Zoe House

MAKING WAVES

Posted on August 3, 2026

ADVENTURE AWAITS on Ustigate Waterplay’s Vortex Elevations™ pirate ship, where imaginative aquatic play helps holiday parks create unforgettable family memories.

Why swimming pools remain a vital investment for holiday parks...

Creating memorable guest experiences is essential for holiday parks seeking to attract new visitors and encourage repeat bookings. While accommodation and entertainment remain important, high-quality swimming pools consistently rank among the most valued facilities for families.

Heated indoor pools extend the season by providing year-round recreation, while outdoor pools and splash attractions become focal points during warmer months. Freshwater Beach Holiday Park in Dorset, for example, promotes its heated pools as one of its key family attractions.

Swimming pools offer benefits beyond recreation. They provide spaces where families can relax, exercise and spend quality time together while helping parks strengthen their competitive position and encourage repeat visits. Well-designed aquatic facilities become destination attractions in their own right.

RECENTLY REFURBISHED, the Cascades Tropical Adventure Pool is one of Ruda Holiday Park’s standout family attractions.

DESIGNING SAFE, EFFICIENT AQUATIC FACILITIES
Successful pool design prioritises safety, accessibility and efficient guest flow. Clear lifeguard visibility, well-planned circulation between pools and changing areas, and inclusive layouts all contribute to an enjoyable visitor experience.

Operating a swimming pool also requires robust management. Water quality should be maintained in line with PWTAG guidance through regular monitoring of disinfectant levels, pH and filtration.

Operators should have a Pool Safety Operating Procedure (PSOP), suitable risk assessments and appropriately qualified lifeguards where required. Pool covers also improve efficiency by retaining heat and reducing debris, helping lower maintenance costs.

INTERACTIVE WATER FEATURES create safe, engaging environments where families can play together.

CREATING VALUE THROUGH AQUATIC PLAY
Modern guests increasingly expect more than a traditional swimming pool. Interactive water play, sensory features and exciting attractions appeal to a wide range of ages while encouraging confidence in the water.

Multi-level play structures such as Vortex Elevations™ transform pools into immersive play environments with climbing elements, sprays, tipping buckets and interactive features. Their greatest advantage is the ability to entertain large numbers of guests within a compact footprint while offering activities suitable for toddlers through to older children.

This allows families with children of different ages to enjoy the attraction together, enhancing the holiday experience.

SEARLES LEISURE RESORT In Hunstanton, Norfolk, is proud of its excellent swimming pool facilities.

THE ENDURING APPEAL OF WATERSLIDES
Flumes remain among the most popular attractions in any swimming facility. Their combination of excitement, adventure and friendly competition makes them particularly attractive to families and teenagers.

Working with wiegand.waterrides, Ustigate Waterplay designs and installs stainless steel and fibreglass waterslides that meet European safety standards while incorporating engaging features and interactive elements. Adding a modern flume can significantly increase the appeal of a holiday park’s aquatic offering.

AWARD-WINNING LADRAM BAY Holiday Park creates unforgettable holiday memories with its family-focused pool and splash facilities

INCLUSIVE SPLASH PADS
Splash pads provide an accessible, inclusive water play experience for guests of all ages and abilities. Barrier-free access, ground-level play features and interactive water effects enable children, parents, grandparents and wheelchair users to enjoy the attraction together.

Unlike conventional pools, splash pads operate without standing water, reducing drowning risk and, subject to site-specific risk assessments and operating procedures, removing the need for lifeguard supervision. They also require less water than traditional pools.

Smaller installations may use flow-through systems that allow water to be reused for irrigation, while larger sites can benefit from recirculation systems that treat and recycle water in line with PWTAG guidance. Through its long-standing partnership with Vortex International, Ustigate Waterplay offers more than 150 Splashpad® products, enabling bespoke aquatic play areas tailored to each holiday park.

“Our aim has always been to create amazing memories with first-class facilities, and I think our splash zone comes right up to the mark!”

FRESHWATER BEACH HOLIDAY PARK
Freshwater Beach Holiday Park recently transformed its aquatic facilities by replacing a single-lane waterslide with a three-lane racer flume and installing a Vortex Elevations™ play structure featuring climbing activities, spray bars, cascading water effects and a tipping bucket.

Swimming Pool Manager Tristan Brookes commented: “Working with Ustigate Waterplay has been an absolute pleasure from start to finish. Their team was professional, efficient and flexible throughout the project, delivering outstanding results that exceeded expectations in both aesthetics and functionality.”

The redevelopment demonstrates how modernising existing facilities can broaden appeal across different age groups while encouraging longer stays and repeat use.

USTIGATE WATERPLAY supplies waterslides that remain among the most popular holiday park attractions, combining excitement, adventure and family fun.

LADRAM BAY HOLIDAY PARK
Award-winning Ladram Bay combines a heated indoor swimming pool with interactive splash features and seasonal outdoor water play, providing year-round aquatic entertainment for families.

Director Zoe House said: “Our aim has always been to create amazing memories with first-class facilities, and I think our splash zone comes right up to the mark!”

AWARD-WINNING LADRAM BAY Holiday Park creates unforgettable holiday memories with its family-focused pool and splash facilities

LOOKING AHEAD
Swimming pools remain one of the strongest investments available to holiday park operators. When complemented by aquatic play structures, waterslides and splash pads, they become destination experiences that appeal to guests of all ages.

Projects at Freshwater Beach and Ladram Bay demonstrate how thoughtful investment in water play can enhance guest satisfaction, differentiate parks in a competitive market and create memorable family experiences that encourage visitors to return year after year.

Freshwater Beach Holiday Park
www.freshwaterbeach.co.uk

Ladram Holiday Park
www.ladrambay.co.uk

Ruda Holiday Park
www.johnfowlerholidays.com/devon-holiday-park/ruda-holiday-park

Searles Holiday Park
www.searles.co.uk

Ustigate Waterplay
www.ustigatewaterplay.co.uk

FRESHWATER BEACH HOLIDAY PARK’S upgraded aquatic facilities, developed with Ustigate Waterplay, demonstrate how investment in water play can create memorable guest experiences for all ages.

£250K PLAY ZONE UNVEILED

Posted on October 28, 2021

£250K PLAY ZONE UNVEILED

 

TV PERSONALITY Josie Gibson declares the play area at Ladram Bay offcially open.

Family-owned Landram Bay has sunk a quarter of a million pounds into a new play zone to create one of Devon’s most exciting play opportunities: “Mums and dads know that kids get their biggest thrills from being active, so we went all out for the best possible experience,” said park director Zoe House. “The play area includes tunnels and an obstacle course, a multi-level adventure frame, wobbly bridges, slides and a pirate ship on which youngsters can clamber. “It’s enormous fun, but also encourages the development of physical fexibility and decision- making skills, as well as helping our younger guests to socialise with each other.”

Devon Park Embarks On A Green Safari

Posted on March 17, 2017

Devon Park Embarks On A Green Safari

The owners of Ladram Bay Holiday Park are stepping up their efforts to make the park a haven for flora and fauna, including endangered species.

The owners of Ladram Bay Holiday Park are stepping up their efforts to make the park a haven for flora and fauna, including endangered species.

Visitors to Ladram Bay Holiday Park this year are being invited to enjoy a ‘green safari’ of the grounds where a raft of new wildlife-friendly initiatives are taking place. Last year the park was named by world-famous botanist David Bellamy as a winner of his prestigious conservation award at its top gold level.

Now Ladram Bay’s family owners say they intend to move up another gear in their efforts to make the park a haven for flora and fauna, including endangered species. Holiday guests, it says, will notice many new plantings of native trees, shrubs and flowers – including foxgloves flourishing in fallen trees which have been allowed to naturally decay. At the same time, the park will be removing various non-native species such as laurel – and bolstering its historic hedgerows with new plants such as blackthorn, spindle and hazel.

Credit for much of the work, says Ladram Bay, is due to head gardener Scott Rowe who leads a four-person grounds-keeping team tasked with putting the park’s plans into action. Park director Zoe House says the latest initiatives will add an extra dimension of discovery for holiday guests to enjoy during their stays: “Our family first started welcoming holidaymakers to Ladram Bay Holiday Park more than seventy years ago,” said Zoe. “It was then a farm, and we have never forgotten our agricultural roots and the importance of managing the land in a sustainable way. “Protecting the natural world and its inhabitants is even more important now than it was then, and we try to ensure that the park is as welcoming to wildlife as it is to guests.”

Top Honours Awarded

Posted on February 9, 2017
Ladram Bay Holiday Park was named overall winner in the 2016 Devon Venus Awards.

Ladram Bay Holiday Park was named overall winner in the 2016 Devon Venus Awards.

Top Honours Awarded

Ladram Bay Holiday Park has been crowned ‘company of the year’ in a major award scheme celebrating successful women in business.

The park was named as overall winner in the 2016 Devon Venus Awards in November. Competition was fierce this year with almost 2,000 nominations and applications received in one or more of the different categories of the awards.

Stepping up to receive the accolade were director and member of the park-owning family member Zoe House, and Ladram Bay’s General Manager Claire Williams.

Zoe House commented: “We have always believed in providing equal career opportunities for both women and men, and in helping employees achieve their goals with support and training. “This award is for everyone who works at the park, and we would like to thank all those who have supported us along the way,” added Zoe.

Holiday Snaps: Zoe House of Ladram Bay Holiday Park

Posted on September 8, 2015

Holiday Snaps: Zoe House of Ladram Bay Holiday Park

Zoe Ladram BayZoe House was brought up at Ladram Bay Holiday Park in Devon, which her father opened in 1943. Zoe took over the day-to-day running of the park in 2006, along with her brother Robin.

How has 2015 been for Ladram Bay Holiday Park?

It has been a fantastic season. The introduction of our brand new swimming pool and the refurbishment of Pebbles restaurant has had a great effect on business. This year we have seen a 15 per cent increase in bookings.

What are the main challenges facing the industry at the moment?

With the strength of the pound, holidays abroad are appearing cheaper this year, so it is really important that British holidaymakers have an incentive to holiday in the UK.

If you had to identify one element, what is the most crucial aspect to the success of your park?

As an independent park, we have the ability to constantly reinvest to ensure our facilities exceed customer expectation. We also can’t forget our stunning location on Devon’s Jurassic Coast.

What does a typical day in the office for you consist of?

My jobs range from managing staff and customers to investment planning, marketing and advertising. The variety makes it all the more interesting.

What has been your most interesting experience in the industry?

Last winter we undertook the biggest redevelopment since I became director in 2006. With the seasonal nature of the tourism industry in the UK, we only had four months whilst the park was closed to build our state-of-the-art swimming pool and adventure golf course, while also refurbishing the restaurant. Fortunately we finished just in time.

What is the best piece of business advice you have been given and by whom?

My father said that “without guests, Ladram is just a bay”. To me, this sums up everything we do, ensuring the Ladram experience is of the highest standard.

Where do you go on holiday?

I love to travel with my family, especially disappearing in our tourer for a short break and exploring the UK. This country has so much to offer.

Tell us a joke…

What do you call a man with a seagull on his head? Cliff!