Be inspired to buy a park home

Copper, thistle and floating walls…

We discover stunning design styles to inspire you to consider a park home for your next move

Words by Val Chapman
Photography by Richard chapman

Yearning for a new start, a change in lifestyle, can be as daunting as it is exciting. Given the vast choice of residential parks in all parts of Britain, and accepting location is key, that’s obviously where to start. Do you pick a favourite county? One in which you’ve spent happy holidays, perhaps? Close to the coast? Or with fabulous countryside views?

All that sounds idyllic. Or do you play it safe and look at residential home parks in the region where you currently live, so it’s easier to keep in regular contact with friends?

Over the past few months I’ve met couples who’ve gone for the close-to-home option and couples who’ve moved from one end of England to another, and both are happy and contented they’ve made the right move.

A sense of community

The more park home estates I visit the more I am impressed by the sense of community they all naturally foster. A sense of feeling safe in an environment in which everyone’s friendly and has time to chat. A sense of caring. A sense of potentially shared interests, where everyone’s in the same age group and at the stage in life where there’s time for chatting and for pastimes.

Stage one - you’re convinced about the appeal of the park lifestyle. Stage two - you’re visiting some parks in areas that you might want to call home. And – stage three – you’re looking at homes.

Ready furnished!

One of the great attraction of park homes is that, for the first time in your life, instead of buying a house and then having to decorate and furnish it, you are potentially buying a home completely furnished and decorated. We say ‘potentially’ because some park home manufacturers offer you a huge range options on furnishings, and even kitchens and bathrooms. Lissett Homes is one of these.

Choose your style

So, whether you are wowed by the current fashion of soft greys and clean, plain lines, or you’d feel more at home in a traditional setting, a bit cottagey perhaps, there are residential park homes out there for you.

The summer show season has given me several opportunities to spend time in park homes from various manufacturers’ portfolios. Along the way I’ve picked out some favourites; personal views are allowed in this arena – just as I would be choosing my favourites were I to be in the market for a park home.

A Wessex Dorset, perhaps?

Two décor styles that stand out as both intriguing and on-trend right now are the inclusion of copper as a style feature and using tartan-inspired accent fabrics. Both of those styles come together in a new Wessex model for 2017. It’s the Dorset (pictured here), a 45ft x 20ft home with an interesting L-shaped lounge-dining area.

The copper comes in the lounge, in two big pendant lights. And the tartan, in shades Wessex calls ‘thistle and stone’, is in the lounge curtains and cushions, teamed with aubergine-shade seating upholstery.

Aubergine-purple is of course also an on-trend colour – and in the Wessex Dorset it’s also in the kitchen, in vivid form; it’s the colour used for a glass feature splash-back behind the cooker.

The Dorset is an eye-catching home not just for its copper and purple hues. Its large galley-style kitchen is a dream, with an array of cabinets and surface on both sides of the kitchen. Galley kitchens are the shape preferred by many professional chefs; they like them for their compact efficiency – every element of the kitchen is within easy reach.

Or an Oakgrove with a floating wall?

Another stunning feature among the new models for 2017 comes from Northern Ireland manufacturer Oakgrove Lodges and Park Homes. It’s called a ‘floating wall’ – in the new Waverton model, as our picture shows, it forms a partial divide between the lounge and a secluded study/computer area, furnished with a desk and a sumptuous cream leather chair.

From the same manufacturer’s 2017 collection comes another stunning design feature. In both the new Waverton and new Clarendon models, bedheads sit in slight recesses, from which spotlights focus down; reading in bed would be a delight!

Or, a Stately with a stunning bathroom!

It’s not often that a necessitous keeping-clean room merits the description ‘awesome’ but that’s certainly the case with a new, 2017 home from Stately-Albion. It’s the latest Wentwood – and the awesome ingredient is horizontally-aligned grey rock-like tiles behind a roll-top bath. Images of relaxing amid aromas of extravagant bath essences are easily conjured!

These are just a tiny sample of the vast choice of homes with amazing design features. The market is currently awash with homes to inspire you to buy into the enticing park home lifestyle. Enjoy making your choice!

Tell us your stories about your choice of home and of park. Email me at [email protected] - and send us some photos, too!