Visitors to a group of west Dorset holiday parks have helped raised more than £100,000 for a Jurassic Coast charity to help protect the landscape.

The figure has been reached over the last 14 years through thousands of customers adding a small optional donation to their bookings at the resorts operated by West Dorset Leisure Holidays.

The company's six-figure donation to the Jurassic Coast Trust will aim to help 'conserve and educate people' about the coastline, a World Heritage Site. 

In 2022, a total of 93.6 per cent of customers chose to opt in to donating when booking, the company said.

The donations come 'at a critical time, it added, as the Trust works to promote sustainable tourism on the Jurassic Coast.

West Dorset Leisure Holidays is a family-run group of six holiday parks on the Jurassic Coast including the flagship park Highlands End at Eype – which won the 2019 Dorset Holiday Park of the Year at the Dorset Tourism Awards.

The other sites are Golden Cap, Eype House, Graston Copse and Larkfield at Burton Bradstock, and Sandyholme at Owermoigne.

Martin Cox, from West Dorset Leisure Holidays, said: “We are immensely proud to have surpassed the £100,000 fundraising mark for the Jurassic Coast Trust.

"Attaining a 93 per cent take-up rate of the donation scheme from our guests is extremely heartening, and demonstrates how committed our visitors are towards looking after the natural environment that they so enjoy.”

Guy Kerr, business development manager at the Jurassic Coast Trust, added: “Having the support of West Dorset Leisure Holidays is absolutely critical in delivering our core charitable aims of protecting and educating people about the Jurassic Coast.

"The amount raised represents thousands of contributions from individual holidaymakers who love and enjoy the coastline, and is truly inspirational.

"Reaching the £100,000 milestone is a tremendous achievement and a shining example to businesses coast-wide.”

The Jurassic Coast takes in 185 million years of the Earth’s history and comprises 95 miles of the south coast between Orcombe Point in Exmouth and Old Harry Rocks near Swanage.