Dream Lodge Group creditors 'to recoup 5% of £25.6m debt'

Elm Farm Country Park in Thorpe-le-Soken was operated by Walsham Chalet Park

Creditors of a failed holiday park firm will get back just a fraction of the £25m they are owed, say administrators.

Dream Lodge Group, which ran eight lodge parks, went into administration in January with the loss of 80 jobs.

The lodges were rented to holidaymakers but also attracted investors who were promised "guaranteed returns" for putting in up to six-figure sums.

Administrator Deloitte said unsecured creditors could expect a return of about 5% at the end of the year.

There are 1,154 unsecured creditors whose claims total about 25.6m, of which roughly £1.28m will be repaid, reports the East Anglian Daily Times.

'Financial pressure'

Deloitte is also looking at other assets which could be sold to increase the size of that pot for creditors.

Dream Lodge Group's Essex-based parent company, Walsham Chalet Park, called in administrators earlier this year after "a period of financial pressure".

It was sold in February to Exclusive Luxury Lodges for about £11.2m, allowing the company's bank debt of £7.8m to be repaid.

Deloitte's own fee for handling the administration is £1.95m, according to the latest report to creditors.

Dream Lodge Group operated Fornham Park in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk; Elm Farm Country Park in Thorpe-le-Soken, Essex; Norfolk Park Homes in North Walsham; Lazy Otter Meadows in Ely, Cambridgeshire; Blossom Hill Park in Honiton, Devon; The Sanctuary in Newbury, Berkshire; Hilton Woods near Whitstone, Cornwall, and Woodlands Park in Westfield, East Sussex.

Its luxury sites included lodges with facilities such as indoor swimming pools and spas.

The properties cost about £200,000 to buy but were offered for part-ownership in schemes similar to time-shares.