Q&A: CARL CASTLEDINE, AWAY RESORTS FOUNDER
Away Resorts is a holiday park operator with 27 locations across the UK offering holidays and holiday home ownership. In 2008, Carl Castledine, Founder, teamed up with two other holiday park experts, Neill Ryder, Chief Finance Officer and Greg Lashley, Operations Director, who had cut their teeth in places like Park Resorts and Bourne Leisure. The three friends shared a dream for the holiday park of the future and a desire to help guests discover something different. And Away Resorts was born.
Here we chat with Founder, Carl Castledine…
What is the ethos of Away Resorts?
We are on a mission to show Great Britain just how great it really is!
Each of our locations is within areas of natural beauty, places of interest, national parks and beaches – with every park having its own unique sense of charm and adventure. Many parks are jam-packed with fantastic facilities and great entertainment, and many simply provide a smaller offering with a base to explore the local area. Each one, full of love, with a family feeling, always providing service with a smile.
Whether you desire coastal or country locations, full-on fun or a relaxing time with loved ones, each resort is alive with character and atmosphere, and specifically crafted to suit your needs. We like to do things differently at Away Resorts, shaking up the industry! From any day arrivals to themed accommodation and welcome goodies upon check in, we want to ensure that our customers can feel inspired and leave with “remember when we did that?” moments that will last a lifetime.
Our locations are spread from the Scottish countryside, right down to the Cornish coast, so however you holiday, we’ve got something for everyone.
New experiences await our guests at every turn, such as outdoor cinemas under the stars, festival style entertainment and live music, pie fights, colour throws, watersports, spas and hot-tubs – all sat alongside old-style fish ’n’ chips, building sandcastles on the beach and night-time shows. Holiday goers can enjoy the retro things they love, along with the new stuff they adore, making holiday parks relevant and fun again.
Each year your staff choose a charity to support. Who have you supported in the past and how?
- Kids Village – Official chosen charity for 2024, however we have supported them since 2019. We aim to help the charity with its ambitious goal of building the UK’s first holiday village for children with critical illnesses. Fundraising initiatives include, but are not limited to, companywide events, walks, fancy dress, bake sales, live auctions
- Give Us Time – Free breaks to support our military families
- Mind – Chosen by Away employees, following the impact COVID-19 had on people’s mental health
- MS Society – 10k team walking events and bake sales
- Cancer Research – Fundraising events
- Tomorrow’s Forest – Planting a tree for every holiday home sold
- Surfers Against Sewage – We have just renewed our partnership for 2023
- Bude Sea Pool – Raising monies to support the upkeep of this natural beauty
- Ad hoc free breaks for charities close to our employees hearts, such as Make A Wish, Lifting Everyone with Acts of Hope, The Ataxia Telangiectasia Society, Macmillan Cancer Support, Trussell Trust, Play Skill and Harbour Housing
How have you integrated being more sustainable into your resorts?
At Away Resorts, we are committed to giving back. We support our local communities, buy sustainably, recycle on all our parks and host various charity events (as mentioned above).
We’re sourcing and buying more sustainable products such as building materials and food served on our parks, as well as setting up recycling initiatives.
For example, our welcome gifts in all Exclusive accommodation are ethically sourced and recyclable. We even provide a sustainable bag for life with complimentary toiletries that are vegan friendly and cruelty free! We buy from businesses who are equally dedicated to giving back which is really important to us. In addition, over 3,000 people have enjoyed dishes that have ingredients sourced within 30 miles of the park through our regional seasonal menus in our dining venues on park.
As well as our ongoing replacement of park vehicles and buggies to electric or hybrid (where possible), we are now using Bio-LPG blend Calor Gas saving about 162 tonnes of carbon annually.
Carbon emissions are a big problem for all of us, what are you doing to reduce yours and remove the emissions you can’t eliminate?
We’re really proud of the Acorn Place Shop & Deli at Sandy Balls. More than 85% of our suppliers are within 50 miles of the park and we have partnered with 34 new local suppliers. We source all fresh meat from Fordingbridge Farm shop (just 1.6 miles away) and the packaging details where all the meat comes from. Over 50% of the wines we sell are made in Britain, as well as 60 local ales and 25 local gins. Not to mention there are up to 47 different local cheeses on offer!
When in season, 80% of our produce is British, with 40% out of season.
We are in the process of re-creating our beloved Mill Rythe Coastal Village on Hayling Island, and the environment is at the forefront of our mind when it comes to decision making. All electric caravans on park are reducing emissions by 48%, we have installed a brand-new natural airflow system into the venues, instead of electric powered.
We’re also partnered with Creating Tomorrow’s Forests, and we plant a tree with every holiday home sold! We’ve planted 570 trees so far and counting!
Away Resorts have partnered with Surfers Against Sewerage – how have you worked together and what has the partnership achieved?
We first partnered with Surfers Against Sewage in 2021 to take action and protect our oceans. Our aim was to help them raise awareness by supporting initiatives through beach clean-ups, picking up litter and reducing the consumption of single use plastics. And whilst we are no longer official partners, we continue to support their work.
Litter pick-up sets are available from Guest Services at all our locations, and holidaymakers are encouraged to take part in their own clean whilst holidaying with us. In addition, our team members across the portfolio have taken the initiative to arrange their own beach cleans with Mill Rythe and St Ives Bay holding two already this year. Teams from our Cornish parks and Hemel Hempstead Central Support attended SAS’s flagship event and launch of Million Mile May at Perranporth Beach on 1st May 2022.
Our Central Support team also drove all the parks to make changes on their individual parks to achieve Plastic Free Champion status – something that we are all very proud of – you will find plaques proudly displayed at every Guest Services.
There is always more we can do help the environment, what else does Away Resorts have planned?
We are committed to lead by example and strive to always be doing the best we can. Our future park commitments are:
– Continuous beach/forest clean exercises
– Replace plastic milk cartons with glass
– All takeaway cutlery to be biodegradable
– Offer reusable cups for hot drinks
– Stop selling plastic water bottles, replace with cans and offer refill points
But we will not be stopping there, and some of long-term goals include:
– Review our bedding to look at eco-friendly ranges
– We no longer accept supplies packaged in single use plastic
– Explore recyclable uniform for all park team members
– Work more closely with caravan and lodge manufacturers to promote how we are being more sustainable
– Move to more digital processes to reduce the amount we print
Where can we find out more about Away Resorts?
You can read more about PASSION for the PLANET’s recent visit to Away Resorts at Barmouth Bay here; https://passionforfreshideas.com/travel-2/away-resorts-wales/