Dorset holiday parks triumph in tourism awards

Dorset holiday parks' tourism awards hailed as "team triumph"

Team members and the family owners of West Dorset Leisure Holidays WDLH are celebrating after two of their holiday parks triumphed in last month's Dorset Tourism Awards.

Judges in the keenly fought contest voted WDLH's Highlands End Holiday Park in Bridport as the overall gold winner in the Holiday Park of the Year category.

Team effort: members of WDLH give a cheer for the news that their group has claimed two top park titles

Family-owned for over half a century, Highlands End provides guests with a dramatic cliff-top location and panoramic views across 99 miles of Dorset and Devon coastline.

And it's not the first time that the park has come away from the Dorset Tourism Awards with a glittering first, for it also took the top spot in 2019.

But the judges this year hadn't finished yet, for they also announced a silver award in the same category to the group's Golden Cap Holiday Park next to Seatown Beach.

Founded in 1971, WDLH comprises five popular holiday parks, and is owned and operated by Vanessa Cox and her husband Martin, plus their sons James and Robert.

The parks variously offer luxury holiday lodges and caravans to hire and own, glamping accommodation, and pitches for motorhomes, tents and touring caravans.

Highlands End, now officially Dorset's top park destination for visitors, also provides a raft of leisure facilities and an acclaimed bar/restaurant with one of the largest private displays of fire service memorabilia.

Members of the Cox family (from left) James, Vanessa, Martin and Robert say there's a busy season ahead

Martin Cox said there was a reason why his family felt a special pride in gaining the two new accolades in the Dorset Tourism Awards:

"These awards are very highly regarded by tourism providers because they don't just look at the quality of the facilities and accommodation on offer to guests," he said.

"The judges also review comments made by customers to help assess the way in which they are welcomed and looked after during their stay, and the friendliness of the atmosphere.

"Our aim is to provide truly memorable experiences for our visitors, and the feedback we receive almost always contains praise for our loyal and hard-working team members.

"That's why they deserve a big thank-you for the part they played in helping us to achieve these awards, and their willingness always to go the extra mile," said Martin.

He said the group's parks were now looking forward to an extremely busy 2022, and was delighted that the spending of visitors would help to benefit many other small businesses in Dorset and the South West.

At the end of last year, WDLH was praised for reaching a £100,000 milestone in money raised for the Jurassic Coast Trust since the group began fundraising in 2008.

For more information about Highlands End and other parks in the group, visit www.wdlh.co.uk

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