rufus bellamy

GREEN TRAILBLAZERS

Posted on October 25, 2023

GREEN TRAILBLAZERS

Investment in eco tourism continues to thrive...

EACH LODGE OFFERS PRIVACY while maintaining proximity to the resort’s central facilities.

The David Bellamy Blooming Marvellous Pledge for Nature works in partnership with over 500 holiday parks in the UK. Pioneered over 28 years ago by botanist and TV personality David Bellamy, the scheme is now administered by his son Rufus, who is himself an Environmental Adviser, working closely with parks of all sizes.

The organisation has singled out Parkdean Resorts for special praise thanks to their commitment to the environment and its responsible stewardship of over 3,500 acres of land at its 66 sites. Parkdean Resorts was described this month as ‘a green trailblazer’ for kickstarting work that will provide wildlife and the natural world with the same warm welcome as its holiday guests.

Scheme co-ordinator Rufus Bellamy said Parkdean Resorts deserved major recognition for mobilising a raft of exciting and imaginative environmental projects across its parks this year. Once they are completed, said Rufus, the work will not just benefit nature, but will also help provide an enjoyable and educative experience for guests, and for youngsters in particular.

Making new wildlife discoveries, he said, was just one of the ways in which Parkdean Resorts was helping to create magical memories for the 3.5 million guests it welcomes each year. The group’s parks have all taken the David Bellamy Pledge for Nature which commits them to managing their green spaces with wildlife in mind and undertaking at least one significant wildlife project over the next year.

These include setting up bird boxes and other artificial habitats, creating areas where bees, butterflies and other pollinating insects can get food, focusing on the conservation of a specific species, and working to enhance ponds and other wetland habitats.

INTERPRETED NATURE TRAILS encourage all family members to make wildlife discoveries in the park’s grounds.

CONSERVATION GOALS
Parks taking the Pledge receive visits from independent wildlife assessors who provide advice on new projects to be undertaken, and the steps needed to accomplish their nature conservation goals.

Responsible at Parkdean Resorts for steering the scheme is the group’s Regional Director of Scotland Colin Pearse, and he said park managers play an important part in delivering the results: “Our managers are given a great deal of autonomy in deciding what conservation projects will best suit their park, and then involving team members in making it a reality,” said Colin.

“This is crucial as our parks are located in different and very beautiful coastal and countryside locations throughout Britain, each with its own individual character and natural assets. “We ask each manager to propose a project and explain the ways in which it will enhance the guest experience, and then it’s up to them with help from members of their team.

“There’s never any shortage of volunteers coming forward, not least because it’s very satisfying to know that you are making a real difference to safeguarding wildlife and the natural world. “We receive tremendous support from the scheme’s advisers who are always willing to go the extra mile in providing both encouragement and expert guidance,” added Colin.

Rufus Bellamy said that Parkdean Resorts had become national cheerleaders for the scheme, and its parks were role models for how tourism businesses could work as a group to help nature.

 

CHEERS LEADERS
Just as importantly, he said, Parkdean Resorts was encouraging millions of holiday guests each year to discover more about the natural world, and the part they can play in its conservation. Mythtopia is an eco-glamping resort situated just outside of Edinburgh that is due to open in Spring 2024. The resort is designed to be 100% sustainable, carbon-negative, and powered entirely by natural energy sources, such as solar and wind energy.

To help in its rewilding efforts, Mythtopia is also leveraging its own cryptocurrency funded by carbon credits, as part of its mission to plant 120,000 trees on the site itself. Its founder, Oliver Pyle-Santini, was inspired to create a flourishing and environmentally-conscious business that would provide a wealth of jobs to the local community, and safeguard the natural surroundings of the estate.

The luxury glamping resort will feature many activities from yoga to silent discos but the most unique is ‘Legends’; an augmented reality game based on Celtic mythology and folklore aimed at families, couples and gamers alike. Situated among 200 acres of preserved green land and located just 20 minutes from the Scottish capital, Mythtopia is the ideal place for families to experience nature while embarking on an immersive AR adventure.

MYTHTOPIA OFFERS ITS GUESTS a unique immersive AR experience based on ancient Celtic mythology

Mythtopia will also be the UK’s first holiday destination exclusive to NFT token holders. Mythtopia will feature 150 low- carbon impact geometric domes and lodges, along with a restaurant, clubhouse, bar, and spa. Each guest will receive access to a wealth of activities including a geofenced augmented reality playground based on ancient Celtic mythology called ‘Mythtopia Legends’.

The game allows players to explore the natural woodland environment while following a spellbinding story of mythical creatures. Participants can build their own AR character, interact with talking trees and dwarves, and go on mystical missions alongside the characters of their friends and family.

Using Celtic legends, this unique AR experience will create a ‘digital theme park’ perfect for families, couples, gamers, and LARPers. Guests can also get involved in a wide variety of other activities to help them enjoy the natural world with opportunities for open water swimming in its own lake, stargazing, horse riding, yoga classes, and silent disco parties.

ECO-VISITORS will help plant over 120,000 trees by visiting Mythtopia, a carbon-negative retreat.

GREEN INVESTMENT
Tregoad Holiday Park in Looe, Cornwall, celebrated the completion of a raft new developments this summer by opening its doors to members of the local community. Representing an investment of £2.5 million, the initiatives were focused on sustainability, and the introduction of new ways to protect the natural world.

The family-owned park, part of the four-strong Waterside group, chose a Saturday in July to showcase its achievements to guests which included members of the public, senior local authority and VisitCornwall representatives, and Tregoad’s local suppliers. New features include the creation of Cornwall’s largest wildflower meadow bank covering more than 3,000 square metres, and seeded with high pollen-bearing plants.

Nectar produced by the blooms, says the park, will provide a valuable foraging resource for honey bees, butterflies, and other important pollinators. In addition, the park has invested £300,000 in planting hundreds of indigenous plants, trees and shrubs, and installed a range of new wildlife habitats.

The living quarters installed throughout the park’s grounds include three traditional beehives, duck houses, plus bird and bat boxes made from recycled materials This year, the park is also spending £36,000 on upgrading its popular wildlife walk. The move will add an additional 2km to its length, allowing guests to explore even more of the park’s rich and varied landscape, and to uncover its wildlife secrets.

Matt Way, General Manager at Tregoad Holiday Park, said: “An important part of our guests’ experience is enjoying our wildlife, beautiful lakes, and woodland walks. We believe we have a responsibility to nurture and enhance our natural surroundings, helping Cornwall’s natural environment to thrive and contribute to a greener future.

PARKDEAN RESORTS’ many accommodation options include lodges located in tranquil wooded surroundings.

“As well as focusing on wildlife and planting, we’ve been assessing everything that we do at Tregoad to ensure we’re operating as sustainably as possible. “For example, we’ve introduced a new waste-water treatment facility to allow the park to be self-sufficient, installed water refill taps, and reused construction materials across the site, such as our former toilet blocks which have been crushed and reused as road infill. We’re also continuing to work with Climate Vision to identify more ways in which we can reduce our carbon footprint.”

Tregoad Holiday Park works with more than 50 local suppliers, including Flotsam Flo which creates fashion accessories from waste which is difficult to recycle. Items are taken in, including old wetsuits, which are then upcycled by Flotsam Flo to be sold in its shop. The park is the first holiday park in the UK to go ‘full cycle’ in recycling, upcycling, and redistributing in such a manner.

Through partnership with a specialist upcycler of wet suits, inflatables and plastics, the park is aiming to reduce its landfill by a further 10% this year – after diverting 80 tonnes of waste from going to landfill between 2022 and 2023 through switching to alternative waste companies. Matt continued: “Collaboration is key to helping us tackle climate change. We’re proud to be working with like-minded businesses which champion sustainability and consider their environmental impact when planning their future investment and areas of growth.

“Our sustainability efforts complement our wider enhancement works at Tregoad. Over the past two years, we’ve introduced 100 new high-quality holiday homes and invested more than £500,000 in improving our guest facilities. Matt adds: “Our holiday accommodation and facility improvements, alongside our sustainability initiatives, are helping us achieve our core objective of delivering an exceptional quality holiday experience.”

BALANCING ACTS

Posted on January 25, 2021

BALANCING ACTS

WHITECLIFF BAY BEACH, AWAY HOLIDAYS –When project planning, Away Resorts always take into consideration environmentally and eco-friendly impact.

Environmentally-friendly tourism is in safe hands, as Emily Martin reports...

The holiday park industry is big business. In a 2019 study, carried out by Frontline Consultants on behalf of the UK Caravan and Camping Alliance (UKCCA), it was found that in the UK alone, campsites and holiday parks generate £9.3bn in visitor spending and support 171,448 full-time employees. That accounts for 8% of the UK tourism industry overall and is a colossal figure everyone involved is surely keen to protect. But, as any big business does, it can come with a great big dirty footprint and, for business owners, it’s striking the balance between what makes their accountants happy, but also what’s environmentally something to be proud of that poses a perpetual challenge. Happily, the custodians of the gorgeous pockets of the UK, known as holiday parks, are proving they are more than up to the challenge.

GREEN TOURISM

It is impossible to go any further without mentioning the David Bellamy Awards which takes place every year and is one of the longest-running green tourism awards in the UK. It is truly seen as the benchmark for holiday parks who pride themselves on their green credentials. The late Mr Bellamy himself, who sadly died in 2019, remarked when he piloted the scheme in 1996, that his dream was to: “Upgrade all caravan parks to some sort of conservation status so that they can educate the visiting public and help them respect and care for the countryside.” A romantic notion indeed, but sometimes being ‘green’ has to be lower down the priorities list for a business ultimately focussed on making a profit, or does it? In 2007 there was a major revision of the judging criteria for award winners, done to acknowledge the increasing importance of energy saving and sustainability issues. With businesses cottoning on to the fact that caring about the environment is well worth it in order to preserve their incomes for the future, it’s been embraced by the industry in a myriad of ways. Rufus Bellamy, environmental adviser to the British Holiday and Home Parks Association, and David’s son, is now charged with continuing his father’s work. He says, “Many parks in Britain are blessed with abundantwildlife, and their owners are generally mindful of the need to manage their natural surroundings with sensitivity.” And Jon Boston of the BHPA says: “Holiday parks are commercial operations - they need to make a profit to stay in existence and keep their staff employed. “But these days, and especially during the pandemic, people want to get out into the countryside and discover places where they can get the benefits of fresh air and rural surroundings, so it’s actually a commercial investment to ensure parks are environmental oases.”

UTOPIAN PARKS

This all sounds lovely in theory. Idealistic, utopian holiday parks teaming with squirrels, fluttering with butterflies and leafy trees filled with birds is what we’d all hope for, but when going green costs money, how does it all work in reality? How much do holiday parks actually prioritise sustainability, and crucially how much of their budget will get allocated to overcoming the challenges? Kaz Mortimer is Group General Manager of Shorefield Holidays, a family owned business with eight parks across the south coast, and proud recipient of a Gold David Bellamy Award this year. Kay says: “Good green credentials are very important to our business.We have started the implementation of electric vehicles in our company fleet, as well as installing LED lighting to reduce light pollution and power consumption. “Our indoor swimming pool at Shorefield Country Park, is heated and runs on bio fuel and, where essential tree works are carried out, we re-use the chippings on our gardens.” FraserWatts, Operations Manager at Away Resorts comments: “Any but there is a commercial benefit when you invest in your micro-ecology environment and it’s something which parks are very keen to do, basically because customers like it and it encourages more customers.”

KEY FACTOR

Zoe House of family owned Ladram Bay Holiday Park agrees: “Our family tries to make sustainability a key factor in all of our business decisions. “The David Bellamy Conservation Award Scheme incorporates many of our values, and we have been closely involved with it from the outset,” Zoe continues. “Perhaps one of its most vital roles is to demonstrate that parks such as ours can play a major part in protecting and enhancing the natural world, and at the same time create a more exciting and enjoyable place for people to visit. “One very successful recent project was to retrieve one ton of plastic waste washed up on our private beach. We showed the growing total on a rising column of sand on a special display board near the beach path, and children especially showed great enthusiasm to help us reach our target! “Other initiatives involve substantially greater cost, such as our decision to reduce by 33% Ladram Bay’s carbon footprint,” she continues. “This has included a £300,000 investment in a solar energy system which will prevent a massive 171 tonnes of carbon dioxide annually from entering the atmosphere.We have also expanded our fleet of all-electric vehicles, and plan to introduce car charging points for customers. “We don’t, of course, expect to gain commercially from such actions – but they all fit into the wider objective of providing the park with a sustainable future. This policy isn’t something we especially boast about to guests, but it’s amazing how many do take a genuine interest in our environmental work and are keen to hear about our plans. We have always felt privileged to be able to live and work in such a project we undertake, always has considerations for being environmentally and eco-friendly." added Zoe.

Without financial return on investment, is the appeal for businesses purely a desire to just…do something good? Jon Boston again: “David Bellamy himself was very keen on holiday parks publicising what they were doing to encourage people to go there, because that in turn would encourage the park to spend more on its environmental initiatives. “It’s not done for commercial reasons, it's a beautiful part of Devon, and putting something back into the region is its own reward.” Ladram Bay are not alone. This feeling that being green is simply the right thing to do, regardless of the investment it takes, is echoed widely. Henry Wild of Skelwith Fold caravan park comments:“Businesses, including holiday parks such as ours, will evaluate most new projects in terms of their cost and the likely payback period. “But this doesn’t work when weighing up investments intended to produce environmental benefits. They may, in the long term, make the park a more attractive or appealing proposition for holiday guests, but you would be hard pressed to see this reflected in the balance sheets.

 

SWEET SCENTS

Skelwith Fold go the extra mile with environmentally measures such as treating wastewater naturally by channelling it through specially cultivated beds of iris plants. Maintaining these beds is a costly year-round commitment, and it could be argued that simply using chemicals to make the water safe would be far cheaper. Henry says: “To my mind, sweet- scented irises provide a much more attractive outlook than an industrial treatment plant, and the system is more ecologically sound. “In a similar vein, our visitors greatly enjoy spotting the red squirrels and roe deer in our grounds. “But these animal numbers would probably be far fewer if we didn’t implement a labour-intensive winter- feeding programme, or spend time and money on creating the conditions and habitats which enable such species to flourish. “We choose to take such initiatives not for any financial gain, but so that we can have pride in a business which is impacting positively on the environment.” It’s certainly impressive and extremely heartening to find that the more you dig into the complex workings of holiday parks, the more intricate the environmental duty of care being practised really is. From tiny bee hotels to huge solar installations, it seems that the UK’s most celebrated and beautiful places are in very safe hands. HenryWild sums it up nicely: “I really don’t believe that business decisions should be entirely profit focussed. If this year has taught us anything, it is that quality of life is all about how we feel and our sense of wellbeing. “Connecting with nature benefits both, and if our park can play a small part in nudging this along, I’ll be perfectly happy!”

Bellamy Praises Community Spirit

Posted on September 2, 2015

Bellamy Praises Community Spirit

Fern

Mother Ivey’s Bay Holiday Park in Padstow, Cornwall, gives away a week’s holiday to a needy family for every hundred bookings the park takes.

Hundreds of holiday and residential parks which reach out to their local communities will be put under the spotlight in this year’s David Bellamy Conservation Awards.

Scheme organiser Rufus Bellamy says that this year he is keen to celebrate parks acting as ‘good neighbours’. He reports that a whole raft of initiatives are now making a very real difference to many peoples’ lives around the country.

“The David Bellamy Conservation Award Scheme does, of course, put a major emphasis on how parks work to protect their natural environment,” said Rufus.

“However, the scheme also highlights those which engage with their local community because this, in our view, demonstrates that the park is taking a holistic view of its business.

“This year, our assessors have uncovered many fantastic new initiatives which we’ll be using to underline just how many ways there are for parks to reach out,” said Rufus.

The names of the 500-plus parks expected to receive David Bellamy Conservation Awards this year at gold, silver and bronze levels will be announced this month.

Nature’s Best

Posted on November 28, 2014
nature

Now in its 18th year, the David Bellamy Conservation Award Scheme is one of the longest running green tourism awards in the UK. Pic: Waveney River Centre.

Nature's Best

The green achievements of some of the UK’s most environmentally conscious holiday parks have been celebrated in the latest round of the David Bellamy Conservation Awards.

More than 500 parks were named as winners of the 2014/15 accolade, presented annually at gold, silver and bronze levels. Now in its eighteenth year, the award scheme was started by the world’s best-known botanist to highlight exceptional efforts by parks to protect the natural world.

This year’s long list of achievements varies from the winter-feeding of red deer to the creation of butterfly gardens and nature trails to the building of wildlife ponds and bird-hides. But single projects by themselves will not earn a park an award, says Rufus Bellamy who helps his father administrate the awards.

To stand a chance of qualifying, the park must submit all aspects of its operation to the scrutiny of an independent assessor trained in the running of the scheme.

“Their brief is extremely broad, and covers not just the more obvious initiatives such as creating wildlife habitats and the erection of bird boxes, valuable though these are,” says Rufus. “The assessors take a holistic view of the park’s conservation policies, and judge how far this is succeeding in making it a sustainable and environmentally friendly business.”

Rufus continues: “David Bellamy also attaches great importance to the ways in which parks help children engage with nature through activities such as badger-watches, wild food safaris, or building willow sculptures.

“These awards encourage parks to keep pushing the boundaries of what can be accomplished, and to adopt even bolder and more imaginative measures which make a real difference.”

Among this year’s winners was husband and wife team Trevor and Grace Barber of Silver Trees Holiday Park in Cannock Chase, Staffordshire, who were delighted to be awarded a top level accolade for the sustainable management of their park for the sixth year running.

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