Real-time twittering is park's recipe for happiness
People who claim to find it hard to switch off on holiday are being given a little extra help by an award-winning caravan park in Cumbria.
Touring guests at Ambleside's Skelwith Fold Caravan Park can now request a pitch with limited mobile phone reception, encouraging them to leave their device switched off.
According to the Skelwith's Henry Wild, many guests say they are delighted with the chance to swap electronic communication for real-life interaction when they stay at the park.
Talking casually with neighbours and striking up new friendships, he says, is a forgotten social skill for those who don't feel part of their community at home.
Instead, says Henry, the park plays host to both holiday home owners and touring guests who have created a friendly and inclusive village atmosphere.
His comments come after the publication this month of a survey* by the Mental Health Foundation which found that one person in every ten suffers from loneliness.
In its report, the charity highlighted the decline of the community as one of the chief reasons.
"Holiday parks such as Skelwith can help counter the sense of isolation felt by people who live in communities to which they don't feel any commitment," said Henry.
"Often in contrast to where they live, couples and families on a park find themselves in contact with people they can identify with and to whom they can relate.
"Often guests will be from similar backgrounds with a shared set of values and outlook on life - unlike in their home communities where neighbourliness is often a by-gone word.
"As the report pointed out, social networking websites such as FaceBook can help bring people together - but at Skelwith Fold, they can twitter in real-time and enjoy tweeting birds!" added Henry.
Although the park does provide wi-fi for guests with laptops so that they can follow the park on Facebook or Twitter, he says, connecting to the internet via a mobile phone can be difficult in some parts of the park... and impossible in others.
If guests with touring caravans or motorhomes feel they need some extra deterrent to getting wired up, said Henry, the park will try to provide a pitch with poor or no reception.
"Holiday parks are some of the least lonely places in Britain, and now perform the role played by traditional village communities in the past by providing companionship and support," he suggests.
"Evidence of this is our annual arts and crafts fair where everyone comes together to show off various skills, from painting to poetry - and people often say they have nothing like this at home.
"For many, here rather than their permanent home is where their heart lies," said Henry whose park was this year named as the Holiday Park of the Year in the 2010 Cumbria Tourism Awards.