A long-established Kent holiday park near the seaside town of Whitstable, celebrated for its gourmet oysters, will be welcoming summer under new ownership.

Homing Park in the village of Seasalter has this month (May) been acquired by family-owned Keat Farm which first set out in business almost 70 years ago.

Keat Farm’s 10-strong park portfolio includes Applegarth residential park which adjoins Homing Park and shares with it a common boundary.

Set in around 12 acres of countryside, Homing Park provides around 195 privately owned holiday homes, three glamping units, and 40-plus pitches for touring caravans, motorhomes and tents.

Guest facilities include a swimming pool, tennis court, children’s play areas, five-a-side football pitch, and a popular clubhouse providing meals, drinks, and themed entertainment nights.

Keat Farm Chairman Malcolm Kent said that his family was delighted to be the new owners of a highly regarded park with a well-deserved five star tourist board grading: ‘Homing Park has operated for three decades under the same family’s ownership, and during that time they have consistently strived to maintain the highest standards,’ he said. ‘As such, they share the same values as Keat Farm in wanting to ensure that customers are always offered the very best experience at a realistic and competitive cost. Also like us, they believe firmly in the importance of developing a loyal and hard-working staff team who are always prepared to go the extra mile on behalf of guests. Homing Park is a perfect fit to our group, and a real pearl among the many first-class tourism businesses which exist in the Whitstable area,’ said Malcolm.

It was Malcolm’s father, Ron, who first dipped his toes in the visitor market when, in the 1950’s, he turned over part of his three acre smallholding into a camping field.

After taking over the business in 1986, Malcolm gradually grew Keat Farm through the acquisition of other parks in the region, and taking on major holiday home distributorships.

Malcolm’s son Ben today has the role of Managing Director at Keat Farm, and his daughter Justine Beba and son-in-law Wayne Beba are also active in the business.

The group now comprises five holiday parks and five residential parks in South East England.

‘This is an exciting period of growth for the parks industry, and we’re very proud to be going forward with such excellent park products and a strong team,’ said Malcolm.

Malcolm is a former National Chairman of  the British Holiday & Home Parks Association, and has also served as Chairman of the National Caravan Council and the Caravan Industry Training Organisation.

There is more information about the group at www.keatfarm.co.uk and Homing Parks website can be found at www.homingpark.co.uk.