PLANNING permission has been granted for a new outdoor adventure resort featuring holiday lodges, retail spaces and an outdoor skills academy.
The new facility aims to serve as “a gateway to the Peak District”, providing a place to stay near to the popular national park while also experiencing all it has to offer.
Earlier this month, Chesterfield Borough Council gave the green light for the resort’s buildings, their location and access routes.
Peak Gateway Properties has grand designs for the PEAK Gateway Resort development, which will be built at the former Birchall Golf Course in Chesterfield.
SUN READER HOLIDAY TIPS: Give us your best tip for an underrated UK place and you could win a £100 Amazon voucher
Those plans include a single-domed structure containing a hotel, with both indoor and outdoor leisure facilities.
There will also be 250 holiday lodges with access to the site from a new roundabout.
Additionally, there will be a skills academy, a hostel, a village shop, an artisan market, an activity lake, a horticulture building, retail spaces and food and beverage outlets.
There will be an additional 1,587 car parking spaces and 160 EV charging points.
Meanwhile, a solar field will provide green energy to the Gateway buildings, with sustainable drainage and landscaped grounds.
Developers have said their aim with the resort is to create a “tourism, leisure and education destination on the edge of the Peak District National Park”.
The PEAK planning website states: “The Gateway is intended to play an important role in cementing Chesterfield as a destination town as part of the Peak District experience.
“It will be an international standard tourist destination providing a basecamp and a gateway into the 550 square mile Peak District National Park.
“Like a ski resort the PEAK Resort will be built around a carless mobility service, not in this case to mountains and skiing, but into the Peaks for biking and hiking, for nature, heritage, sport and culture.”
It also promises “experiential retail, locally sourced dining and unique spaces for events, artisan craft and learning experiences”.
Peak Gateway director Rupert Carr, told Derbyshire Live: “Peak Gateway will be part of Chesterfield, paying taxes, employing local people and bringing new people into the town and environment.
“PEAK is the opportunity to deliver a clean growth infrastructure for the regional visitor economy, an opportunity for Chesterfield and indeed the region to build a significant presence in an economic sector growing at six per cent per annum. PEAK is finally of its time.”
Three camping tips from an expert
David Scotland owns camping equipment retailer Outdoor World Direct and knows all about how to make a camping trip run smoothly.
When visiting any campsite this summer it’s important to make sure you’re not making simple mistakes that could ruin your holiday.
Check your tent
David recommends putting your tent up a couple of weeks before you’re due to travel to give you enough time to repair or replace any damaged parts.
He told Sun Online Travel: “You’d be surprised how many people turn up with broken tents.”
Test the ground
Picking a good spot to pitch your tent is difficult, with lots of things to consider.
One of those should be the condition of the ground you’re putting your tent on top of, according to David.
He said: “Once you’ve found the perfect spot, test the ground with your pegs before you commit to camping there to make sure the ground is soft enough.”
Don’t nap in your tent
It may seem the perfect place for it, but a nap in a tent could end badly, if it’s done at the wrong time of the day.
David explained: “If the sun’s shining and it’s hot inside your tent – don’t do it!
“One of our friends nodded off in his tent during a heatwave at Glastonbury and ended up at the medical tent with heatstroke.”
Instead, he recommends finding some shade outside or somewhere well ventilated.
Council Leader, Cllr Tricia Gilby, added: “Peak Resort offers a fantastic opportunity to bring more visitors into Chesterfield. I look forward to seeing this development take shape over the next few years.”
The PEAK resort isn’t the only place where new holiday lodges are being built in the UK.
Wales
A brand new seaside resort is opening in Wales this summer with 80 lodges, an indoor swimming pool and a sports bar.
Lyons Holiday Parks has revealed a brand new site for holidaymakers that will be open from April, with restaurants, bars, swimming pools and spa facilities right by the beach.
The new park will be called the Marian Resort & Spa and will be found in the pretty Welsh village of Dyserth, Denbighshire – an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
Preston
A luxury holiday resort is being planned for Preston containing fancy lodges and caravans.
There will be more than 100 lodges among the facilities, which will be constructed on the site of a disused golf course.
What’s more, there will also be space for 26 caravans at the park, which is due to take over the old Goosnargh Golf Club in Preston that hasn’t been used since 2019.
Legoland
Last year, Legoland Windsor unveiled a brand new Woodland Village that will open to the public in May this year.
There will be 130 holiday lodges and 20 camping barrels on the 10-acre site – with prices starting at £295 for a family of four.
While most lodges will have bed space for between two to five guests, 10 premium lodges will be able to sleep up to seven people.
Read more on the Irish Sun
Meanwhile, this resort is set to open in the Afan Valley in Wales.
And this new resort is being planned for the UK, with a waterpark, hotels and a monorail.