Wood Leisure: Family-led Growth and Continuous Investment in Perth & Kinross

For more than four decades, Wood Leisure has been a familiar name in Scotland’s holiday park sector. What began with a single park at Blairgowrie in 1981 has grown into a six-park, family-run group with a strong footprint in Perth and Kinross.

From its head office in Blairgowrie, Wood Leisure now operates three local parks – Blairgowrie, Corriefodly and Faskally Woods – alongside parks at Loch Lomond, Callander in the Trossachs and Deeside in Royal Deeside. With a focus on quality accommodation, responsible tourism and continuous reinvestment, the business plays a significant role in supporting local jobs, extending the visitor season and driving spend into nearby towns and villages.

We spoke with Margaret Wood, Co-Founder and Director, about the company’s journey, the importance of customer care, and what their latest investment at Faskally Woods means for Perth and Kinross.

Q: Wood Leisure is well known across Scotland, but how did the business first begin?

A: Our head office is in Blairgowrie, which was our first park. We bought it in 1981. I was a history teacher at the time, and my husband was a farmer. His family, though, had been involved in holiday parks since the 1950s.

He grew up on a dairy farm in Berwickshire that was adopted by campers. People would pitch tents in the fields and buy their milk and eggs straight from the farm; over time that evolved into a small holiday park.

When the opportunity came up to buy Blairgowrie, we jumped at it. Like farming, running a holiday park is more than a business, it’s a way of life and we were ready to commit. Three years later we took the bold decision to open all year round to support what is now Ski Glenshee. At the time, especially in Scotland, that was very unusual for a holiday park; but I’m pleased to say it worked!

Q: Going from one park in Blairgowrie to a six-park group is a big step. How did that expansion happen?

A: Blairgowrie wasn’t particularly known as a tourist destination back then – it’s much better now – so we looked for opportunities in more established visitor areas. When a holiday park at Balloch, near Loch Lomond, came up for sale, we took the chance and bought it in 1994 and from there we continued to grow.

We have six parks now, three of which are in Perth and Kinross. In 2000 we bought Corriefodly Holiday Park, just five miles north of Blairgowrie at Bridge of Cally, and more recently, in 2024, we acquired what is now Faskally Woods Holiday Park near Pitlochry.

We’ve always looked for potential in places and parks that we can improve, and this formula has served us and our customers well.

Q: Sustaining and growing a business over 44 years is no small achievement. What’s been the key?

A: It’s a combination of hard work, commitment and a real passion for the business. We’ve always focused heavily on our customers, and our approach has been to try to provide that next level of experience before it becomes standard or expected. And to keep reinvesting so we stay ahead of the curve. Expectations have certainly changed hugely since the 1980s!

Q: How important is your team and how has it grown?

A: We now employ over 110 full and part time staff across the six parks and we’re fortunate to have a strong core team who’ve been with us for a long time; this has been vital to the rolling out of standards as the business has grown.

Alongside this, there are naturally seasonal jobs which means in the busier months we employ around 20 to 30 extra temporary staff to ensure we can deliver on customer expectations.

We invest a lot in the training and development of all of our teams; in a business like ours, your team will absolutely make or break the guest experience, and we want everyone to have the same high quality of service whether they arrive in July or January.

Q: You purchased Faskally Woods Holiday Park in 2024. What has your investment focused on there?

A: The first thing was to introduce the Wood Leisure ethos – putting the customer at the heart of everything. We brought in a new team, including some existing staff who moved from our other parks, so that we could embed our way of working and that all important family feel.

The biggest change was moving the park from a summer seasonal offering to an all year-round one. We’ve had to invest significantly in infrastructure, insulating and double-glazing, upgrading pipework, ensuring all caravan holiday homes meet winter standards, and modifying parts of the swimming pool infrastructure so the indoor pool can operate year-round.

Q: Who are your core customers and how does your business model work?

A: Across the group, one of our main focuses is on privately owned holiday homes. People invest in a holiday home on one of our parks and we look after the surroundings, the infrastructure and the day-to-day care. They can come whenever they like, at any time of year, which is a big attraction.

Alongside that we have a substantial holiday hire business with lodges, caravan holiday homes and in more recent years, luxury glamping pods. As you can imagine, the standard of accommodation has changed dramatically since the 1980s! People still want that sense of being out in nature, but now they expect a really comfortable bed, great facilities and a real home from home feel.

Our parks are also well equipped to focus on touring caravans and motorhomes, which suit our year-round operations very well.

We run a loyalty programme for repeat guests which is very popular. It’s amazing how many people now come back for short breaks several times a year. They know that if they choose a different location – for example, moving from Faskally to Blairgowrie or Corriefodly – they’ll still get the same standard, the same ethos and the same welcome.

Q: Responsible tourism is a key theme in Scotland. How does Wood Leisure support that?

A: There’s a big push in Scotland, including here in Perth and Kinross, to encourage people in vans and motorhomes to use proper facilities rather than just parking up at the roadside. Unfortunately, unregulated stopping places often don’t have any disposal points, so waste can end up in watercourses or other inappropriate places.

By contrast, our parks provide a safe, regulated and environmentally responsible option. Guests know they are doing the right thing, and local communities know that visitors are supported by the right infrastructure.

The environments we create are close to some of the most beautiful areas of Scotland and we are focused on being sustainable. We offer recycling, EV charging points, solar energy, bio mass energy as well as solar thermal. Our own park vehicles and lots of our machinery are electric powered creating a clean and quiet environment for our guests.

Q: Following on from that, you recently received a £25,000 Green Capital Development Grant from Perth & Kinross Council. What are your plans for this?

Based on recommendations in our Business Energy Scotland energy efficiency assessment, we are currently undertaking a significant amount of work for winterisation upgrades at Faskally Woods Holiday Park,

These upgrades entail improving insulation, upgrading windows to double glazing, and replacing doors with energy efficient insulated models for buildings at the site. Additionally, we’re installing rapid (20-22kW) EV chargers improving services for environmentally conscious visitors using electric cars.

The grant is a 50% matched fund and we were very pleased to be approved for the maximum award. Not only will it enable us to reduce energy consumption, improve our carbon footprint and reduce energy bills, but it will also allow us to operate year-round, rather than just March to October.

In realising this potential, we are effectively increasing our revenue by a third and guaranteeing year-round employment and job security for local people, and consistent, year-round demand for local businesses servicing both the park and its guests.

Q: What kind of impact do your parks have on the local economy in Perth & Kinross?

A: We very much see ourselves as bringing customers to the area. Most of the spending our guests do is off-park in local shops, restaurants, cafés, visitor attractions, theatres and so on.

That’s exactly how we like it. We provide the high-quality accommodation and the base, and the surrounding communities benefit from the visitor spend. Being open all year round is particularly important: we’re bringing people in during the quieter winter months, when local shops and restaurants can sometimes struggle.

For instance, in places like Blairgowrie, there isn’t a huge amount of traditional accommodation relative to the demand created by things like the Cateran Trail and the excellent outdoor activities nearby. Our parks help to fill that gap by offering a range of options at different budgets, from luxury lodges to glamping pods and touring pitches.

Q: The business has remained family-run. What role has the next generation played in your recent growth?

A: It’s been absolutely crucial. My husband and I simply couldn’t have kept pace with the technological demands of modern tourism on our own.

We have three daughters, all of whom went to university and then chose to come back into the business. That was a joy for us. They’ve each found their niche, based on their skills and personalities; Kirsty looks after HR and health & safety, Rachel handles the finance, and the youngest, Sarah oversees all of our sales and marketing. Our son-in laws Bruce and Calum are also invaluable and committed to Wood Leisure, Bruce being head of all of our projects and developments. Together they’ve driven areas like our digital presence, management system and website as well as park -based technology like our ANPR security system.

They work very closely with each other and with us, and they’ve brought a huge amount of expertise, energy and dedication. It’s made a tremendous difference to how the business has developed and how it will continue to grow in the future.

More: www.woodleisure.co.uk