Waldegraves 70th Anniversary Timeline

Park History Timeline 1948 – 2018

1940’s

Waldegraves Farm originally started as a mixed stock rearing and arable farm owned by Jack Lord, at one time there were more than 3000 pigs grazing on the land. In the 1960’s, Jack Lord passed Waldegraves on to his son David Lord who developed the park into what you see today, which has become the setting for many family holidays over the years.

1948

The start of the Waldegraves journey as a Holiday Park! Gradually, tents and small caravans started taking the place of livestock and crops. The caravans were originally situated around the perimeter of the park, the centre consisted of cornfields and grassland. The toilets used to be tin huts. Water was collected from the standpipes.

Entertainment in those early days were sports games such as tug of war and a good old sing song in the centre of the camping field where guests sang the songs every night.

1960’s

David’s vision was to create a beautiful Holiday Park for people to enjoy holiday home ownership. In the first years, David did most things himself, including siting new caravans. The first static caravans to arrive were unserviced, so owners shared the toilet blocks with campers.

In the late 60’s, the first mains service development was done, this enhanced electric, drainage and water for the privately owned holiday homes. Sales plots for caravan holiday homes were released for sale following the extensive planting, landscaping and provision of infrastructure. Beach View was the first to appear, later adding Farriers Way, Lakeside, Hazelwood, Millers Green and Barley Way.

1970’s

The Bottom Fishing lakes were dug out and consisted mainly of Carp, Bream, and specimen Perch up to 5 lb. As coarse fishing was becoming more and more popular at the Park, in the early 80’s, some land with an old reservoir was bought and made into The Top Fishing lake. These days, the lakes are well stocked with carps rising up to 22lb in size.

1980’s

The old decoy pond on site was converted into a boating lake where guests could hire kayaks and other watercraft. Originally, a five-piped pochard pond, the decoy now appears as a large rectangular pond. Documentary sources make it evident that this was a very successful pochard decoy. Decoys were very important and once common features of the Essex coastal landscape, making a significant contribution to the marshland economy during the period 1600 – 1900. Documentary sources show that the West Mersea decoy was one of the most successful in the country. From the late 18th century, the decoy was in use well into the second half of the 19th century and was famous for regularly catching vast numbers of birds.

1980’s

The holiday campsite started to expand rapidly. The first static Hire Fleet was introduced in the newly developed Evergreen Way area.

In 1988, The Wheatsheaf Clubhouse was opened by the Mayor of West Mersea Len Broadhurst. A Restaurant was opened in the Clubhouse so people could enjoy the daily entertainment whilst having a meal.

1990’s

The Park continued to expand with some new entertainment additions. The 18 Hole Pitch & Putt Course and Driving Range were added giving holidaymakers two great options for recreation whilst staying at the Park. In 1998, the new outdoor swimming pool and the first Park Shop were opened to cater for the increasing customer numbers.

2000’s

In 2000, Waldegraves official website was launched making the company more findable and visible to overseas guests. Later in the year, new additions to the park were made, such as the new children’s playground areas, Family Games Room, Golf Driving Range building, The Wheatgrain Shop, Laundry, larger capsity showers and toilet blocks with wash bay areas. In 2006, The Barn was opened by Henry Binge as an extension to The Wheatsheaf Clubhouse. Also, The new Granary Restaurant was opened with decking overlooking the Swimming Pool.

Growing customer numbers has brought the necessity of continuing development of the park. Great investments were made on sewage improvements, a new electric sub-station was built in order to increase the number of electric pitches and the first gas pipework was completed on site.

2005

During this time, the company started to commit to doing the right thing for the environment and received the first Gold David Bellamy Award, regained every year following. The Butterfly Garden was created in the middle of the Pitch & Putt Course to celebrate the 5th Gold Award from David Bellamy.

The Park is also a continuous member of the Essex Wildlife Trust and became a “Gold Investors in Wildlife” in 2015, showing continuous commitment to reducing its environmental impact and protecting the island’s ecosystems.

2006

In 2006 our mascot, Sammy the Seagull was introduced to the world, later joined

by Bonnie The Boxer. These lovable characters have been part of the Waldegraves family ever since.

2008

In 2008, Online Bookings were introduced, encouraging more people to be able to book at their own convenience.

2010’s

The business earned the title of Best Campsite/Caravan Park in Essex and kept it for 3 consecutive years, as well as being crowned bronze winners in the Holiday Park of the Year category at the Visit England Awards for Excellence in 2014.

In 2016, Aspire presented the park with their Crystal Trophy Award for Exclusive Holiday Park of The Year. The Park has also become a Warner’s Group Premier Park which is awarded following an inspection, ensuring the Park meets the standards of excellence to be named one of their top recommended parks in the UK.

2012

Saw the new development of Ryecroft with extra 16 static holiday home plots. Later in the year, the park invested in a new Reception and Holiday Home Sales Offices to provide a better service to customers and new Holiday Home Owners. In 2013, more investments were made to cater for the increasing numbers of the holiday makers. The swimming pool area was extended, Crazy Golf Course was added as another activity for the youngsters and the new addition of hardstanding pitches were introduced to cater for the increasing numbers of motorhome visitors.

2015

The Bookings office was opened to offer people a face to face booking experience.

Also, Waldegraves was the First Holiday Park in the UK to have a FootGolf course.

2018

The Park is continuously looking into adding more facilities for our customers, the latest services to open at the park are the Outdoor Hire Centre, Hughes’s Fish seafood shop and the Hair Hut beauty salon.

Waldegraves Holiday Park

Mersea Island, Colchester, Essex, CO5 8SE Tel: 01206 382 898 Email: holidays@waldegraves.co.uk Waldegraves Farm Ltd, t/a Waldegraves Holiday & Leisure Park Registered Office : Waldegraves Lane, West Mersea, Colchester, Essex CO5 8SE | Registered in England No: 04157107 Waldegraves Farm Ltd is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority The Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) is an agency for arbitrating on unresolved complaints between regulated firms and their clients.

Full details of the FOS can be found on its website at www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk