Do you think your water leisure offering is a stand-out facility? Well, the search is on to find the best holiday park swimming pools in the country. The UK Pool & Spa Awards, now in its 14th year, recognises holiday park pools and wet leisure facilities annually and entries are now open.
Names already in the UK Pool & Spa Awards frame read like a who’s who of holiday destinations including Butlin’s, Plas Coch Coastal & Country Retreat, Ribby Hall Village, and the comparatively new Yorkshire Spa Retreat. “We are not looking just for swimming pools,” explains Olivia Connor, from the competition organisers, Waterland Media.
The judges generally look for water-based attractions with extra activities for all ages from splash pads to daring flume rides.” “Many holiday destinations are investing in not just hot tubs but inclusive wellness attractions – they are all catered for within the competition.
“Year-on-year, we hear how a UK Pool & Spa Awards winning logo reaps huge marketing rewards for holiday destinations.” Arguably, the swimming pool is one of the main pulling factors for holiday locations; great for swimming and even better for guaranteed family fun. If you have ticked the swimming pool box with an unimaginative tank of water, you are missing some vital opportunities to stand out from the crowd.
SWIMMING POOLS are great for swimming and even better for guaranteed family fun. Pic. Ribby Hall
The pool should not feature as a stand-alone. For instance, add a few well-being features and you can be offering your guests a top-notch spa experience. A perfect example is the Plas Coch leisure complex, one of the stand-out attractions at the five-star holiday home park, holders of the Holiday Park Pool Of the Year title in the UK Pool & Spa Awards.
The swimming pool, super spa, treatment area and gymnasium are open all year round for customers to swim and relax. The leisure facility has recently undergone some aesthetic works to offer more privacy including a spectacular tint effect added to the glass building to give a beautiful mirror effect from the outside.
With top drawer aquatic access even more of a variety of water-based activities to the regular timetable such as snorkelling, pool kayaks, underwater explorers and private occasion pool parties. Guests can unwind by a tropical pool, take a soothing dip in a hydrotherapy bath, or indulge in a cleansing Dry Salt Chamber treatment, all specially created to provide pampering for mind and body.
THE SEASIDE THEMED aquatic centre is still wow-ing guests at Butlin’s Bognor Regis resort.
You don’t even always have to think big. Cornish holiday park Trevornick, unveiled a new £180,000 investment called The Splash Zone. It provides a new space within the existing swimming pool complex at Trevornick, where young (and the young at heart!) guests can run, jump, play and splash. The Splash Zone contains two tipping buckets, fountains, water jets, and a raised trickle stream, making it perfect for babies, toddlers, non-swimmers and those unable to access the pool itself.
If you are thinking swimming pools then think water play to give your guests the extra wow factor. A waterslide is great as either an open or closed flume, running inside, outside, or both. And now with modern technology, experiences are enhanced with high-definition multimedia technology; enabling an experience to be unique and different at the touch of a button.
There are also low-level products that add character and activities for young children such as frog, turtle and fish with their 360° rotation abilities, all suitable for installation in zero and shallow depth. There are taller features that are designed to arch and spray over pools and lazy rivers and products of varying heights that resemble leaves, trees and flowers that offer a variety of different water movements and effects.
Add to your wet leisure pulling appeal by entering this year’s UK Pool & Spa Awards which are now open at www.ukpoolandspaawards.co.uk
THE PLAS COCH leisure complex is open all year round for customers to swim and relax.
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.
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.
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 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 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.
