READERS of two top-selling touring magazines have voted a North Devon holiday park as their favourite destination in the UK for cycling holidays.
Smytham Holiday Park in Little Torrington is this year’s national winner in the cycling category of the Top 100 Sites awards run by Practical Caravan and Practical Motorhome.
The family-owned park, located on the 180-mile Tarka Trail, emerged as Britain’s overall two-wheel champion in the annual poll of its readers carried out by the two publications.
Based in the landscaped grounds of 940-year-old Smytham Manor, the park has long been a popular base for couples and families to explore the surrounding countryside by bike.
Within its tranquil 33 acres, with five wildlife ponds, are staying options which include glamping pods, log cabins, camping and touring pitches, and holiday caravans to own.
Established as a camping site in the early 1960s, Smytham Holiday Park was acquired by its present owners, the Harper family, almost 28 years ago.
Since then, Tony and Theresa Harper – latterly with the help of their two grown-up children Charlotte and Ben – have invested much time and energy into creating a first-class holiday retreat.
Their reward has been to see a year-on-year increase in visitor numbers from the UK and overseas, plus a raft of awards for the park’s quality standards and care for the natural world.
“We are absolutely thrilled and extremely proud to have been voted Britain’s top park for biking holidays by our many cycling guests,” said Charlotte Harper.
“It is a fantastic start to our summer season at Smytham which could be one of our busiest on record.
“These awards are especially important to us as they are based on the feedback of guests who have stayed on the park, and who were clearly delighted with their experience.
“Their votes were not just for our facilities, but also the friendliness and hospitality provided by our staff team, and they deserve a big round of applause for their efforts,” said Charlotte.
There were more celebrations on the park this month when the family learned that it had been given a Pitchup Review Award from the bookings website for achieving a 9.5/10 satisfaction rating.
The park has teamed up with a local cycle hire company so that visitors don’t have to bring their own bikes with them on holiday to explore the surrounding countryside and coastal trails.
Pet-friendly Smytham Holiday Park – an active member of the Holiday and Residential Parks Association (HARPA) – also supplies dog trailers as hire bike accessories, as well as weatherproof trailers for youngsters and electric bikes for adults.
There is more information about the park, including facilities such as a heated outdoor pool, putting green and adventure play area, on its website at www.smytham.co.uk