A RARE opportunity has cropped up to run an Exmoor National Park campsite with stunning views over the town of Minehead and the Bristol Channel.

Exmoor National Park Authority (ENPA) has taken back in house the Moor Wood site in Hill Road, on top of North Hill, Minehead.

Now, the authority is looking for somebody to lease the site for the next nine years with a rent starting at £10,000 a year.

The campsite, set in nearly four acres of land, is being marketed by independent property consultants SBC Property, based in Truro, Cornwall, which wants expressions of interest to be submitted by March 14.

The campsite is allowed under its current planning consent to operate 11 months of the year from February 16 to January 5, although ENPA as the local planning authority could agree to make changes.

It has 46 pitches, 36 of them on grass and the other 10 on hardstandings, with electric hook-up points provided for 12 of the pitches.

There is also a site reception building with a small shop, a shower and toilet block, a chemical waste disposal point, electronic security barriers, and a tarmacadam site lane.

SBC partner Russell Weetch said the campsite was inside the Exmoor National Park boundary and had good access to coastal walks, heathland, and was about a 15-minute walk from Minehead and its local amenities.

Mr Weetch said the park authority wanted to secure a nine-year full repairing and insuring lease with rent reviews every three years.

He said Moor Wood was a ‘reputable’ and ‘tranquil’ established campsite and enjoyed ‘some excellent views’ over Minehead, where the South West Coast Path began and which was home to the West Somerset Railway, the longest steam train line in the country at 20 miles running to Bishops Lydeard.