Resorts commented: “South Lakeland’s nine parks are all high quality and will perfectly complement our existing portfolio. The parks are ideally located for owners and holiday makers to experience some of the most spectacular scenery the UK has to offer.”

Touch Wood

Posted on November 19, 2013

Attracting all types of visitors from long weekend holiday lets to permanent holiday homes, log cabins have been used in the UK for more than 40 years.

Currently enjoying a boom in popularity, the first timber lodges began to appear on UK sites as far back as the Seventies. Forty years on, some of those early trend setters, on the banks of Lake Windermere, are still in use today.

While budget is always going to be the primary consideration, it is important to consider your target market, location and site layout before making an investment commitment.

“A lodge park could look to invest anything from between around £20,000 to over £100,000 for a single lodge,” says David Hollyhead, a specialist lodge consultant.

“The lower end often attracts a high turnover of clients paying lower rates and although this can provide a rapid return on investment, higher costs may be incurred from refurbishments and replacements,” he advises.

“At the higher end, the incredible quality and finish of topend units matches any top-class housing project and owners have the option of becoming more involved in the design of the home and its interior,” adds David.

PREMIUM RATES

Robert Matthews from Baltic Timber Lodges says that many 50-plus retired people, with good disposable income, will pay a premium for premium locations without the noise of a typical caravan park; summer rates of £650 plus are not uncommon.

“We recently constructed four larger lodges on a site that overlooks a golf course in a popular holiday resort; an investment of £250,000 has returned £700,000, plus weekly site fees,” Robert reveals.

A cheaper initial investment than the larger lodges and cabins, camping pods typically attract a transient market of walkers, fellwalkers and hikers, to those sites located on popular trails and routes, such as the Pennine or Cumbrian Ways.

Robert says: “A complete camping pod for two people can be constructed from around £4,000.

“If occupied for 90 nights per year a pod will give a return on investment of around 68 per cent in the first year, based on two sharing at £30 per lodge per night.”

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Company Contacts

David Hollyhead Developments UK
Tel. +44 (0)7976 256436
www.davidhollyheaddevelopments.co.uk
 
Baltic Timber Lodges
Tel. +44 (0)8450 216873
www.logcabinlodge.co.uk
 
 
The Dream Lodge Group
Tel. 0845 123 6333
www.thedreamlodgegroup.co.uk

Wales in Bloom Award

Posted on November 13, 2013

Wales in Bloom Award

Gardening team, Dave and Christine Ball are hanging up their hoes after 20 years of dedicated service to the Tree Tops Caravan Park in North Wales

Tree Tops Caravan Park in North Wales, which this summer scooped a top spot in the Wales in Bloom awards, is bidding a sad farewell to its two top gardening experts.

Dave and Christine Ball have been head gardeners at the park for over two decades, securing a Wales in Bloom accolade for the business every summer for 21 years.

Tree Tops’ number one prize in the holiday park category of the 2013 awards, announced 16 August, means that the green-fingered couple will be bowing out in style.

Throughout their time at the park, the couple is estimated to have put over halfa- million bedding plants into the soil on the 15-acre park near Holywell.

In addition to the annual highlypraised floral setting they create, Steve and Christine also help maintain the family-run park’s thousands of trees, shrubs and perennials.

Now they have decided to hang up their hoes for a restful retirement at their home at Weaverham in Cheshire - but will still be regular visitors to their holiday caravan at Tree Tops.

Lakeland Park Creates A Buzz

Posted on November 13, 2013

Guests at Skelwith Fold caravan park are being ask to keep their eyes out for rare bees.

Lakeland Park Creates A Buzz

Guests at a top Lakeland holiday park are being asked to keep their eyes open for more than 7000 extra visitors winging their way to its grounds this year.

Skelwith Fold caravan park in Ambleside hopes that all the new arrivals will be ‘solitary’ bees, a species said by nature bodies to be under serious threat.

An imaginative habitation project has seen the park create thousands of tiny timber tunnels bored in hardwood logs which are now positioned in piles throughout the grounds.

According to park owner Henry Wild, Skelwith Fold’s 130 acres are now a safe haven where the harmless, nonaggressive insects can be helped to rebuild their numbers.

Skelwith Fold provides pitches for guests with touring caravans and motor homes plus caravan holiday homes for private owners.