A NEW £750,000 holiday park on a picturesque woodland site between York and Selby will open in May.

To celebrate the project's completion, David and Ann Styche, from Castleford, were handed the keys after becoming the first customers to buy one of the 70 static homes.

There are also 70 wood-clad lodges up for sale on the 250-acre site on the Escrick Park Estate.

The holiday park is surrounded by acres of evergreen and deciduous woodland, along with a 27-mile cross-country bridle path.

Facilities include a fishing lake, cycle tracks and bike hire, hard tennis court and bowling green.

Estate owner Charles Forbes-Adam said it was estimated the development would boost the local economy by about £1 million a year.

The holiday park is on land known as The Hollicarrs, almost next to the site where Powergen planned to erect two giant turbines to produce "clean" energy for 2,300 local homes. The wind farm project was finally scuppered after objections from Ministry of Defence bosses, who said the turbines would interfere with defence radar systems.

Updated: 11:18 Monday, March 14, 2005