Partington's Newton Hall Holiday Park appoints new head gardener to transform grounds into edible landscape

A holiday park near Blackpool is embarking on an ambitious sustainability project after appointing a new head gardener with plans to transform its grounds into an edible landscape.

Conrad Bunday joined Lancashire-based Partington's Holiday Parks in September 2025 and is leading a long-term initiative at Newton Hall Holiday Park to create a thriving kitchen garden that will supply fresh seasonal produce to the site's Café at Walterz.

Originally from Hythe in the New Forest, Conrad said his passion for horticulture was inspired by his father, whose work with the land taught him practical gardening skills and a respect for nature.

From seed to plate

“Nathan and I are constantly in conversation about what we can grow that’s most sustainable for the land and the season and which will complement his extensive menu,” says Conrad. “As well as the multi-coloured vegetables we are currently looking at red and white onions, orange tomatoes, spring onions, broad beans and four different types of basil.

“Nathan is big on sauces and tastes so fresh herbs are very important to him, and so Newton Hall gardener Jack Kimberly is also creating a ‘living wall’ of herbs with twenty to thirty varieties that will sit in 450 small pots, with everything grown here from seed.”

“Everything will be super fresh and will change according to the seasons. It’s really important these days for people to know where their food comes from and that its more sustainable for the environment,” says Conrad. “Even the kitchen waste has become an opportunity, with the used coffee grounds from Walterz now being repurposed as natural fertiliser to enrich the soil!”

Environmental sustainability

Working across Partington's holiday parks in Lancashire, the Lake District and the Yorkshire Dales, Conrad's role focuses on preserving habitats, encouraging biodiversity and making the parks' green spaces more environmentally sustainable.

At Newton Hall, he is working with Café at Walterz chef Nathan Shaw on a "garden to fork" project, growing between 10 and 15 varieties of vegetables each season, including white, red and purple carrots, multi-coloured sweetcorn, purple peppers and black tomatoes.

Planting began in January, with the first harvest now being used in dishes served at the café, including its Garden Soup.

“The idea is for every single flower bed to become completely edible with hundreds of varieties of herbs and shrubs, with signs for visitors saying what the plant is and this is what it tastes like. Myself and my team are currently working on an exchange system of taking up the ornamental plants and replacing them until the whole of the park is edible except for the trees and the hedges.

“We are also introducing as many fruit trees on the park as possible for people to pick themselves. It will look gorgeous and it’s great for the bees too. The team has such incredible knowledge that we share between us and it’s so inspiring.”

Conrad is also overseeing a five-year plan to turn Newton Hall into a fully edible park, while encouraging younger visitors to engage with nature by planting seeds during their stay and receiving updates on their progress.

Elsewhere, Partington's is planning further environmental improvements across its parks, including creating wildflower areas and wetlands at Windy Harbour, boosting habitats for hedgehogs and insects at Tarn House near Skipton, and increasing the diversity of planting at Black Beck in the Lake District ahead of this year's Cumbria in Bloom judging.