Our site at Sunfolk received a very welcome (although slightly late!) 90th birthday present in late January in the form of approval for the planning application to redevelop and improve the site. This is great news for BN as an organisation, for the hundreds of Naturists who visit the site each year and for Sunfolk itself as it allows us to secure and update our facilities and to welcome visitors for years to come.
Approval took nearly a year—much longer than we had hoped. We had a lot of support from our neighbours, but the location of the site in green belt land, together with a long and complicated planning history, and some more technical concerns around drainage meant that we had to work through a lot of questions from the local authority. But now we can move ahead with the detail of planning the work we need to do. The benefits visitors will see as a result of the development can be summarised in four areas:
- Accessibility – we’ll improve access to the site for vehicles, pedestrians and cyclists with new parking and access routes. We’ll also upgrade the footpaths around the site and access to buildings to make access easier for all of our guests
- Accommodation – we’ll create new areas for tent camping with dedicated toilets and showers and build a new ‘glamping’ area with pods available to hire for one or more nights for those who want something more than a tent!
- Leisure and Recreation – we’ll add new facilities including a new sauna and hot tub, a pétanque piste, a sports court and a fitness trail around the perimeter of the site. We’ll also upgrade the barbecue area.
- Indoor space – we’ll increase the size of the clubhouse, and improve the facilities we are able to offer. Sliding glass doors will make allow light into the building and link it much more closely with outdoor spaces.
We had planned to complete the redevelopment works between the 2021 and 2022 seasons, but now we are planning to start work in September of this year – allowing plenty of time to enjoy the existing facilities over the course of this summer. Focusing on the detailed construction design and planning, and identifying the suppliers who we will work with to deliver the redevelopment project is already underway.
Although we acquired Sunfolk on very generous terms from the Sun-Folk Society, and have been able to make some investments in the site since then, the redevelopment project will be very significant for our organisation and will undoubtedly be the single largest financial investment BN has ever made. We are confident from our experience over the last two years that there is a strong appetite for a venue with great access and good facilities, close to London and available to all Naturists on a ‘pay as you go’ basis and that investment in the site will provide financial and other benefits to BN in the future.
We have most – but not all – of the funding in place for the redevelopment already, and would welcome donations from members who would like to offer direct support to the project. Over this summer, you’ll have the opportunity to make an additional donation whilst you are booking your visit to the site, whilst you are visiting the BN Shop, or via our crowdfunding page. Your support for this important project will be most appreciated
We would also welcome longer-term support within funding for the redevelopment project. In line with this, we will be launching a ‘Sunfolk Development Bond’ within the next few months. This will offer members and others the opportunity to support the redevelopment project with an investment of £500 or more over three or five years, receiving an attractive rate of interest on their investment at the end of the period.We’ll share more details of this exciting opportunity soon.
There will also be plenty of opportunities to get involved in supporting the redevelopment more directly. Although most of the work at the site will be completed by professional contractors, we’d love to hear from members who would like to help out with more general tasks such as decorating, planting and groundworks. We’d also love to hear from members who might be able to offer assistance in more specialist areas such as:
- Project management
- Financial planning and control
- Quantity surveying
- Services engineering
- Structural engineering
- Landscape architecture
- Ecological management
Most importantly, we’d love to share the Sunfolk site with as many BN members as possible. We can’t bring the site to you, but it has great access close to the M25 and can easily reached by train or bus as well. We’ll be open for visitors from the start of April and you can book your visit online now. We’re also delighted to confirm that we won’t be increasing our prices for 2022.
We’ll be organising several different weekend events over the course of the summer such as a families weekend, a yoga and fitness weekend, and a life drawing weekend – or just join us to enjoy the sun when it’s shining and the pool, sauna and clubhouse when its not!
Jon Williams, BN Vice-Chair
Photo credit : Nirish