The history of Forest
Holidays really begins when the car became more popular and widely
available in Britain. More people were exploring further afield and
appreciating the beauty of Britain’s forests.
As people travelled further
from home, they wanted to stay at their destination over night and
travel home or onwards in the morning, and so people began to camp
in Britain’s forests.
Forest Holidays Caravan and
Campsites were developed by the Forestry Commission in the 1960’s
to cope with the demand for places to stay in the forest, and to
regulate the camping that was already occurring in order to prevent
damage to the forests.
Forest Holidays Cabin
holidays first came into being when under utilized forest staff
accommodation was rented out to holiday makers. This proved so
popular that in the 1980’s a team was commissioned to design
holiday Cabins and find and develop new sites in Great Britain.
The popularity of both Cabin
and Caravan and Camping sites continued to grow, and in the 1990’s
the control of all sites was centralised within the Forestry
Commission in Edinburgh and named ‘Forest Holidays’.
Over time the Forestry
Commission recognised that their holiday business had even greater
potential and would benefit from external investment and holiday
industry expertise, so in 2004 – 2005 a tender and selection
process took place under the Governments Public Private Partnership
Initiative to find an experienced partner to help run Forest
Holidays and invest in existing and new sites.
In 2006, The Camping and
Caravanning Club were appointed the Forestry Commission’s long term
partner, bringing with them extensive holiday business management
expertise and the capital to redevelop both Caravan and Camping and
Cabin sites.
The Forestry Commission
granted 75 year leases on all the current sites, the Forest
Holidays Brand and business and a first, exclusive, opportunity to
search for and develop new sites across the 1 million hectares of
the Forestry Commission estate.
In May 2006, a joint Public
Private Partnership between the Forestry Commission and The Camping
and Caravanning Club was formed, and Forest Holidays as it is known
today was created.
As a Partnership between the Forestry Commission and The
Camping and Caravanning Club, Forest Holidays has a wonderful
opportunity to provide unique and memorable holidays for all our
customers and to maintain our beautiful sites for future
generations to enjoy.