3:14pm Wednesday 8th July 2009
By David Jeffels
A BIG vote of confidence in Ryedale’s tourism industry was given by international biologist and wildlife campaigner Professor David Bellamy yesterday.
He was visiting the new Bulmer Farm Lodges site at Ryton, near Malton, where John and Barbara Cuthbertson have started work on a £500,00 first phase of an eco-friendly complex which will eventually become a luxury holiday village.
The first phase of 10 lodges has already started on a site rich in wildlife, but only three miles from the A64 road and such attractions as Eden Camp and Flamingoland.
For 40 years the site was a sawmill, which eventually went into receivership, said Mr Cuthbertson.
He ran a lawnmower service centre in Malton for several years, and his family had an ironmongery business.
He previously worked on a oil drilling rig in Germany and Holland before moving to Ryton.
The lodges, which will have two or three bedrooms, will measure 45 ft by 20ft said Mr Cuthbertson, who added that the next phase would include complexes able to sleep up to eight people.
The site, he added, was a countryside haven, with a great wealth of wildlife, including deer, foxes and otters.
Extensive tree planting is to be carried out, together with a landscaping scheme for the development which is being designed by Chester consultants, Bratherton Park, and rightpark4u of Ferryhill.
The lodges will be for sale, said Mr Cuthbertson.
“The complex will be at the heart of an area with so many attractions – York, the North York Moors National Park and Castle Howard, as well as the seaside resorts of Scarborough, Filey, Whitby and Bridlington,” he said.
© Copyright 2001-2012 Newsquest Media Group
http://www.gazetteherald.co.uk/trade_directory/