AN award-winning holiday park in the heart of the North Yorkshire Moors has enjoyed another stellar year amid the staycation boom.

The 10-acre £500,000 Wayside Lakes development in Wrelton between Kirkbymoorside and Pickering is next to the popular Wayside Holiday Park. Both are owned by Yorkshire businessman Mark Goodson.

Mr Goodson, whose family ran cinemas in Filey, Tadcaster and Sleaford, revealed he had sold seven up-market lodges at Wayside Lakes this year, worth a total of £700,000.

In 2020, Wayside Holiday Park and Wayside Lakes had broken the £1 million turnover barrier for the first time in its 45-year history.

Wayside Lakes caters for up to 38 exclusive lodges. 37 lodges have now been sold, leaving only one pitch still available.

Mr Goodson said: “2020 and 2021 have been extraordinary years for us. The Covid-19 crisis closed us down from March until July last year, but the demand after that for our lodges was unreal. We sold 10 lodges last year and seven this. It is astounding.

“On one level, it seems wrong to have had such successful years amid such a ghastly global pandemic. But on another, we are proud to have provided a safe and healthy bolthole for people wanting to escape from the virus and all the pressures it brings.

“To say I am thrilled is an understatement. This has been a stressful time for everyone in the UK, as Covid-19 brought the country to a standstill. Now, with lockdown and restrictions ending, there is some real light at the end of the tunnel at last.

“The staycation boom has meant we have had a very successful 18 months but I don’t want to sound triumphalist, after the terrible time we have all been had, but I am pleased – and humbled – that we have been able to satisfy a demand which has helped people cope with the global pandemic.”