Derbyshire-headquartered Forest Holidays, specialists in exclusive rural holiday accommodation, has opened its eighth site location in the UK near Micheldever in Hampshire.
The new site roll-out was completed with support and follow-on funding from private equity provider LDC, which originally invested in Forest Holidays in September 2012, and represents the first new location to be added to the business’ portfolio since LDC’s investment.
Forest Holidays now has 427 cabins set in Forestry Commission estates across the UK, including the Forest of Dean and Sherwood Forest in the Heart of England, Cropton Forest and Keldy in North Yorkshire, Deerpark Forest in Cornwall, Argyll and Strathyre in Scotland, as well as Blackwood Forest in Hampshire.
Blackwood Forest is just an hour’s train ride from central London, ideally located to attract families looking to explore the capital from a more cost-effective and rural base. With 60 brand new luxury woodland cabins, the site features a wide range of cabin options, including the ultimate forest accommodation experience – luxury tree houses, all hidden deep within a 270 hectare beech forest.
LDC has provided additional capital to support the continuing growth of Forest Holidays, through a proactive sales and marketing programme, alongside an accelerated cabin build programme which will include further new sites in key UK locations over the coming years.
Gary Fletcher, chief executive of Forest Holidays, says: “Our relationship with LDC is still in its infancy, but their investment and support has brought considerable strategic input and financial backing to our business and is already helping us to deliver our ambitious growth plans.
“A key part of our strategy to accelerate the pace of organic growth is to roll out an ambitious expansion programme over the next few years. This will result in a considerable uplift in cabin numbers and UK forest sites for our business, with our brand new site in Blackwood Forest in Hampshire leading the way.”
Andy Grove, investment director at LDC, says: “The new site roll-out in Hampshire brings many strategic and operational benefits to the business, and represents an exciting growth opportunity for Forest Holidays as they look to build a presence in this key region, with close proximity to London.
“LDC is committed to actively supporting management teams in their expansion strategies and we will continue to work closely with the Forest Holidays team to identify further site roll out opportunities in the future.”
