A HOLIDAY park near Okehampton has been shortlisted from hundreds of holiday establishments across the country for a major award.

Dartmoor View Holiday Park at Whiddon Down is a finalist in the 'Most Improved Park in England' category of the Year 2001 Calor Gas Caravan Park Awards scheme and is competing against three other parks to win £1,000.

The scheme, now in its 15th year, assesses the 'best' and 'most improved' parks in England, Scotland and Wales. It rewards the development of environmental aspects of park design and management and looks at how facilities blend in with the rest of the park and its surroundings.

Stephen Cliff, who runs the holiday park with his wife, Jo, said he was delighted about being a finalist.

'We were as surprised as anyone about reaching the final stage,' he said. 'For this award you have to be nominated by somebody but I don't have a clue who it was.'

Dartmoor View Holiday Park was recently upgraded to a five-star English Tourist Council establishment and has been a labour of love for the couple.

'The site has been a caravan park for the last 30 years but when we took it over two years ago it was in quite a bad state of repair,' said Stephen Cliff. 'We have literally invested tens of thousands of pounds to bring it up to the grade it is at the moment.'

He said great efforts had been made to make the site a haven for flora and fauna.

'We have lots of trees and thick hedgerows and the park is well screened from everyone,' he said. 'We have foxes and badgers — you name it we have got it and people seem to like that.'

The Calor Gas awards were 'prestigious and 'well respected' in the industry, said the owner, who moved to the area from the South East.

'We were completely new to this industry when we took on the park but had been caravaning and camping all our lives,' he said. 'It's a good life and we really enjoy it — we meet some fascinating people from all over the country and the world.'

Dartmoor View Caravan Park now attracts around 6,000 people a year and is believed to be the main accommodation provider in the Okehampton area.

Calor Gas commercial market manager Nicola Williams said: 'As the standard of entries rises every year, it is a great achievement for Dartmoor View Holiday Park to have reached this stage of the awards.

'The park has shown a high level of commitment to improving customer facilities whilst still putting a great deal of effort into enhancing environmental aspects of the park's design.'

Final judging will take place later in the summer and winners will be invited to a grand presentation ceremony in October to receive their prizes.