holidaymakers

Family Holiday Donation

Posted on April 15, 2016

Family Holiday Donation

Diverse AbilitiesHoburne Holiday Parks has given away a family holiday to encourage ticket sales for a local charity raffle. Diverse Abilities presented the winning holiday to Nick Bold, who works for the charity, for selling the most raffle tickets for a prize draw.

His prize is a holiday for up to six people at any of Hoburne’s seven holiday parks in Hampshire, Dorset, Devon, Somerset, the Cotswolds and Cornwall.

Nick says he plans to give the holiday to a friend. Diverse Abilities is the only organisation that supports children and adults with profound physical and learning disabilities, and their families, in Dorset.

Show Business

Posted on April 15, 2016

Show Business

recipeforsuccessThe Holiday Park & Resort Innovation Show will return to the NEC Birmingham in November and is set to be even bigger than last year.

Expanding into Hall 8 at the NEC, the 2016 show brings together top industry experts, leading suppliers, interactive workshops, live debates and seminars all focused on providing the inspiration, advice and resources that holiday park owners really need to put their business on the map. The show will also run alongside Farm Business Innovation & Country House Innovation in Hall 9, the UK’s leading trade show for farmers, landowners and estate and country house owners.

“Once again in 2016 the Holiday Park Show we delighted to be working alongside Holiday Park Scene as our main media partners for the event and we are excited to develop this successful and exciting partnership further for the next show,” says Will Mansfield, event organiser.

The Holiday Park & Resort Innovation Show returns to the NEC Birmingham on November 9 – 10. Visit www.holidayparkshow.co.uk to view the full list of exhibitors and to order your free tickets.

Medieval Village

Posted on March 29, 2016

Medieval Village

Warwick Castle (1)Warwick Castle is set to offer a unique opportunity for guests to step back in time this year, with the introduction of Medieval-style overnight stays in their new woodland lodges.

A new Knights’ Village is being created, enabling people to sleep in 28 timber-style lodges on the 64 acre wooded estate. The lodges will feature Medieval-themed light fittings, door handles and crockery, lofty ceilings, wooden beams, stonework and green oak wood styled exteriors to create an enchanting ambiance.

From July, the new attraction will offer year-round ‘great outdoors sleepovers with contemporary comfort including wet room, TV, fridge, coffee maker and central heating.

Geoff Spooner, general manager at Warwick Castle, says: “This is a new chapter for Warwick Castle as from July 1, we’ll offer guests year-round lodge-style accommodation to complement the Castle’s two sumptuous Tower Suites, set within the fourteenth century Caesar’s Tower, and our superb seasonal Mediaeval Glamping Village.”

Prices will start at £203 per two-bedroom woodland lodge per night, including breakfast in the banqueting hall and two days castle entry

Weather-Proofing

Posted on March 29, 2016

Weather-Proofing

Hostages to fortune; a holiday park’s season can stand or fall on the vagaries of the great British summer. So weather-proofing our main attraction presents an obvious opportunity to take the lottery out of year-on-year visitor appeal.

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Ideal for overcoming unpredictable weather in all seasons, an enclosure over an outdoor pool not only provides the potential for year-round swimming but continually extends the swimming day.

Commercial swimming pool enclosures offer new opportunities and increased profitability to venues by extending the season, increasing throughput and reducing costs. The owners of Manor Farm Holiday Centre in Charmouth, Dorset, renovated their pool area and enlisted the expertise of Swimex Enclosures to cover the outside pool in time for the summer tourist season.

 

The design was fairly complex as one side of the lean-to building needed to rest on a high wall and the other on the pool deck, whilst remaining fully telescopic. Swimex came up with an affordable design answering the requirements, whilst working with valuable input from the clients on the best features available, including telescoping from the biggest bay in the centre rather than the smallest, a more conventional solution.

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The robust portal building with powder-coated aluminium frames and fully compliant polycarbonate roof and over 26m long and about 14m at its widest, was made to fit snugly at each end on rain-proof joints against both end walls, whilst the rear wall was used for the lean-to, leaving just the whole 26m front length facing the park.

The bespoke-built Swimex ‘Angular’ telescopic enclosure can be opened up, partially or fully, from the centre to leave a fully open pool for whenever the sun and weather permit. In other moments, the building creates an indoor pool, with air heating when needed.

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Twin Park Celebrations

Posted on December 15, 2015

Twin Park Celebrations

Teams from Ladram Bay Holiday Park and sister park Castle Brake celebrate their success

Teams from Ladram Bay Holiday Park and sister park Castle Brake celebrate their success

Two award-winning holiday parks owned by the same Devon family have been awarded the highest accolade achievable in the tourism industry. Ladram Bay Holiday Park and sister park Castle Brake have both been awarded five gold stars each through the VisitEngland National Quality Assessment Scheme. Zoe House, director at Ladram Bay Holiday Park, commented: “We are thrilled that we have achieved this top award for not one but both of our parks. “I am pleased that the teams at both sites have been recognised for all the hard work they put in to ensure our guests have a first class experience.” The parks were classed as ‘excellent’ by the VisitEngland inspection teams, who assessed them on the quality of their facilities, physical and personal comfort, service and hospitality, management and attention to detail. Victoria Hatfield, chair of VisitDevon, said: “Very few holiday parks achieve the highest accolade of five stars so to receive 10 between Ladram Bay and Castle Brake holiday parks is a real achievement. “

Balloons Cross Channel

Posted on December 15, 2015

Balloons Cross Channel

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Promotional balloons from a holiday park in Clacton

At the end of each day, staff at Valley Farm Holiday Park in Clacton-on-Sea release the balloons that decorate the park’s entrance to the skies. Just recently, the park has started to include special promotional offers inside some of the balloons that can then be claimed by the recipient. However, they didn’t expect the first recipient to be over 100 miles away across the English Channel. The Wassmuth-Gumbel family from Mannheim in Germany were enjoying a summer holiday in the village of Vrouwenpolder on the south-west Netherlands coast when their sevenyear old daughter, Carla discovered the balloons. Denise Woods, caravan sales manager remarked: “For the last few years, we’ve always let the balloons fly away rather than bursting them but one of our new sales advisers recently came up with the idea of placing messages inside them. So keep your eyes peeled for them and you could receive your very own special offer or prize.”

 

Fantasy Pod Is A Labour Of Love

Posted on December 15, 2015

Fantasy Pod Is A Labour Of Love

Fantasy

The Hobbit house at Townsend Touring Park is proving a magical place to stay.

An unusual new glamping pod on a Herefordshire holiday park has attracted bookings from JRR Tolkien fans and Hobbit buffs this summer. The Lord of the Rings-style pod on Townsend Touring Park near Leominster may look like a magical medieval retreat but its facilities are firmly rooted in modern times. Built beneath a grass-covered mound, the five-berth dwelling boasts a fully equipped kitchen, heating, television, bathroom and a host of other mod-cons. Inspiration for this new take on glamping came from the park’s owners, Geoff and Su Smith, who already offer more conventional pod accommodation at Townsend. “Some guests tell us that there is an almost magical quality to this area, so it seemed entirely fitting to build a pod which had an air of fantasy about it,” said Su. “It’s been a labour of love for us, and we’re delighted with the results – as are our guests who say the quality we’ve achieved is a perfect match for the surroundings.” Such has been the success of the pod – which is built off-site to a modular and scalable design – that two more units are now in production for installation early next year.

Complete Sales Before Christmas

Posted on December 9, 2015

Complete Sales Before Christmas

QMPQuick Move Properties, the UK’s leading independent part exchange company, is helping residential and leisure park operators to complete sales and get customers on-site before Christmas with its new Stock Support service. The service, which is available to all park operators and is free of charge to any parks using Quick Move Properties’ part exchange service, offers a range of new units from manufacturers such as Prestige, Homeseeker, Omar, Wessex, Tingdene and Pathfinder. The units are ready to be sited throughout the year, without the lengthy lead time usually associated with ordering a park or leisure home. Quick Move Properties’ sales director, Patrick Chambers, explains: “With our new Stock Support service there is no need for your sales to be held up by lengthy unit order lead times. We have units ready to be sited on your park before Christmas, which means you can get your sales completed before the end of the year. “Units can be tailored to customers’ individual requirements and specifications with 12 weeks’ notice or we also have a select number of homes available for immediate delivery to site, all with showroom standard furnishing packs.”

Quick Move Properties
Tel. 01793 840907
www.quickmoveproperties.com

Park Group Growth

Posted on December 9, 2015

Park Group Growth

Park Group

Bridge Leisure recently purchased Seaview Holiday Village in Cornwall.

Specialist holiday park group Bridge Leisure Parks has expanded its portfolio with the purchase of a fifth holiday park. The acquisition of Seaview Holiday Village in Polperro, Cornwall, means that Milton-Keynes based Bridge Leisure Parks now owns two holiday parks in Cornwall, along with properties on the Yorkshire coast and Scotland. Andrew Howe, chief executive of Bridge Leisure commented: “Seaview is a truly lovely holiday village with a superb south coast setting. We are looking to mirror the success of our first holiday park in Cornwall - Trevella Park - and we predict impressive results at our newest destination. “This is the second holiday village we have bought in 2015, following a management buyout and new investment at the start of this year.” He adds: “Our plan is to buy more parks and continue to grow, and we welcome contact from park owners interested in selling their business.”

Bridge Leisure
Tel. 01908 686 600
www.bridgeleisure.com

Coventry Pool Show Makes a Splash

Posted on December 8, 2015

Coventry Pool Show Makes a Splash

Coventry

SPATEX 2016 takes place at Coventry’s Ricoh Arena from Sunday January 31st to Tuesday February 2nd.

A shop window on all that is new and happening in swimming pools, spas, saunas, enclosures, steam rooms, SPATEX 2016 is a must-attend for park owners. Celebrating its 20th anniversary, SPATEX is the largest dedicated water leisure exhibition. With 100 plus exhibitors, both national and international, the show brings together under one roof everyone in wet leisure, whatever their business. SPATEX is also a unique platform for free professional training and seminars will run on all three days of the show with the emphasis on holiday parks and the commercial sector. The ‘Legionnaires’ Disease Awareness’ session will look at what steps to take to prevent, detect and combat this silent killer, while the ‘Dealing with Pool Problems’ session will tackle commonly encountered commercial swimming pool problems, including water testing, automatic control and water treatment issues.

SPATEX 2016
Tel. 01264 358558
www.spatex.co.uk