ARRIVING at a holiday park in Drewsteignton you could be forgiven for thinking you are in the Alps — but timber lodges on 4ft high stilts is owner Joe Scaife's ingenious way of beating the floods.
Mr Scaife decided on the idea after the Environment Agency labelled his site next to the banks of the River Teign a flood plain.
Using the same technique as that applied to skiing chalets in the Alps, Mr Scaife, of Clifford Bridge Park, has mounted four lodges on stilts and has planning permission for a further twenty-seven.
His said the stilts added around £10,000 to the cost of each lodge but it was better to be safe than sorry. In the recent floods the water came up to about a foot.
'We always knew this was a flood plain and we are just insuring against a major flood which could happen tomorrow or in 100 years' time,' he said.
'A lot of people have built on floods plains and with all the flooding this year they are now counting the cost — we are one of the few people who are prepared for such a disaster.'
Each lodge is placed on 18 stilts and they are sunk within concrete and braced against each other to ensure maximum rigidity. They have been specially constructed to withstand fast rushing water.
Mr Scaife, who has been running the holiday park for 16 years, said Scandinavian-style lodges looked attractive in the Teign Valley and being in a forest situation the extra height was not visually intrusive.
'We have had caravan and camping facilities since we came here but it was no good putting caravans on the area that floods, neither could we put them on stilts because they would look silly,' he said.
'Holidaymakers think the lodges are marvellous because being off the ground they get a better view of what is around them from their bedroom window.'
The first two lodges were built nine years ago with another two in 1996. Mr Scaife intends to build the remaining lodges for sale.