AN INCREASING appetite for alternative holiday homes could provide a boost for the tourist economy in Eden.

Wild Rose Park is hoping to get planning permission to create 100 new holiday lodges at its 44-acre site at Ormside, near Appleby, and, according to the owners, the increase in the desirability of wigwam accommodation is one of the reasons for the expansion.

Kimberley Stephenson, a member of the family that owns the park, said the business initially experimented with wigwams in 2005 and since then they had become extremely popular.

"We started off with two wigwams but they got so popular we had to get another two and they were booked out all summer."

The company already has 500 holiday homes and lodges on the site and it has purchased an additional three acres of adjoining land on which it hopes to build another 100 holiday homes over a 15 to 20 year period.

Much of the plans depend on whether a long-distance walking trail, biking and horse riding route, which is planned to go past the park, comes to fruition.

"If the Pennine Bridleway come past us then we are hoping to put the wigwams and camping areas on the new land for people who are travelling along the trail using bikes and horses," said Miss Stephenson.

She also said the plans would create new jobs.

"There will certainly be more jobs on the site but we see it as very much a long-term plan and we would have to see how business goes," added Miss Stephenson.

Unlike the tents favoured by native Americans, holiday wigwams are solid wooden structures, resembling an upturned boat, which provide basic family accommodation in a single room.