It’s been a wonderful 2024 at Gateforth Park watching our community grow and the site develop with new homes and landscaping.
The hedges, borders and other greenery planted over the past three or four years are starting to mature, while our two fishing lakes are now well stocked and attracting a variety of wildlife, including swans, moorhen and ducks.
With around 22 homes sold throughout the year, we’ve welcomed some lovely new residents and there’ll be more moving in during 2025. Our community is becoming ever more vibrant, with the on-site Community Centre a focal point for activity including quiz nights, a family history group, coffee afternoons, a craft club and games meetings. Most recently, it was the perfect venue for our Christmas fair as well as our New Year’s Eve celebrations – both held for the second year running and looking set to become annual fixtures in the seasonal calendar.
In addition, the Community Centre has been a great place to host information sessions with our local Police Community Support Officer (PCSO) and representatives of organisations such as Northern Power Grid, legal companies and other service providers.
Highlights of 2024
There have been many highlights over the past year, and here are some of them:
January
2024 began with our annual visit to the Caravan, Motorhome and Holiday Show in Manchester. Our stand was busy as always, and our team had a great time meeting lots of people and discussing various aspects of moving to Gateforth and the benefits of owning a park home. The rest of the month was spent following up enquiries and arranging viewings of our park and homes.
The Manchester Show was the first of three large events we attended throughout 2024, showcasing Gateforth Park and the joys of park home living. The Yorkshire Motorhome & Campervan Show in March and the Great Caravan, Motorhome and Holiday Home Show in September were both held in Harrogate and attracted a large crowd. For the latter, we joined the Omar Group stand to show people around the gorgeous Vision home that made its way to Gateforth Park after the show and is now reserved.
We also got the chance to showcase our homes as well as the site overall during two Gateforth Park Open Weekends in April and October. With some special offers on selected show homes running throughout the weekends, we were busy with visitors keen to have a look around our homes and the park.
If you are interested in a viewing of Gateforth Park and the homes we have for sale, please email gateforthpark@yhlparks.co.uk or call 01757 616 646.
February
The end of February saw signs that spring was on its way, and it was lovely to see some mini daffodils in a resident’s garden and daffodils at the community fishing lake. Our team were working hard preparing the grounds for the warmer weather. It’s a time-consuming job for our gardeners and maintenance team because of the large amount of open space we have on our park, but the final appearance is worth it!
March
One of our residents captured a gorgeous photo from their dining room of the last of the winter sun going down at the park one evening. This time of year is perfect to start considering some outdoor activities, and there are lots of opportunities around Gateforth Park to do just that! From a local walk to discovering the North York Moors or the Yorkshire coast, enjoying a round of golf at Selby Golf Club next door or casting a line across one of our on-site fishing lakes, our homeowners are spoilt for choice during their leisure time.
April
The rescue of a group of ducklings caused quite a stir on our park and on social media! When one of our builders spotted a mother duck sitting on top of the grate as he drove into work, further inspection revealed that 13 ducklings had fallen into the drain below.
Park managers Carol and Paul joined the rescue operation and lifted the drain cover to get out all the ducklings who were placed safely into a bucket while the mother duck kept a close eye on proceedings. Paul took the bucket of ducklings to the nearest pond at the back of the Community Centre, closely followed by their mum, and successfully released them!
May
There was more wildlife-watching at Gateforth in May when a family of swans were seen on the private fishing lake. This was the second time we’d seen swans on the lake after a single one had been a regular the previous year and become so popular with residents that they named him Elvis! Elvis would return later in October after the family of swans had left, and is still with us at the time of writing, so it looks like we are his winter retreat.
July
The height of summer was wonderful at Gateforth Park, with colourful flowers in full bloom and wildlife galore. The moorhen houses that we’d installed in our wildlife pond and the community centre were being well used by baby moorhen and ducklings, while the lake boasted some stunning lily pads too!
August
As always, we celebrated Yorkshire Day on August 1st contemplating the delights of our beautiful location with a cup of Yorkshire Tea. We are so lucky to live in the tranquil Vale of York countryside, while having easy access to all of North Yorkshire’s attractions. From shopping to golf, hiking to dining out, history to family fun, we think Yorkshire has it all!
November
The first snow of the season fell on Gateforth Park on November 19th, reminding us that Christmas was soon around the corner. And when the festive decorations went up shortly afterwards in the Community Centre and the Sales Office, it was time to start preparing for our Christmas Fair.
December
We had a super time at our Christmas Fair! Thanks to a wealth of festive stalls selling Christmas goodies and gifts, a tombola with fantastic prizes, and an atmosphere of festive fun, everyone left feeling as though Christmas had begun!
And our New Year’s Eve get-together was fabulous too! Organised by the residents, the event was very popular and featured drinks, nibbles and a rousing karaoke throughout the evening.
About Gateforth Park
Gateforth Park was launched in 2020 and is being developed over three phases. Homes are currently available on Phase 2, including the Lakeside area where each garden has its own exclusive fishing peg.
Our gated residential park is the perfect place for a wonderful retirement, offering high-quality affordable homes within a welcoming community. With an eye on freedom and privacy, the layout of the homes is designed to offer ample space for residents, with gardens of varying sizes and a wealth of greenery in communal areas.
Situated just outside the village of Thorpe Willoughby and only four miles from the town of Selby, Gateforth Park offers the tranquillity of a rural location while being within easy reach of amenities and leisure opportunities. Click here on our location page to read more about where the park is and what other places are nearby.
Get in touch
Do pay us a visit and have a browse around our fantastic residential park and stylish park homes! You can email us to arrange an appointment on gateforthpark@yhlparks.co.uk or call 01757 616 646.