Brean’s Holiday Resort Unity has received a Gold Award in the British Holiday & Home Parks Association’s 2019 David Bellamy Conservation Awards for a fifth consecutive year.
The award recognises the holiday park’s conservation work and its efforts to help bees and also develop its wildflower habitat.
In addition, the park has also received the kitemark habitat badges as a Honey Bee Friendly Holiday Park and Woodlands Badge.
The resort, which incorporates Brean Golf Club, Brean Country Club, Brean Leisure Park, Brean Play and Brean Splash, have been working on an ongoing conservation plan across its facilities, headed up by Mick Rayner, Head Gardener and Wildlife Ranger, pictured above.
Over the past four years, this has included developing the Secret Wood which attracts a wide range of wildlife tracked by motion sensor cameras set up in hidden locations throughout the area. Deer, foxes, badgers, owls, woodpeckers and squirrels are among the many species that have been recorded. The Secret Wood is a certified release site for animals that have been rescued and rehabilitated at local charity, Secret World.
The area is also used for forest school type events throughout the year, open to both guests of the resort, local schools and organisations and, for the first time this year, the general public. A wildlife themed geocache trail was launched this year with caches featuring along our wildlife walk, a nature walk along North Lane, a bridleway running through the resort. The walk starts near the underpass that links Brean Leisure car park to the holiday park and then runs alongside the conservation area, fishing lake and bee hives towards the Secret Wood. This is accessible to all and allows both our visitors and the public to learn more about the work we are doing.
Large areas of wildflower meadow have been created across the resort, which saw it gain its kitemark Wildflower Badge at last year’s awards, and the bees are now producing honey which is now available to buy for £5.00 per jar at the onsite Costcutter supermarket, subject to availability. They hope to be able to produce 500 jars next year.
The assessors look at the measures parks are taking to manage their land as a haven for wildlife; reduce their use of energy, water and other resources; reduce, reuse and recycle the waste they produce and also support their local communities.
Director, Alan House, told Burnham-On-Sea.com: “It may sound repetitive now, but we really are delighted to continue winning these top accolades for the resort’s overall commitment to conservation. As you can imagine, with so many people on site every day there is a real skill in maintaining this, and Mick and his team work tirelessly throughout the year to make sure we are always striking the balance, so nothing we do is at the detriment of local wildlife and our environment. With the resort facilities continuing to expand, our “Green Team” have been key in our planning and we are thrilled that it is continuing to reap the rewards.”
And Head Gardener, Mick Rayner, added: “It has been great opening up the resort this year to showcase the work that has been done. In the past year we have become involved with several organisations, including Somerset Wildlife Trust, Somerset’s Brilliant Coast, Burnham & Berrow Conservation Group, Berrow Pre-School, 1st Huntspill Scouts and Burnham Brownies. If any other local schools, groups or organisations are interested, then please get in touch.”
