Bridge Leisure, who own nine holiday parks across the country, have confirmed they will be reopening their parks to holidaymakers following months of closure due to COVID-19.
 
Trevella in Newquay, Seaview near Polperrro, Hengar Manor in Bodmin, Hedley Wood near Bude, Ashbourne Heights in Derbyshire, Sand le Mere near Hull and Bowland Fell in the Yorksire Dales will all welcome their first holidaymakers on the 10th July after getting the green light from Government today (23/6).
 
The two parks in Scotland, Silver Sands and Turnberry hope to reopen on the 17th July.
 
The parks are allowing holiday home owners to return from the 4th July in England and the 15th July in Scotland, giving the park time to bring their teams back, train them in any new procedures, get the accommodation deep cleaned and make sure the parks are safe and ready to welcome holiday guests a few days later.
 
Initially the parks won’t be able to open their shared touring facilities as they are still considered too high risk. Only those with their own toilet and wash facilities will be able to book touring pitches on the parks until the situation is reviewed.
 
To ensure their parks are as safe as possible, Bridge Leisure have been talking to travel risk experts from the Travel Risk Incident Prevention Group (TRIP) about the steps they are taking to make their parks ready for owners and holidaymakers when they return.
 
Lloyd Figgins, Chairman of the TRIP Group and Travel Risk Expert has been invited to stay at one of the parks to experience the ‘new normal’ and assess the safety precautions which have been put in place. He will then feedback any areas of concern or improvement to Bridge Leisure before they welcome their first holidaymakers to their parks.
 
CEO of Bridge Leisure, Andrew Howe said: “This is the news we have all been waiting for. Opening in July will enable us to maximise the remainder of the busy summer season and more importantly, give people an opportunity to get away from the four walls of their own homes.
 
“We are working hard behind the scenes to meet all the new guidance on safety from the Government and we are also working with the TRIP Group to offer us some independent advice. The safety of our teams, owners and holidaymakers will always be the most important thing to us and we want to ensure we do everything possible to make our parks safe.
 
“We have always talked about our holiday parks being a home away from home and that’s why they provide such a good option for people who are nervous about going on holiday again. By design, our self-catering units are socially distance friendly and we are surrounded by the great outdoors, we expect to be busy as we are already experiencing high demand.”