Positive future for South Lakes holiday parks operator

South Lakeland Parks - which employs over 200 people and runs nine holiday parks throughout Cumbria and Lancashire - has been bought this week for £125 million.

White Ocean Leisure Limited, a privately owned company, has exchanged contracts with the existing shareholders who bought the parks just 17 months ago for £95 million.

The existing staff and management team throughout South Lakeland Parks will remain in place after successfully growing the value of the business by £30 million in less than two years.

Graham Hodgson Chief Executive of South Lakeland Parks, said: “Of the potential purchasers of our business, White Ocean Leisure, was our preferred option.”

“It is a credit to the hard work of our staff and the board that this company has gone from strength to strength since June 2006. It just shows what progress can be made with the right people and the right investment.”

“For our customers, we expect to see further upgrading and investment in the coming years so they continue to have the very best holiday and leisure experience while staying with us. The new investors are keen to grow the group both organically and through acquisitions and see the North West as an ideal platform to do this. This will result in more jobs and bring more visitors to the area boosting the local economy.”

Bruce Casely, Director of White Ocean Leisure, said: “The holiday park market has extremely attractive characteristics and South Lakeland Parks are a well established, high quality business with a respected management team.”

Graham Hodgson, Commercial Director Ian Gaskell, Operations Director Beverley Dixon and Finance Director Nigel Wimpenny will continue to run the business at the park’s head office in Natland, near Kendal, Cumbria.

The four ambitious directors – who all hail from the North West are keen to build on the success of 2007 which resulted in over 500 holiday homes being sold and brought over 70,000 visitors to the region.

South Lakeland Parks offers luxury lodges and holiday caravans for either sale or hire.  Its three five-star sites in the Southern Lakes are Fallbarrow in Bowness-on-Windermere, White Cross Bay in Windermere and Limefitt in the Troutbeck Valley as well as Gatebeck Holiday Park near Kendal. Its North Lancashire sites are Regent in Morecambe, Ocean Edge at Heysham, Hawthorne Holiday Park at Middleton Sands, Marina Holiday Park at Glasson Dock in Lancaster and Todber near Clitheroe.