The 2024 season is about to begin!

March 13, 2024 | Park updates | 8 minute read

As we prepare to reopen for the 2024 season, the team here at Pinewoods Holiday Park thought we’d share what changes have been made over the winter months while we’ve been closed. Despite having no one staying with us, it’s always a busy time, as we keep on top of maintenance, make improvements and gear up for the busy season ahead. Whether you’re coming for your first Wells-next-the-Sea holiday or are a Pinewoods owner making regular trips to the North Norfolk coast, we look forward to welcoming you this year. If you haven’t yet booked, do check out our range of caravan holiday homes, luxury lodges and touring park pitches to find the perfect place for your Norfolk break.

Pauline (Pinewoods Reception)

It’s the beginning of March and there’s a buzz in the air – a kind of static excitement!

Each and every member of the Pinewoods Team are busy planning, preparing, planting and checking.

We’re making sure that the park is the best it can be, ready to greet our first time visitors and to welcome back our lovely owners and returning guests.

In Reception, our phones are busy with new bookings, or the chatter of excited guests checking final details of their stay.

We are armed with helpful advice and information to make sure our visitors get the best experience from their holiday. Do feel free to get in touch if you’d like to know more about the local area during or in advance of your stay.

Next door, the Pinewoods Store is springing to life, with some clever new display units.

The shelves are filling up with essentials, gifts and lots of local produce and a bottle of wine or two ready to enjoy! Happy holidays!

Hoping for blue skies to reappear soon!

Darren (General Manager)

I am so pleased to be able to welcome you back to Pinewoods after what has been a rather bleak winter weather-wise. While the team and I enjoy the opportunity to close the park and get on with winter maintenance and project works, it is incredibly quiet without the thrum of you – our holiday homeowners – and customers. 

As I write this, I am looking out onto another wet March day. Interestingly, we have seen some of the highest levels of monthly rainfall ever recorded in Norfolk through the winter. I am only pleased that we have not suffered as other parks have, where accommodation was lost to flood waters and land was washed away!

On a brighter note, we stay positive and hope for a fair spring. There is much to look forward to!

We have replaced the Wi-Fi infrastructure around the park and upgraded the incoming fibre broadband. One of the most common critiques we have received in recent years has been the unreliability of Wi-Fi. With the new infrastructure in place, this should no longer be the case.

We have also invested in a pioneering electric-powered caravan, the first of its kind in the region. We are realistic that fossil fuels will remain a source of energy for some time in our industry. However, by being early adopters we hope to be influential in how the industry transitions to cleaner energy solutions.

On your return, you may also notice we have continued to develop the Pinewoods Store, adding a book swap and water refill station. We plan to roll out more sustainable offers and solutions throughout this year.

Maggie and Corinne (Pinewoods Sales Advisors)

We are certainly looking forward to the park re-opening on the 15th, and have been busy organising stock for viewing ready for the start of the season.

We’re also very excited about the open day on Saturday 23rd March, and hope to catch up with many of you then. It’s going to be a fantastic opportunity to have a jolly good look around the current caravan holiday homes we have, if for no other reason than seeing what the newer models look like. There will also be tasters of the Pinewoods Store’s fantastic local produce.

The closed season has always been an opportunity for us to appreciate more the wildlife on the park, as some species (especially muntjac) wander around openly without a lot of people around to disturb them. We have in the past seen a lot of the kingfisher that hunts the lake and the dykes especially opposite the laundrette. This year, however, we have not seen him/or her, so we’re hoping our kingfisher is still around. If you do spot the kingfisher please let us know as he/she is very dear to us!

For now, the mug will have to do!

Becky (Operations Manager) and Kayleigh (Holiday Sales Manager)

During what feels like the wettest winter known to man, work has steadily continued around the park, on the beach and on the adjacent nature reserve. At times it was a huge challenge with the amount of rain, but we managed to get the big dirty jobs done! Now for the fun bits: the turfing and planting.

Fortunately, rain did not stop the delivery of the new ‘all-e’ electric caravan holiday home – our e-Lakeside Luxe. It was delayed but we took delivery on valentine’s day and the first booking goes in on opening day. There is definitely an interest in the sustainable approach to holidaying here at Pinewoods and we are committed to looking at other ways we can reduce our carbon footprint and have a positive impact on our surroundings.

The new lodges made it down the A14 in the worst of the bad weather. They are delivered in two halves, and it was with bated breath every morning we went and checked they were all still neatly wrapped in their sheeting. Thankfully, all went well, and they are also rented out for the opening.

Inside the e-Lakeside Luxe

Gardener’s update

Coming off the back of a wet summer last year and an extremely soggy February this year, the team has been dealing with a lot of ground repairs alongside a variety of new groundwork projects. This has kept the team remarkably busy over the closed season.
 
The raised beds at the top of Kestrel have been removed and will be replaced by new smaller raised beds and trees this spring. The raised beds will be planted with hardy shrubs and pollinators to increase wildlife and provide food for bees, butterflies and birds.
 
On Eider, which is one of the wettest areas on park, we have extended and installed new hard standing grid along the main sections to withstand heavy traffic. We hope this will result with fewer vehicles getting stuck and reduced damage to the turf.

The wet conditions mean that grass cutting has yet to begin. However, we can’t wait to get started as soon as the weather improves. We will carryout high cuts to protect the grass roots from drought throughout the season and to increase biodiversity.