Dear Oakdowners,
We are delighted to tell you that we have experienced another busy year at Oakdown, whilst trading conditions have been challenging it has been our pleasure to welcome back many old friends and to make many new ones – thank you for your loyalty.

The park is currently buzzing with activity – the annual prune of all our 100’s of trees and shrubs is becoming quite a mammoth task and we have been thrilled to find continued evidence of Dormice on the Park. Some of the older holiday homes are being removed ready to be replaced by splendid new units.

We will again be siting one of two “show units” which will be for sale as seen for you to purchase as your own holiday base on Oakdown.
For Oak Grove 21 we have already ordered a beautiful Pemberton St. Moritz which is 38’ x 12’, has two bedrooms, en suite toilet, separate shower room, a magnificent kitchen (complete with washing machine and fridge/freezer) and a super large lounge and all for £51,950.00. If this takes your fancy for future holidays then please contact Alan at Oakdown Reception for full details he will be delighted to help you and advise of any other options that may be available.

Many of our guests may not be aware that we have a second Park – Acorn Holiday Home Park which is in the little hamlet of Weston (2 mile from Oakdown. Here we have just 16 Holiday Homes, all privately owned and the Park is kept to the same high standard as Oakdown and completely un-commercialised.
As you can imagine with such a small number of pitches we seldom have a vacant site – but this Spring is an exception as we have just one pitch available for a Holiday Home of your own choice. We do not expect it to be available for very long and no pitches are expected to be available for the next three seasons, so if you would like details – again Alan will be able to guide you.

We wonder how many guests realise that the 17th century cottage referred to in the Tariff actually exists in the little hamlet of Weston? It is very private absolutely delightful and beautifully fitted throughout, two bedrooms 1 twin and 1 double, shower/bathroom, kitchen with washer/drier, fridge/freezer, and a lovely lounge. It is centrally heated and double glazed throughout, it has just been re-thatched and is really a picture postcard cottage –. You can view a photograph of it on the Oakdown Website and reception has further details and vacant dates.

We are delighted to say that currently taking “Pride of Place” at Reception is a magnificent Silver Rose Bowl presented to Oakdown by the President of the Sidmouth in Bloom Committee for Oakdown’s continued support of the floral displays in the town. We have for many years sponsored the flowers on the War Memorial and for this past 2009 Season we launched a “visitor payback scheme” where we invited all guest to make a donation towards a new garden at the Triangle”. This garden was duly created with a Jurassic Coast theme, a magnificent Rhynchosauraus spenceri dinosaur, created by a local foundry and filled with plants stood aloft a pebbled area. An information board was erected detailing the combined input of Oakdown, the Sidmouth in Bloom Committee, the Jurassic Coast Trust and E.D.D.C. Parks and Gardens Staff who all worked together to make the display possible. We shall be continuing this fund raising initiative for the 2010 Season not only to complete the cost of creating the display but also to pay for the ongoing cost of replanting “the beast” for the 2010 Season. Thank you to those guests who supported the scheme in 2009 and we invite all guests to support it in 2010 – and please inspect the beast when you visit Sidmouth next Summer – enjoy!
An unexpected bonus to the above Jurassic Coast Garden has been that we have just been notified that Oakdown is to again receive “The David Bellamy Award of Distinction” for our support of our local community at Sidmouth. This was a new Annual Award which was launched in 2008 and Oakdown was one of only fifteen Parks in the U.K., to win the Award – presented for the flora and fauna on the Park, Golf Course, the Field Trail and the reed-bed. Only fifteen Parks have received his award for the 2009 Season and Oakdown is the ONLY Park in the U.K. to have won two consecutive Awards! David Bellamy personally wrote “After reviewing the nominations” (from the Assessor) “I have decided that Oakdown Holiday Park is the well deserved recipient of a Special Distinction Award 2009. This is great stuff and your second award in a row – so well done indeed! The award recognises that your environmental work is truly innovative and something that all Oakdown can be rightly proud of – congratulations”.

We have also retained our David Bellamy Gold Award, thank you to those guests who filled in and returned questionnaires, our 5* Loo of the Year Award, our 5* British Graded Holiday Park rating, the Rose Award for the quality and cleanliness of our letting Holiday Homes and last but certainly not least we are delighted that the AA has raised our rating from 4 to 5 pennants – making us East Devon’s only 5 pennant Park.

In spite of a wet morning Trish Gitsham’s table top sale raised a remarkable £754,07 for CLICSergent at August Bank Holiday 2009. Thank you all for your support and for supplying items for the sale. Trish has decided to change the format for 2010 – she will be staging a “Tombola Weekend” over the August Bank Holiday 2010, with a willing band of helpers she will be manning stalls at both Reception and Oak Mead Golf Cafe to again raise funds for CLICSergent. Suitable prizes, i.e. bottles, etc., will be gratefully received – storage at Oakdown is possible if you wish to donate in advance.

The enclosed Tariff itemises relevant prices for 2010 and is inclusive of 17`% VAT which will be re-introduced on 1st January 2010 as the standard rate of VAT to be applied to all accounts.

The Loyalty Privilege Tariff continues to be warmly appreciated, we will be offering a 2`% discount off your account if you holidayed with us in 2008 or 2009 and then returned to either the Touring Park or to one of our letting holiday caravans or to the cottage in 2010 (this does not include seasonal or storage fees). As a thank you to our loyal guests a £15 discount will be put against your next booking when we receive a booking deposit of a friend recommended by you via our postcard enclosed. Don’t forget to put your details on the bottom of the card so we know who you are!
We are proposing to change the format of the payment of touring fees to be the same as Holiday Home guests have experienced for many years that full fees will be payable 28 days before the commencement of your holiday. We believe that this will give the Oakdown Team more time to welcome you after your journey and greatly improve the transition of arrival and movement onto your pitch and so the start of your holiday.

Please keep an eye on our website www.oakdown.co.uk as we are in the process of making it possible for you to book and pay deposits and
balances on line, setting up is a lengthy process, but we hope it will be operational for the New Year and give you all an additional option, but the team will still be delighted to hear from you if you wish to make your reservation/payment by telephone or E-mail.
Alan, Jock and Karen, Steve and Glennis, Derek and Tracey, and Jenny join us in thanking you for the pleasure of your friendship and goodwill during the past year.

We all send you greetings and our best wishes for a New Year blessed with good health, happiness and prosperity and very much
look forward to renewing those friendships and welcoming you to Oakdown again in 2010.
Yours very sincerely,