Holiday Park sold; business as usual

[1]

Richard and Sarah Burdon are the new owners of the Lake Hawea Holiday Park. The couple take over from the Cotter family who founded the camping ground and ran it for nearly 40 years. Photo by Lucy Ibbotson.

Richard and Sarah Burdon, owners of the camping ground's neighbouring Glen Dene Station, have bought the business and will take over in October.

Camping ground founder Dick Cotter told The News the sale had been confirmed last week and it was an exciting time for all involved.

‘‘All my family came home on Saturday for a celebration and we met Sarah and Richard at the camp and shared a bottle of wine.

‘‘There was a bit of emotion attached to it at the beginning when we put it on the market, then when it's all sold and you've got what we wanted, it's a bit of a celebration.''

Neither party was prepared to disclose the sale price. However, Mr Cotter did confirm it was ‘‘pretty near what we asked''.

The Burdons said they were ‘‘absolutely stoked'' with their new venture and while they acknowledged they had big shoes to fill, they hoped to be able to continue operating the business as a ‘‘family holiday park'' in much the same fashion as the Cotters had.

‘‘[The camping ground is] the gateway to Hawea. And we've got the surrounding land behind it so we see some opportunities in the future to amalgamate some of that land with the camp,'' Mrs Burdon said.

Mr Burdon said the couple were keen to work with the council and the community to find out what the needs were for the camp.

The reins had been handed over by the Cotters with ‘‘lots of really good advice'' and ‘‘a lavatory brush'' for good measure, the Burdons said.

Mr Cotters' son Jimmy and daughter-in-law Rebecca had been running the camp since 2000 but would move on in October, so the Burdons were on the hunt for a new manager.

Mr Cotter and his late wife Margie developed the Lake Hawea camping ground from Crown land previously managed by the Hawea Domain Board and obtained the original 33-year lease and rights of renewal.

The tenure on the land is secure. It has been vested in the Queenstown Lakes District Council, which oversees the 33-year lease, of which 29 years remain.