by Dan Hughes
Caravan Club is proud to present this year’s CL of the Year Award
The Poole Farm Certified Location (CL) in Devon has taken The Caravan Club‘s most prestigious award for certified locations.
Last night CaravanTimes was delighted to be in attendance to see owners David Hunter and Diana Smith receive their award in the House of Commons from Secretary of State for Culture, Media & Sport, The Rt Hon Sajid Javid.
The CL is defined by The Caravan Club as privately-owned, maximum five-van sites. They can be found scattered across the UK and are mainly set in idyllic and remote locations including farms, country estates and beside inns.
The CL s are extremely valuable to the surrounding community as they provide important additional income for local communities. The Caravan Sites and Control of Development Act (1960) enable The Caravan Club to grant certificates to landowners to operate CLs and each year, they recognise the top sites across the UK at their annual Parliamentary Reception.
This year’s winners Diana and David were ecstatic with winning the award after once upon a time when they themselves had their hand in the honey jar of sweet sites around to The Caravan Club’s CLs in their motorhome ‘Winnie’:
“Before buying the Poole Farm we had a motorhome called ‘Winnie’ and we loved visiting The Caravan Club’s CLs, dreaming of one day owning and running our own. So when the opportunity arose we designed it to our own tastes and preferences, thankfully our visitors seem to share these with us,” they commented.
Diana and David continue to take pride in their site and have always taken on advice from those who visit, not concerned about the competition as much as just creating a friendly environment to suit guests – is this the key to their winning ways?
“Over the three seasons that we have been open we have welcomed comments and suggestions, many of which we have implemented. It is so rewarding to receive positive comments and see returning visitors, many of whom have become friends,” they continued.
Long existing Carrs Hill CL owners Grant and Gillian Turnbull enjoyed a runner’s up position, followed by the third place and last year’s runners up Brunette Cottage Caravan Park CL in Ty Broughton, owned by Paul and Helen Clarke.
Diana and David weren’t the only winners on the night, however, with the award for The Caravan Club’s Sites in Bloom category being presented too. To read more about that, click here.
