Building Memories and Preserving Habitats
Shorefield Holidays was formed in 1958 by the late Dr Robert Pollock. Unable to find a touring pitch for the family’s annual holiday, he decided to purchase a small caravan park next to a worked-out gravel pit at Milford on Sea in the New Forest, Dorset and thus a family business was born.
For the first eighteen years, the business was run by Dr Pollock as a sideline to his main career as a General Practitioner in Bedford. He would drive the 260mile roundtrip every Wednesday just to visit the park. His evenings were spent paying the bills and collecting the site fees. When he retired from medicine, Dr Pollock moved to Milford and spent many hours listening attentively to his customers and staff, whilst walking the park with his dog, a Great Dane named Troy.
Dr Pollock’s children, Lesley (Marketing Director), Sara (Finance Director) and Simon (Chairman and Managing Director) joined the business in the 1970s bringing with them new skills, but the same passion for a great customer experience. The family-run company has gone from strength to strength and now has eight parks all situated within Hampshire and Dorset in its portfolio. The third generation of the family is now also involved in the business, with Lesley’s son Robert working as Customer Experience Manager for the company, and there are also a number of husband/wife and mother/son duos who work for the company.
The preservation of the local natural environment – a place of natural beauty that the Doc originally fell in love with, and that holds many happy family memories has always been of critical, unwavering importance to the family. To this end, they have embedded a number of environmental and sustainable initiatives into their business model, to ensure the environment is equally protected and respected.
Food sold on-site is locally and sustainably sourced as much as possible, with produce bought from nearby farms, butchers and dairies. Grass is left uncut in many areas so that bees and other pollinators can make themselves at home. Shorefield sites have cycle-friendly facilities and electric vehicle charging points for guests and staff.
Shorefield’s initiatives also extend into the community. They organise regular litter picks, beach cleans and forest clean-ups locally. They support local charities, including the Macmillan and Oakhaven Hospice, they donate food to local food banks and for the past 40 years they’ve offered prizes for school raffles near to the parks including Milford Primary School, Hordle School and Tiptoe Primary School.
Shorefield has recently been awarded a Silver Accreditation in the newly launched New Forest Green Leaf Tourism Business Scheme which celebrates local businesses putting the planet first.
Marketing Director at Shorefield, Lesley Lawrence, said: “Hard work, trust, honesty and innovation has been key to our success, but engaging with the community and protecting our surrounding environment is also really important to us. Whether it’s expanding our apprentice scheme to assist with job creation, instigating beach clean ups or partnering with local charities, we want Shorefield to support the community livelihood whilst preserving the glorious natural landscapes here.”
Shorefield Holidays are an IFB member and take pride, and care of their place in the world.