An introduction from the new General Manager

March 25, 2021 | Park updates | 3 minute read

Hi, I am Darren the new General Manager at Pinewoods and I wanted to take a moment to say an official hello!

In my role I lead an experienced team responsible for an amazing 5* holiday park with over 600 privately owned caravan holiday homes, holiday home and lodges to hire, more than 200 beach huts and over 100 touring and motorhome pitches; all within a stones throw of the picture perfect Wells Beach.

I started at Pinewoods during January and it has been fascinating and informative finding out about the park, meeting the fantastic Pinewoods team and visiting the wider Holkham businesses. I have spent much of my first few weeks meeting the other senior managers and visiting the parts of the Estate they are responsible for.

I feel privileged to be living and working in such a beautiful part of our country and have really been amazed at the abundance of wildlife and spectacular views I’ve experienced so far. As I write this we are just thawing out after a mini “beast from the east”. It was really special to witness deep snowfall along Wells beach and among the pinewoods and the sand dunes of the National Nature Reserve. It’s the first time I have ever experienced snow on the sand!

Before Pinewoods, I held the role of General Manager at a Five Star holiday park in Northumberland and prior to that my early career was spent living and working in Northern France as a regional manager for a market leading self-catering holiday provider. I am passionate about the UK hospitality industry and love to spend time off with my family holidaying around this fabulous country.

Joining me in the move to Norfolk is my wife and three young children and we enjoy our time together swimming, cycling, walking, and exploring the coast. We still have so much to discover around Holkham Hall & Park and like everyone else, we are desperate to see everything open again and the place come alive with locals and visitors.

It has been a tough year for us all with the impact of the pandemic and I very much look forward to being able to open Pinewoods again and to welcome back holiday home owners and holiday guests. It will be great to be able to get out and about and meet them. Working on a holiday park is a dream job and I really appreciate the opportunity it brings to interact with people. The Pinewoods team are an impressive bunch with decades of experience between them, they have really made me welcome and it’s great to be a part of it. Everyone is pulling together to have everything safe and ready for when we are able to welcome our guests back.

The team and I are busy setting up our improved recycling facilities in accommodation and around our refuse areas on the park. We are working closely with the sustainability and marketing teams to provide our guests and holiday home owners with easy to use split recycling inside their accommodation and supported by pre-arrival information and videos featuring our wonderful team.

There is so much to look forward to this summer at Pinewoods, in and around Wells and of course, there is a fabulous schedule of events running from Holkham this summer. We are particularly looking forward to the Festival of Sport! I hope to meet many more of the Holkham Team as we ease out of lockdown and to learn more about this wonderful place, we all get to call work!