Issue no 5
September 2017
Mersea Island Holiday Park presents
Park life
What’s happening at Mersea Island
Contact details
Next year may well be interesting for the UK economy given our ambition to leave the European Union. I am of the belief that for UK tourism, “Brexit” is likely to be beneficial, however it is still important for us to be prepared. To that end, if you are on our managed letting scheme or are considering letting your holiday home, the earlier you can provide us with your desired dates the better off we are as a partnership to maximise our mutual success.
Once again, as we do every year, can we please remind our owners to pop into Guest Services when you are next on park to check your contact details with us. It might be that you have moved address, changed your telephone number or e-mail address over the winter and we need to know. Sometimes we need to get messages or updates out to you quickly either by a text message or e-mail so it is important we have the right details so you don’t miss out on relevant park information.
In closing, I thank you for your continued custom and very much look forward to being able to share the exciting plans we have for 2018. With kind regards,
Carl Castledine
Carl
CEO of Away Resorts Hello and welcome to the latest edition of Park Life. I want to extend my personal thanks for your custom here at Mersea Island. It is not lost on me or our team, that holiday home ownership is a very significant investment in your leisure time, and we are embarking on an ambitious plan to provide further improvements over the next 12 months. I look forward to being able to share some of these developments soon, along with our future investment programmes for enhancing Mersea Island. Over the past six months we have been undertaking significant research to help us improve the facilities and services we offer you. Thank you to those of you who have contributed your feedback and insights so far. We may continue to call on you to share your ideas. You will already have seen some of the benefits of this research with the launch of our new Away Resorts smartphone app. There is a special section for owners and I do hope you’ll take the opportunity to download it. To help accelerate our plans I have recruited two new directors into our senior team. Dan Steadman has extensive industry experience and will help us ensure that you have the best possible service when purchasing and owning a holiday home. Andy Edge, formerly the Commercial Director for Odeon Cinemas, will help us evolve the ‘guest experience’ and will begin crafting exciting new products and activities that we are confident you will enjoy in the future.
We need your
holiday home October half term bookings are looking very strong, so if you’re not currently on sublet for this period or not using your holiday home and fancy earning a little bit of money towards your pitch fees, please get in touch with us via Guest Services on 01442 50 88 50
Maintenance team No job too small.....sounds like an advert, however it’s true! If you would like us to quote on any maintenance issues or one of those “I’ll do that job later” scenarios, we’ll be only too pleased to help. Pop into Guest Services to find out more.
Health and safety Any Owners that require external contractors to visit them on park will need authorisation from Mark Brightman, General Manager. Please call Guests Services to obtain the necessary paperwork and to find out more.
What a summer it has been down What a busy summer it has been here at Mersea Island, perhaps one of our most memorable ones with all the events taking place on the park, which I hope you had the opportunity to enjoy. Our season of summer events included our first-ever Colour Festival. Inspired by the Indian Holi festival, the park was transformed into a rainbow of bright colours as guests got together with our entertainment team to decorate the park in bright powdered colours, all set the backdrop of some great tunes and entertainment. The inaugural Foodstock Festival was also a rip-roaring success, bringing together a wide range of local food and drink suppliers with our chefs, who cooked up a right storm of tasty dishes. And it was great to see so many of you at our exclusive owner’s events, which provided us with a great opportunity to hear your thoughts about your holiday home and the park, and allowed us to talk to you about the new developments and future plans. Finally, I am sure you will be thrilled to hear that we have just launched a dedicated owners’ app, which will be compatible with all smart phones. You will be able to use the app for a whole host of things, which we are sure you will love. There is more of this covered in the newsletter, so I won’t uncover all! Keep an eye on our Facebook and Twitter to find out about all the latest news about autumn at Mersea Island.
If you haven’t done so already please can you pop into Guest Services with your current 2017/2018 Council tax bill, a utility bill dated in the last 3 months and a copy of your current insurance certificate. These need to be with us by the 30th June at the latest as part of your site licence.
Ordering gas bottles and piped gas Don’t forget to order gas bottles before 3pm to ensure delivery on the same day. Gas ordered after 3pm will be delivered the following day. We’d hate you to run out so our tip would be to have two bottles so that you have a spare for unexpected emergencies and it doesn’t ruin any plans. We are still continuing to work our way round the park connecting owners up to the piped gas on the park. For those who haven’t done it yet you can continue to book in your connections at Guest Services. Our aim is to get most of our owners connected by the end of this season. Connections are £110 (inc vat) per caravan and the price of gas is £2.55 per unit.
Keep in touch with Away Resorts’ latest news with our NEW online experience ‘Goodtimes’
As always my door is always open, please feel free to drop by.
Mark Brightman General Manager
www.goodtimes.awayresorts.co.uk
12:00
The new Away Resorts app has launched
Welcome to your park guide! Sign-in with your Away Resorts owner reference number to explore and discover your Mersea Island. Mersea Island makes the most of its unique and beautiful surroundings as well as being jampacked with fantastic activities and great entertainment to keep every member of the family grinning from ear to ear. Think of this app as your ‘park buddy’ helping you make the most of your stay. Here are some of the helpful features:
What’s On Events, entertainment and activities for all Find out what’s on, when and where. Book and manage your activities using the app and set reminders so you never miss out on the fun!
Sublet Choose the dates you want to sublet for 2018 and submit them via our APP All the information about how it works can be found here. So, you can sit back, relax and let us take care of your bookings.
Facilities Find out what’s on site From Launderettes to crazy golf, Mersea Island is jam packed with facilities. Find everything need to know to ensure you are getting the most from your stay.
Notifications Set activity reminders
Discover, explore and never get lost Our handy park map will help you navigate around Mersea Island. And, if you want to get away from it all, we’ll help you find your way back again!
Guest Services Maintenance, orders and home owner services So you can concentrate on having a good time, we’ve made it quick and easy to order holiday home owner essentials or let us know how to help.
By Scott Giles – Marketing Director When Max, our Creative & Entertainment Director suggested running a colour festival at Away Resorts, we wondered if he had gone a bit bonkers! Sure, we’ve done a few crazy things in the past like the giant cream pie fight, but sending 150 kg of colour powder into the air and dyeing the swimming pool pink was taking bonkers to a whole new level! Thankfully the colour festival turned out to be more fun than we could ever have imagined. We had hundreds of people across all our parks queuing up to join in. Taking inspiration from the Indian ‘Holi’ festival, everyone grabbed cups full of vibrant colour powder (biodegradable corn starch) and doused their friends and family. Young, old and in between, everybody got covered in colour and at the end there were some absolutely epic selfies! The feedback was overwhelmingly positive and we’re planning to run the event again in 2018 so if you missed out this year, don’t worry you’ll have chance to take part next time. Keep the date of 21st July 2018 free in your diary.
So much to do, so much to remember! Worry not, our useful reminders will ensure you never miss a beat.
Weather Five day forecast
Park Map
Colour Festival
Come rain or shine we have activities galore. Our five-day forecast lets you plan for all eventualities.
2017
events so far...
Cream pie fight
And this is just version 1.0 – we have lots of exciting updates to come…
Colour festival
The adventures start here! It’s time to get your owner reference number ready, download and go! If you need help, please pop into Guest Services. Our team will be happy to show you the ropes!
Colour festival Cream pie fight
Cream pie fight
Keep in touch with Away Resorts’ latest news with our NEW online experience ‘Goodtimes’
www.goodtimes.awayresorts.co.uk
Colour festival
owners events events
Pitch License Agreement
Local
There are some amazing off-park events happening around Mersea Island over the next few months.
WoodFest Starts: 8 September Ends: 10 September Hatfield Forest Every September, WoodFest brings the heart of Hatfield Forest to life. This popular festival is a ‘must do’ on many calendars so, if this is your first time, you’ll be in for a treat. www.nationaltrust.org.uk/ hatfield-forest/features/woodfest
The Woodbridge Shuck Shellfish Festival Starts: 30 September Ends: 1 October Quay, Tide Mill The festival brings local chefs, seafood producers and lovers of good food together from 29th Sept to 2nd Oct 2016 to celebrate the locally harvested shellfish and local produce. It takes place on the Quay, Tide Mill, Tea Hut and across Woodbridge and was a great success and lots of fun last year.
Sat 16th sept
Annual Wine, Beer & Cheese tasting | 6pm – 8pm You are invited to join us for some great wines and tasty beers from around the world complemented with a range of delicious cheeses, crackers and chutney.
SAT 28th oct
Halloween Spooktacular | 7pm - Late Get your freak on! Not for the faint hearted! Party with ghouls and ghosts and all manner of scary creatures at our frightful bash. Eat, drink and be scary!
sat 18th nov
Last Blow Out A Night at the Movies | 7pm - Late Our last party of the season, join us for a glamorous black tie event to finish off the year with a bang. With some posh nibbles and your flashiest out-out party wear it’ll be all the glitz you could wish for.
Starts: 24 December Southwold Champagne corks popped and mulled wine was poured in Southwold where 100s will celebrate Christmas with a North Sea swim. The annual race into the water, which starts on the beach near Gun Hill, raises money for causes including the RNLI, Sole Bay Care fund and Southwold’s voluntary help centre.
Please note The Muddy Duck will be open at reduced times during the off peak season between 26 Oct - 26 Nov. During these dates the opening times are:
Friday to Sunday 10am - 11pm (Pool 10am - 5pm) In addition we are adding regular quiz or games nights. All opening times will also be displayed in Guest Services and on the board outside the clubhouse. Don’t forget that we do teas and coffees whilst clubhouse and pool is open. *times subject to changes depending on pool opening times Please visit guest services for more information
Jetskis and Vehicles There are still a few insurance documents we are waiting for from jetski owners that leave their boats, cars or camper-vans at the southern most car park. Please drop these into Guest Services as soon as possible.
Storage boxes We are busy working on the 2018 events diary. If you have any ideas you would love us to consider, please get in touch via email to:
Just a gentle reminder that all storage boxes must be purchased through the park. Plastic or wooden ones are not permitted. If you require a quote, please pop into Guest Services.
Outdoor cinema
Join us at our fabulous outdoor cinema, Midsummer’s Night Screen. Settle back on a hay bale, get comfy in a giant deck chair, grab a blanket. Wait for the marshmallows to toast, wrap your hands around a hot chocolate and nibble some popcorn as the screen lights up and we entertain you with a great film in a truly stunning outdoor setting.
Sunday 22nd October
Paranorman Wednesday 25th October
Hotel transylvania 2
holidayhomes@awayresorts.co.uk
www.thewoodbridgeshuck. org.uk
Southwold Christmas Day Swim
off peak Opening Times
Please take some time to read through and refresh yourselves with your Pitch License and the park rules. It is imperative that all owners adhere to their pitch license and our site license which stipulates that you cannot live on, go to work from or take children to school from Mersea Island Holiday park. The result of this would mean you are in a breach of your pitch license, which puts your License in jeopardy. This is why Council Tax bills and utility bills are required to help support any visit from the Local enforcement officer.
To make a booking: For bookings please call Guest Services. All events are ticketed and on a strictly first come first served basis so please book early.
Do you fancy a holiday at one of our other
beautiful locations?
cancellations and locations: Please visit Guest Services for more details.
Like us on Facebook
www.southwoldrotary.co.uk/ swim/
facebook.com/ AwayResortsHolidays
As an Away Resorts owner you will receive a 10% discount at any of our six locations. There are just a few rules; All discounts are subject to availability, holidays need to be booked by calling 01442 50 88 50 and selecting your park. You, our lovely owner, must be present on holiday. Your owner’s account number must be given at time of booking and ownership photo ID passes must be shown at check-in.
What you waiting for? Visit www.awayresorts.co.uk and see what takes your fancy
so you can start planning...
On park
events 2018
Football Coaching Tuesday 29th May
Foodstock Festival Friday 10th August
Colour Festival Saturday 21st July
Holiday homes for sale only
£27,995
Cream Pie Fight Sunday 26th August
Easter
Halloween
Friday 30 March
Thursday 27th October
th
only
£29,995
2010 Atlas Chorus -
on Par k event
Monday 30th October
Come along and spend a spooky weekend with us… the kids will love apple bobbing, spooky stories, our scary disco and much more! And for the adults why not grab a blanket, tell some ghost stories and toast some marshmallows by the fire pit!
only
£32,995
only
£36,995
A trip down
memory lane
If you do, you have probably been coming on holiday or an owner for a few years. Do you have any old pictures you would like to share with us?
only
£54,995
2 Bedroom | 35ft x 12ft Freestanding furniture Large master bedroom Must be seen
2007 ABI Focus -
2 Bedroom | 35ft x 12ft Excellent condition Freestanding furniture En-suite to master bedroom
2011 Carnaby Melrose -
Wow who remembers Mersea Island like this?
3 Bedroom | 35ft x 12ft Sleeps up to eight Modern and fresh Fantastic condition throughout
2008 Willerby Salisbury -
Halloween
Call us now on 0120 6 383 2 52 and ask fo part ex r your ch quote ange today
3 Bedroom | 37ft x 12ft Beautiful L-Shape comfy seating Open plan layout One not to be missed
2018 Willerby Skye
Brand new
- 2 Bedroom | 38ft x 12ft - Front opening doors - Brand new design for 2018
Send them to holidayhomes@awayresorts. co.uk as we would love to see and share them!
How about £500, £750 or £1000 off your pitch fees?
Don’t keep it
a secret
A great many of the Holiday Home Owners here at Mersea Island have joined us because they were recommended to the park by their friends or family members. You can’t keep a good thing secret for long!
only
£69,995
2018 Willerby Aspen
Brand new
- 3 Bedroom | 42ft x 12ft - Huge front opening doors - Free standing furniture
only
£99,995
2017 ABI TriBeCa
EXCLUSIVE TO AWAY RESORTS
- 2 Bedroom | 44ft x 14ft - Finished to the highest standard - Be the envy of all your friends!
Give our Holiday Home Advisors a call on 01206 383 252 to find out more
Pop into the sales office to find out more | Open 7 days a week