A HUSBAND-and-wife team that quit the London rat race to take on a Dorset caravan park has been given a top award by botanist David Bellamy.

Martin and Vicky Bowrey received the David Bellamy Conservation Award at its top gold level less than a year after moving to the Back of Beyond touring park in St Leonards, near Ringwood.

In that time, said Professor Bellamy, the husband-and-wife team “have laid the foundations for a fantastic eco-friendly business with much for nature-loving guests to enjoy”.

It was in February 2014 that Martin and Vicky swapped their busy lives as West End photographic retailers to move to an area where they often went camping with their three sons.

Their aim was to create an adults-only touring park which, said Martin, would be modelled on the type of environment which the family most enjoyed during their breaks from London.

Covering 30 acres, more than half of which is woodland, the Back of Beyond provides 80 pitches for camping, touring caravans and motorhomes.

From the outset, the couple were determined to run the business as far as possible on sustainable lines and to create an oasis for wildlife. An area at the top of the park is already designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest and the site also adjoins the popular Lions Hill Nature Reserve. Judges praised the couple’s green initiatives, such as locally-sourced materials, recycling, erecting bird boxes and charity fundraising.

Martin said that the David Bellamy award had capped a memorable first season for the park.