Some caravan owners have been there for decades and say they are ‘gutted’ at the news
The sudden closure will affect 200 caravan owners(Image: Amanda Jayne)
Holidaymakers at a Welsh caravan site have been left infuriated after receiving letters saying it will close at the end of the season. The 200 caravan owners will now face a hefty bill to scrap or move their caravans and leave behind the close-knit community they have formed over decades.
Happy Valley Caravan Park, just outside Porthcawl, is home to 200 caravan plots. In 2021 the plot closed its touring site but WalesOnline has now seen letters from LT Management Services notifying those on the holiday site that it will close at the end of the current season.
The letter received by caravan owners on Thursday, September 5, told them it will close on October 31, 2025, and they must “make the necessary arrangements” to remove their caravans by the end of February 2026. For the biggest stories in Wales first sign up to our daily newsletter.
The cost of moving a caravan or sending it to be scrapped can range from around £1,500 to £4,000 – a huge and unexpected bill for many to pay.
Alison Williams, who has had caravans at the site on and off for around 25 years, said: “I think that paying for the privilege of being booted off is just disgusting. We are all losing out. We were told we’d have to scrap the caravans ourselves for a cost of between £1,800 and £2,000 or we’d be taken to court.”
But the news doesn’t just come down to money. For many owners they have watched generations of their family enjoy the holiday park and all that will all be stripped away.
Wendy Boylin has been there for 34 years. She currently lives on the residential site but previously had a caravan on the holiday site. She said: “I also have a lot of friends on the holiday site. I’ve had children, they’ve grown up and had children, and their children have played with my friends’ grandchildren.”
Amanda and her husband spend the summer working from their caravan(Image: Amanda Jayne)
Amanda Jayne, from the Rhondda, has had a caravan at Happy Valley for more than 10 years. Every year she and her husband spend the entire season living at the site and she’s admitted it’s a “home from home” for them.
She said: “This is a home from home – nobody wants to leave. Everybody helps everybody out – there is very much a community spirit there and it has always been that way. We’re all friends and look out for each other on the site and if we see each other in the town.”
Alison said she’s absolutely gutted by the news and called the treatment by the owners “shoddy”. She said they’d noticed subtle changes by the new management and there had been rumours and speculation about the future but hadn’t heard anything official until now.
She continued: “There’s people there who are in their late 80s and live there for seven months a year. It’s their livelihood, their community – they’ve got nothing else other than their vans. They’ve now got a few weeks just to get off.
“There was always a great sense of community but it’s basically been run into the ground.”
Lisa Powell, another caravan owner, feels particularly hard done by having only purchased her caravan in August 2024.
She said: “We are totally devastated. We only bought it last August. We paid £7,500 and lost everything.
“How can they give us a few weeks’ notice? We paid a full year and now everyone over the next few weeks will be having to pack up all their belongings and not having the enjoyment we paid for.”
A number of facilities at the site have closed in recent years(Image: Chris Fairweather/Huw Evans Agency)
With the closure of the holiday site following that of the touring site in 2021 those left living on the residential site, which is not affected by the closure, are extremely worried about what may happen next to them.
Wendy told WalesOnline if the residential site were to close she would have nowhere to go.
She said: “I’m worried to death because I know it’s bad what’s happening on the holiday site but they have got homes to go to. We as residents haven’t. [On Thursday] I was just an emotional wreck because I’ve got nowhere to go.
“Me and my husband we both have mobility issues – my husband’s 76. Where would we go? I don’t want to be put in a position where I’ve got to move to an area I don’t want to move to.
“There’s a lot of very sad people who have beautiful memories and it’s all just gone in a letter. It wasn’t just a holiday park – it was a community. It was just such a wonderful wonderful place to be.”
LT Management Services told WalesOnline they had no comment to make on the matter at present.