History of Forest Holidays

Forest Holidays started its life several decades ago when the motor car became popular in Great Britain and the forests were being swamped by visitors who wanted to explore the forests and stay overnight in their tents and caravans.

The Forestry Commission wanted to prevent widespread ecological and environmental damage and so regularised camping in several clusters throughout the forests across Great Britain.  These clusters formed the beginnings of the Forest Holidays sites we operate today.

The cabin sites originated from the construction of wooden cabins by local forest staff in Central Scotland. They were so successful that in the 1980’s the Commission established a central team to design suitable cabins and find and develop new sites throughout Great Britain. Over the next three years three sites were developed to be managed by local staff with a central marketing and booking function in Edinburgh.

Much of the early development of both campsites and cabins was undertaken by experienced Forestry Commission multi disciplinary teams whose skills and expertise can still be witnessed in much of the existing infrastructure on the sites.  These teams went on to manage both the cabin and campsites for many years until in the early 1990’s Forest Holidays became a centralised business unit operating from Edinburgh with all the managed under a single brand.
 
Over time the Forestry Commission recognised that that their holiday business had a greater potential and would benefit from external investment and holiday sector expertise so in 2004 -2005 undertook a selection process under the Governments Public Private partnership Initiative to find an experienced partner to run Forest Holidays and to invest in the existing and developing new sites.  The tender process elicited great interest from other holiday businesses, the private equity sector and from overseas investors but the experience and integrity that The Camping and Caravanning Club offered ensured that in May 2006 they were successful in being appointed as their long term partner.  Not only did they offer extensive holiday business management expertise but also the capital to redevelop both the camping and cabin sites.  A joint venture Company was formed  to which The Forestry Commission granted 75 year leases of the sites, the Forest Holidays brand and business and a first, exclusive, opportunity to search for and develop further sites across the 1 million hectares of the Forestry Commission’s estate.

Forest Holidays now has a wonderful opportunity to develop a first class holiday business and to set the Company apart from its competitors with its unique locations and Forest experiences.  We are proud and privileged to be responsible for ensuring these stunning sites are maintained for future generations to enjoy.