A NEW Forest holiday park has scooped a silver award in the Beautiful South Awards.

Sandy Balls Holiday Village near Fordingbridge won in the Holiday Village of the Year category.

The luxury holiday village, which was acquired by pioneering UK holiday park operator Away Resorts earlier this year, was one of three finalists that included Whitecliff Bay, which is also part of the Away Resorts group.

Whitecliff Bay general manager Richard Bicknell collected the award on behalf of Sandy Balls from TV and radio presenter Toby Anstis at the award ceremony in Brighton last month.

The judges said Sandy Balls deserved the award because the holiday village is "a clean, spacious site and the alpacas are a real wow”.

Rosie-Ellis Brothwood, guest services manager, said: "We are delighted that Tourism South East has recognised the hard work that the Sandy Balls team do to ensure that they provide every single guest a high-quality and memorable experience during their time at our holiday village."

The Beautiful South Awards are organised by Tourism South East and Services for Tourism and aim to shine a spotlight on the whole host of quality and successful hospitality businesses throughout the southeast.