Heartbreak as popular UK seaside town holiday park to close 'within weeks'

Holidaymakers who have parked their caravans in a rural Welsh holiday park for decades are "devastated" over plans to shut the site in a matter of weeks. The 200 caravan owners with plots at Happy Valley Caravan Park, near Porthcawl in South Wales, have been instructed to relocate their mobile homes by the end of the holiday season on October 31. Many have been left heartbroken by the news, and indignant at the prospect of paying thousands of pounds to remove or scrap their vehicles within under two months.

"I think that paying for the privilege of being booted off is just disgusting," Alison Williams, who has had caravans at the park on and off for 25 years, said. "We are all losing out. We were told we'd have to scrap the caravans ourselves for a cost of between £1,800 and £2,000 or we'd be taken to court." Others, including Wendy Boylin, moved into the park's residential area after years of spending holidays in a caravan on the tourist site, and have watched generations of families spend their summers there.

"I've had children, they've grown up and had children, and their children have played with my friends' grandchildren," she told WalesOnline.

Amanda Jayne, who spends every summer at Happy Valley, working from a caravan with her husband, added: "This is a home [away] from home - nobody wants to leave. Everybody helps everybody out - there is very much a community spirit there and it has always been that way."

"We are totally devastated," Lisa Powell, who only bought her caravan at the site last August. "Now, everyone over the next few weeks will be having to pack up all their belongings and not [have] the enjoyment we paid for."

The residential part of the park will not be impacted by the closure - but locals said they are afraid of being "booted out" next.

"I'm worried to death because I know it's bad what's happening on the holiday site, but they've got homes to go to," Wendy said.

"We as residents haven't. [I'm] just an emotional wreck because I've got nowhere to go ... I don't want to be put in a position where I've got to move to an area I don't want to move to."

"There's a lot of very sad people who have beautiful memories and it's all just gone in a letter," she added. "It wasn't just a holiday park - it was a community. It was just such a wonderful place to be."

LT Management Services has been contacted for comment.