Back of Beyond Touring Park - Practical Caravan

DARK SKIES, two fishing lakes and 18 acres of woodland and an area of special scientific interest make this Dorset park a haven for wildlife, as well as adult humans and their dogs (on leads). The emphasis on this adults-only park is tranquility.

Owners Martin and Victoria Bowrey take their conservation seriously, one of their projects during lockdown was to clear the streams that feed the lakes of overgrown vegetation to give better access for wildlife.

Work hasn’t stopped there: they have added four large hardstanding pitches and 15 hardstanding pitches and created 10 new camping pitches. They’ve also added reinforced matting to a number of the grass pitches to make them all-weather, making 21 in total.

Bringing cheer to summer evenings is the new pop-up outside bar – Monty’s Bar – next to the reception area. Takeaway vans keep the food options interesting during high season, with Thursday the only day you will have to cook in your van or venture beyond the park.

Martin and Victoria said: “During lockdown we built an outdoor bar and pergola in our reception area. We also created a communal barbecue and seating area by the start of our pitch and putt course. We upgraded and painted all the water stations, painted the bin stores, cleared the waterways and lakes, added more planting and carried out improvements to our shower blocks. It’s also worth pointing out that we had only just completed 19 brand new hardstanding pitches at the start of lockdown.”

Covid-19 measures include the erection of screens in the shop, hand sanitisers at all water stations and in shower blocks, a fogging machine to sanitise shower blocks and glamping units and the implementation of an even stricter cleaning regime.

“There is plenty of social distancing signage around the park and the number of people in our shop at any one time is strictly limited. Advice on these new measures and what we expect of guests is now sent to them before they arrive. This information also asks guests to use their own facilities where possible, to be sensitive to the local community and to bring as much of their provisions as they can.”

For the first time ever the park will be open throughout November and December and closing on 2 January (they normally close on 31 October) and they have plans for 2021.

“We will have built our first fully serviced pitches when we reopen on 1 March 2021. The other major development is that we will no longer have seasonal pitches from 2021 onwards and will only have touring and camping pitches. We will continue our focus on conservation and sustainability.”