‘‘The weather helped a lot and we had a very good bunch of family campers this year,’’ says Leithfield Beach Holiday Park owner Gail Fenemor.
She says numbers were up almost 25 percent on the past couple of years.
The closeness to Christchurch of camping grounds that offer quiet, peaceful, family orientated holiday experiences is one of the reasons, many keep coming back to sites like Leithfield Beach, she says.
The Batstone family of Christchurch have been coming to the Leithfield Beach Holiday Park for over 45 years.
‘‘It all started back in the early 70s when both our parents bought our families to camp here,’’ said Lyn Batstone, a retired teacher aide.
Her husband Roger, a retired food industry worker, said initially they didn’t know of each other at the camp site but after they met and were married in Bishopdale, they discovered both families liked camping at Leithfield Beach.
‘‘On our first holiday as a married couple we bought our new› born son with us and used one of my employer’s furniture trucks as our accommodation. We then got a caravan and we’ve been coming back ever since,’’ he said.
Now the next two generations of the Batstone family are making the annual pilgrimage with them to the beach site, and Roger says his children have all got caravan sites right beside their parents on the row.
‘‘We come here as a family group every year, and also on most long weekends. It’s paradise and you can’t beat it as the nearby pines block the cool easterlies making it very pleasant here year round,’’ said Lyn.
The couple say they relish the memories of their time at the site even recalling the adventure in 2016 when Roger crashed his quad bike and was flown to hospital.
He recalls lying in the hospital bed hearing reports about a major fire which destroyed caravans, cars and campsite there.
It had been caused by a faulty barbecue gas cylinder at another campsite next to a hedge.
‘‘We lost everything, it was all burned to the ground on›site and around us, but we were back there the next year,’’ Roger says.
‘‘It has been great to see the wonderful work the owners, Gail and Kevin Fenemor, have done keeping the property as a great family camping area.’’
