Lakeview Manor lodge park and hotel sold

A Devon lodge park and hotel, Lakeview Manor, has been acquired by private equity-backed holiday operator Lakeshore Leisure Group Ltd in a deal brokered by Colliers International.


Lakeview Manor, in the Blackdown Hills Area of Natural Beauty, near Honiton, had been on the market for £1.8 million. The purchase price has not been disclosed.


The private vendor of Lakeview Manor was represented by two teams in the South West office of global real estate advisor Colliers International: the Caravan Parks team, and the Hotels team.


Ed Jefferson, from the Hotels team, said: Lakeview Manor is an excellent wedding venue and hotel in its own right. Coupled with its private fishing lakes and lodge park it attracted significant interest. This instruction was an excellent example of two Colliers departments pooling knowledge for a clients benefit.


Ben Jones, director in the Caravan Parks team, said: Lakeview Manor is a fine leisure business, which is operating successfully and offers fantastic scope for expansion.


This the second time within a matter of months that weve secured the sale of a holiday lodge park in Devon to Lakeshore Leisure Group, and this very much reflects the strong market for lodge parks in general and their growth opportunities as relative newcomers to the sector, albeit with very experienced senior leadership teams.


Last year was our most successful yet in terms of deals for the Caravan Parks team at Colliers International – both in the South West office and nationally – and all the signs are that that this trend will continue.


The market for lodge parks showed no signs of being affected by Brexit uncertainty last year, and we are looking forward to a period of greater certainty now that the UKs position is clear. Trading conditions continue to favour lodge park businesses, particularly because of the relative weakness of the pound and the continuing popularity of so-called staycations.


It is also notable that lodge parks are successfully extending their appeal to customers by investing in a much-improved offer with premium accommodation and facilities, and by appealing to specialist interests such as fishing breaks. Lakeshore Leisure Group is very much at the vanguard of this as indicated by the improvements made to their sister site Otter Falls since taking ownership in mid-2019.


The vendor of Lakeview Manor was represented by solicitors Steele Raymond LLP. Chris Twaits, Partner and Head of Commercial Property at Steele Raymond LLP said: Members of our team have been involved with the Lakeview Manor business from original purchase right through to the sale to Lakeshore Leisure Group, so this has been a particularly satisfying transaction.


Lakeview Manor is set in 31 acres of gardens, woodlands and paddocks, and has three fishing lakes. It currently comprises 18 developed holiday lodge pitches, and a 17-bedroom hotel and events venue, and there is planning permission for a further 18 twin-unit holiday lodges.