touring and camping pitches

HIGHLAND HOLIDAYS

Posted on July 31, 2025

Highland Holidays prides itself on delivering unforgettable holidays in the most iconic and beautiful parts of Scotland. Led by the Campbell family, with Andrew and Emily at its helm, Highland Holidays operates three holiday parks across the Scottish Highlands and Argyll: Ben Nevis Holiday Park situated close to Fort William, Oban Holiday Park on the scenic west coast, and Tyndrum Holiday Park, nestled in the heart of the Highlands.

Ben Nevis Holiday Park opened in 2020, shortly before the world faced its first lockdown. Undeterred, the Campbell family used the time wisely to set about transforming the park into a contemporary and quality destination that offers its guests exceptional access to the incredible beauty of the Scottish Highlands.

Ben Nevis Holiday Park is just ten minutes away from the Outdoor Capital of the UK, Fort William. With a location literally in the foothills of Ben Nevis itself, hikers and outdoor adventurers would be hard pressed to find a better basecamp for a holiday. The broad choice of accommodation with 15 accommodation types means that the park has wide appeal.

Guests can choose from standard and hot tub lodges, caravans, camping pods, as well as touring and camping pitches. Common across all accommodation types are the spectacular mountain views! In 2023 & 2024, Ben Nevis Holiday Park won the Hoseasons Diamond Award for ‘Relax and Explore – Scotland’.

HIGHLAND HOLIDAYS aim to create an authentic Scottish experience for their guests.

The park has been widely praised for the high quality of its accommodation and outstanding guest satisfaction. “Being a family-owned, independent group deeply rooted in the Scottish Highlands gives us a unique advantage,” explains Andrew Campbell, Director.

“We truly understand the local landscape and culture, and we use that insight to craft truly memorable guest experiences. We’ve turned potential challenges into opportunities - for example, the growing demand for diverse accommodation has led us to expand our offerings, from spacious hot tub lodges to rugged camping pods, catering to both comfort-seeking travellers and adventure lovers.”

In 2022, the Campbell family acquired Tyndrum Holiday Park (formerly Pinetrees Caravan Park) and set about modernising it. Positioned on the West Highland Way, this park primarily offers holiday and short-stay accommodation for walkers and road trippers, with 11 different accommodation types on offer.

The park’s location is the perfect stopover for those travelling through to Glencoe, Oban or the Scottish islands, but its stunning setting also makes it ideal for a longer stay. The hot tub pods are a standout feature, offering guests a luxurious glamping experience in a picturesque Highland setting. Holiday home ownership is also on offer with a range of modern lodges and caravans available.

BEN NEVIS HOLIDAY PARK has an outstanding location in the foothills of Ben Nevis itself

A mix of holiday rental accommodation and holiday home ownership is also on offer at Highland Holidays’ most recent investment – Oban Holiday Park (previously known as Gallanach Caravan & Camping Park), which opened in July 2023. This stunning park has a prime location on the scenic west coast, overlooking the Isle of Kerrera and Oban Bay.

Oban Holiday Park offers an impressive 16 different accommodation types but there is a focus on providing high-specification lodge experiences. “We introduced luxury waterfront hot tub lodges at Oban,” explains Andrew Campbell. “Now the primary accommodation on the park, these lodges offer front- row views of the sea, stylish interiors, spacious decking with a private hot tub, and direct access to some of Scotland’s most stunning sunsets - perfect for couples or small groups seeking comfort, relaxation, and a view.”

Another new development on the park is a series of four-bedroom hot tub lodges. Recently introduced, these spacious, premium lodges are ideal for families or groups. Featuring modern interiors, open-plan living areas, private hot tubs, and outdoor decking, the new lodges offer a high-end retreat in a coastal setting.

Holiday home buyers can choose from a selection of stylish new lodges and static caravans. Ownership at Oban offers the opportunity to return time and again to a personal coastal retreat in one of Scotland’s most scenic locations, with the option to sublet when not in use. More exciting new additions at Oban Holiday Park are in the plans for the coming years.

LUXURY WATERFRONT Hot Tub Lodges offer front-row views of the sea and stunning sunsets

The holiday parks business comes with its fair share of challenges – from changing guest expectations to increased competition and the need for sustainable tourism. Highland Holidays has responded by staying true to their core strengths while continuously evolving to meet modern demands. Their business model hinges on quality informing every aspect of the guest experience, as well as a keen understanding of what modern holidaymakers seek.

Each park is pet-friendly, family-friendly, and designed to offer both adventure and relaxation in equal measure. “With multiple parks, our focus is on maintaining consistently high standards across every touchpoint,” explains Andrew Campbell.

“We aim to create memories that last a lifetime through exceptional customer service, carefully selected park locations in stunning natural surroundings, and a range of high-quality amenities and accommodation to suit every guest.” There’s more than a nod to sustainability and seamless integration with those stunning surroundings too.

TOURING AND CAMPING options are also available at Oban Holiday Park.

Oban Holiday Park gets its water supply from nearby hillside springs, making it a particularly environmentally friendly choice. Tyndrum Holiday Park is surrounded by pine forests, home to a variety of wildlife, and offers a children’s quiz to encourage early adoption of eco-responsibilities.

At Ben Nevis Holiday Park, Campbell’s Café serves meals made with locally sourced ingredients, giving visitors a chance to enjoy delicious native Scottish cuisine. Through Highland Holidays, the Campbells are particularly proud to present an authentic Scottish experience for their guests, set against breath-taking landscapes and rich cultural heritage.

“With travellers now prioritising flexibility, pet-friendliness, and multi-generational appeal, we’ve designed our parks to be inclusive and adaptable,” says Andrew Campbell. “Highland Holidays embodies the spirit of togetherness. As a family-run business we truly recognise the importance of family time and the joy of shared experiences. Our mission is to offer our guests unforgettable family holidays in Scotland.”

Highland Holidays
0333 188 1930
www.highlandholdiays.com

CHANGING PLACES

Posted on May 10, 2023

CHANGING PLACES

Even the humblest washroom facilities can make or break your brand, advises Becci Knowles...

ADD A TOUCH of character to your washroom facilities to keep the guests happy.

Leading market research firm Mintel says that in a competitive market, with relatively low brand differentiation outside of the leading holiday centre brands, catering for rising visitor expectations in terms of accommodation, facilities and experiences has become vital for success. Clean, modern, accessible, and eco-friendly washrooms have a key role to play in continuing this upward trend.

A quick look at holiday park reviews online at Tripadvisor is testimony to the fact that these facilities feature highly on the list of customer priorities across every demographic. Meeting the rising expectations of existing customers and changing the perception new ones, is vital for a destination’s growth. Park Holidays operates 43 caravan holiday parks across the UK from Cornwall in the West, Suffolk in the East and up to Yorkshire and Scotland in the North.

Commenting on the importance of its washroom facilities across the portfolio, a spokesperson told Holiday Park Scene: “On our parks which provide touring and camping pitches, the washrooms remain one of the single most important factors in shaping guests’ level of satisfaction with their stay.

“On review websites, our facilities will frequently be commended for their cleanliness, standards of maintenance, and overall impression of being a welcoming and hygienic environment for ablutions. “Positive comments on our washrooms also appear on Park Holidays’ Feefo review website and have helped the group achieve the platform’s excellence award for six years in succession.”

SUCCESS MARKERS
Washrooms are pivotal in the success of smaller parks too, particularly where there is a spa element Kevin Jones, resort director at Whalesborough Farm and cottages tells Holiday Park Scene. “Being a health spa and 5* cottages resort, cleanliness and the experience is vital to our business, we pride ourselves on giving the customer the best possible experience they can have while with us,” says Kevin.

He continues: “Businesses are judged by the cleanliness of the facilities and predominantly the washroom facilities, we want our customers to enjoy their time with and a clean, pleasurable place to be starts with the washrooms.” Shaun Matthews is the owner of Blue Hills Touring Park in Truro. He agrees that good quality, clean facilities help to present a professional image of your park.

“Many smaller caravan and camping sites such as our 50 pitches often don’t provide some of the other facilities that are found on larger parks so it essential that those we do provide are as good as they can be. They will be one of the main facilities that a park is judged upon. “The main requirement that guests are looking for, regardless of shape/ size washroom facility that’s provided is cleanliness, this seems to be the number one priority and is never going to change.

“Washroom facilities have been moving more and more “posh”, underfloor heating, heated and backlit mirrors, background music. In some case there has been a move to provide facilities that are more akin to a hotel, although this is still the preserve of the much higher end parks.”

AS DERBYSHIRE’S NEWHAVEN HOLIDAY PARK SHOWS, thoughtful design can make all the difference to washroom appeal Pic. Park Holidays UK

LOCATION, LOCATION
Emma Bateman is the site manager of Lincolnshire based holiday park, Westwood Lakes. Specialising in fishing holidays, it has seven lakes open to guests and the public. As fishing is an outdoor sport, and the lakes are sometimes a distance from the main buildings, the park has built its own toilet facilities around the lakes, which staff clean daily. The company also hires portaloos, via an external provider, for the lakes that cannot be reached by the water and drainage system.

Emma says: “Over the 16 years we have been operating, we have tried to update our facilities as we see fit. For example, the outdoor permanent toilet blocks are a recent addition to the site after fisherman complained the café and bar toilets were too far away from the lakes. “In addition, we have recently updated our hand driers to the Dyson air model, and we find they are much more efficient at drying hands and that means less paper is used too.”

Onsite facilities include both a café and bar with washroom facilities, including disabled toilets and baby changing units. Emma adds: “Having these extra facilities means we can accommodate all visitors; inclusion is important to us at Westwood Lakes, and this is reflected in our facilities having ramp access etc, to improve visitor experience.” Mayfield Park is a family-owned and run camping, caravan and residential park nestled in the hills on the outskirts of the famous market town of Cirencester.

Picking up on Emma’s point about access and inclusion, managing director Carl Upton agrees that the location of your washrooms, is key: “When planning on new toilet blocks it’s always good to keep them near the camp site and not miles away or in a muddy field and to have easy access for disabled users,” he says. Had the team at Westwood Lakes foreseen just how much how much the park would grow in the 16 years since its inception, Emma says they would have planned their washroom facilities differently: “For example, the outdoor permanent toilet blocks would have been built much earlier and we would have used part of the accommodation plumbing and drainage systems to be able to reach the further afield lakes instead of portaloos, which is an extra monthly expense.”

“Washroom location is everything,” says Blue Hills Touring Park’s Shaun Matthews. “So not too far from the furthest pitches but equally close enough to services to reduce installation costs.” He also points to ease of operation. “Are they user friendly, can some facilities remain open whilst others are closed for cleaning,” Sean asks. “Don’t underestimate the number of cubicles/ showers required, make sure that guests are well catered for and won’t have to queue for their morning shower. “Accessible and family bathroom facilities should also be provided. Can you integrate other facilities into the same building, for example, wash up areas.”

WITH THEIR HIGH VOLUME OF USERS, washrooms at Chichester Lakeside Holiday Park are scheduled for regular monitoring visits throughout the day. Pic. Park Holidays UK

ECO ESSENTIALS
Back at Whalesborough Farm and Cottages, resort director Kevin is keen to stress the importance of sustainability: “Parks should always consider sustainability, from thinking how we heat our washrooms to the water we use in them,” he says, adding: “We use water from our own bore hole and air source heating powered by our turbine on site.” Blue Hills Touring Park’s Shaun Matthews suggests using recycled and environmentally friendly cleaning products.

“If you can easily manage the cleaning maintenance through good design then you are part of the way to sustainability. “In addition, sustainability can be achieved through the installation of renewables such solar thermal, air source/ground source heat pumps and so on.” Achieving a more sustainable business model, especially in the current economic climate, remains a challenge for many parks.

Emma again: “We have to think of what is friendly and cost effective; we are becoming more aware of the environmental damage and we can make a difference with better quality hand driers, environmentally friendly toilet rolls and tissues. “Sadly, this doesn’t always equal cost effective, and that is something we are trying to balance here at Westwood Lakes,” she adds.

Looking to the future, Shaun says: “Washrooms will become more upmarket as guests demand a better experience. “Probably more eco-friendly, it’s quite likely that more operators will also move towards unisex facilities. This will help to reduce the number of cubicles required and reduce costs as utility bills continue to grow.” Picking up on this point, Whalesborough’s Kevin Jones says: “Washrooms of the future will be clean, vibrant, multi-generational, filled with cloud-based technologies, a zero emissions bathroom removes the feeling of guilt when using natural resources and energy.

“It will allow us to take a shower several times a day without placing a burden on the environment. “Designed as a small power station, the bathroom functions as a heat recuperator and water treatment facility, for example by converting waste materials into methane which is then used to generate heat.” While the development of washroom technologies continues to gather pace and the exact future of them remains to be seen, what is clear is that parks looking update their existing facilities or install new ones have an ever-widening range of products and services to choose from.

RETURN ON INVESTMENT

Posted on February 15, 2023

RETURN ON INVESTMENT

All aboard for the Brean Leisure development journey...

MAJOR INVESTMENTS include the on-site Brean Country Club.

Regularly attracting over 500,000 visitors annually, Brean Leisure is a 200-acre resort that is reaping. Over the last 10 years over £15 million has been invested to improve the holiday experience of guests at both Brean Leisure Park and its sister sites. The group has a cluster of four parks at its Somerset base, Holiday Resort Unity, Golden Sands, Brean Country Club and Brightholme.

The combined offering boasts 165 hire fleet caravans and lodges, 750 private holiday home owners and a small matter of 400 touring and camping pitches. Not surprisingly, 150 employees work across the year while the overall number swells to 250 in peak summer months. The team’s main focus since 2021 has been on sustainability, adopting the slogan ‘Sustainability at Heart’.

The move has seen the company achieve some outstanding outcomes through mixed recycling, food recycling and energy initiatives. Although the founders, the House Family, remain the driving force behind the business, they could not have manage it alone. They gratefully acknowledge the help and support from past and present management and team members and hope they have enjoyed being part of the family-run enterprise in Somerset. Alan House comments: “The family are committed to reinvesting heavily into the park and the facilities to make it even better.

Planning permission has been received for an expansion to Brean Splash Waterpark and a flagship new entrance and entertainment complex at Holiday Resort Unity. “There’s an annual investment into new hire fleet accommodation of around £1m which keeps standards high and generates good used stock to then sell onto the private owners areas. “We are always planning at least two years in advance and looking at how we can enhance the experience and satisfaction of our guests.

The Brean story started when Albert and Marie House bought Unity Farm in 1946 and for the next 30 years ran the farm primarily as a dairy farm with a herd of 140 cows. They then supplied the local area with milk that was bottled on the farm. The farm grew to include a number of pigs and sheep and a milk round. Bert also had a passion for horse racing and enjoyed success with a number of winners in both flat and national hunt races.

As far back as 1946, camping was a very popular past time and Fry’s Chocolate Factory, from Bristol, pitched large tents on three fields of the farm for a two-week period during the summer so that their employees could have a holiday by the sea. What we know today as Holiday Resort Unity, spread its early roots there, and it wasn’t long before many groups including Boy’s Brigade Troops from across the country were coming to Brean for holidays.

 

DRIVEN BY THE FOUNDING HOUSE FAMILY, Brean Park is very much a team effort.

 

PLANNING PERMISSION
In 1948, planning permission was granted to change the use of some of the farmland to caravans and camping and 20 acres were converted to this use. During the 50’s and 60’s caravan and camping became a bigger part of the business and slowly the number of cows, pigs and sheep decreased. In the late 60’s ‘Bert’s Bar’ was opened on the resort and became one of the parks first main facilities. During the 70’s and 80’s the beginnings of Brean Leisure Park was created and the Mid Somerset Golf Centre which included Target Golf, driving range, pitch and putt and also an eight-hole golf course opened.

Through the years additional recreation activities were added including greyhound racing, a swimming pool, donkey derbies and open-air markets to name just a few. The park was now attracting a lot of visitors from the Birmingham, South Wales and Bristol areas and in the late 1970’s the House family bought out the other directors so that they could concentrate on their passion of developing leisure and holiday facilities for local residents and holiday makers. The directors of the park from this point forward were Mr and Mrs House Senior and also Richard and Bridget House.

The original golf course was expanded to 18 holes and Brean Golf Club was created. The course hosted a number of pro and celebrity amateur tournaments as well as becoming a members club and a facility for holiday guests to use. In 1980, the complex known today as the ‘Tavern’ was opened and was then known as the ‘Farmers Tavern’ providing a venue for evening family entertainment, functions and weddings. The complex also included an Amusement Arcade and fast food outlets.

The greyhound track was closed in 1984 and to improve the look of the park a significant landscaping project was undertaken across both Brean Leisure Park and also Unity Farm. Further facilities were added during the 90’s including a river tyre ride at the swimming pool complex and also the addition of two, ten-pin bowling lanes at Unity Farm in 1994. One of the biggest projects the team has undertaken was the RJ’s Entertainment complex, a £1m investment with an American theme that replaced Bert’s Bar and Chicks Roost with a 700 people venue capacity in 2000.

Over the next 10 years the development of the facilities continued and included a new toilet block in green field and also an extension to RJ’s called ‘Berties’. Always looking for fresh opportunities, in 2003 the company acquired the neighbouring ‘Golden Sands Caravan Park’ with an additional 20 static caravans available for hire. 2005 saw the opening of the Costcutter supermarket as well as a refurbishment to the Yellow Field toilet block.

With Holiday Resort Unity now providing holidays for hundreds of people every year the old reception and office building became outgrown and a new facility was opened in 2006 to improve the check in procedure of our guests. The old reception building was then converted into the over 18’s arcade at Unity Bowl. In 2008, a new toilet block was constructed at Brown Field and also the Caravan Sales building was constructed and opened.

The Resort was also awarded a 4 star holiday village for the first time by the English Tourism Board. Work to improve Brean Golf Club was completed in 2009 including the creation of the longest hole in Somerset. A family nine-hole pitch and putt was opened. A Subway franchise and a family restaurant were opened during 2010 following the purchase of a former pub just 100 metres from the entrance to Brean Leisure Park which is now the home of the Bay of India.

 

THE £2M INVESTMENT in Brean Splash included an indoor children’s splash park.

 

WATER PLAY
In 2011, the first phase of a multi-million pound project to create Brean Splash; a new pool and entertainment complex, was completed. The £2m investment in Brean Splash saw the opening of a new indoor 25m swimming pool, indoor children’s splash park and a seaside themed outdoor children’s play structure with three waterslides. Three years later the team completed the final phase of Brean Splash to include a new indoor pool area with mini slides.

Meanwhile, Brean Play, our new indoor soft play attraction opened, offering an all year round play facility and cafe. The concession at Fun City changed hands and will now be called Brean Theme Park. There was no question of resting on any laurels as in 2016, a new gym, sauna and steam room opened at Brean Splash as well as Rainbow Rings Waterslide, rapidly followed by a new Baby Pool and Disco Slide at Brean Splash Waterpark.

In 2018, work was completed on a new £4m golf and lodge development, marketed as the Brean Country Club; a premium venue for dining, weddings, events and lodge development for sales. Coast, a new dog-friendly café, opened in the former Legends bar. A year later, saw the addition of new hire fleet and a refurbishment of Wimpy restaurant, into The Pavilion Food Court, plus a new central stock distribution centre.

The Covid-19 breakout caused major disruption at the resort. This delayed new projects and inhibited operating across the year. Nevertheless, a new Ninja Warrior course was installed on the mezzanine at Brean Play with a new sandwich shop replacing Subway and the launch of ‘The View’ restaurant at Brean Country Club.

Installation of a new outdoor play equipment at the outdoor play area in 2021. Still open to opportunities, Brightholme Holiday Park, 300m from Holiday Resort Unity, was purchased a couple of years ago, adding 70 privately owned static caravans and a bar and restaurant to the combined offering.