By William Coleman
The South West of England is a holiday hotspot and has been for as long as I can remember and when it comes awards the region gets the recognition it deserves. This family run park in Cornwall has been named among the country’s top three touring destinations. As if you really needed any more reasons to visit this beautiful part of the country.
Both the family and staff at Polmanter Touring Park in St Ives are high on life after the site was given this fantastic accolade of being one of England’s top three destinations for both caravan and camping guests.
The site took the Bronze award at the holiday parks category of April’s VisitEngland Awards for Excellence 2018.
This comes after several other recent triumphs by Polmanter Touring Park as they celebrate their 50th year of operation. In the winter the park was the overall category winner in the Cornwall Tourism Awards. Once they conquered that achievement they then went on to strike gold in the South West Tourism Excellence Awards.
The award wins propelled Polmanter into the England of Excellence finals where judges declared the the sites high standards deserve the honour of pole position in the awards.
Stepping up to receive their trophy from TV presenter Kirstie Allsopp at the Bath Assembly Rooms were husband-and-wife park owners Phil and Becki Osborne.
Phil is one of the sons of dairy farmers John and Sheena Osborne who, in 1968, began welcoming campers on one of their pastures with spectacular views along the Cornish coast.
Today, Polmanter still provides the same iconic outlook – but with features such as a heated lido pool, spa, tennis court, play areas, and a shop with Cornish food and drink specialities.
Local produce, freshly prepared, is also a highlight on the menu of the park’s snug Stable Bar which occupies the farm’s former milking parlour.
Becki Osborne, who combines co-managing Polanter with her role as a local family GP, said the Excellence accolade would be the highlight of the park’s anniversary year:
“It’s especially pleasing that a main factor of these awards is the hospitality and quality of welcome which is provided to holiday guests,” she said.
“Delivering this is very much in the hands of our loyal and hardworking staff, so they deserve a large share of the credit for this achievement.
“I hope the publicity from these awards will also benefit other tourism businesses in the area by putting the spotlight on Cornwall as a fantastic place for family holidays,” Becki added.
There is more information about Polmanter, which is a member of the Best of British consortium of top family-owned holiday parks, at www.polmanter.co.uk
