Alton Towers is looking to become the leading destination in the UK’s short break market, something Merlin Entertainments officials think can be achieved with the debut of its new Enchanted Village accommodation later this month.

Made up of 120 fairytale lodges and five luxury tree houses, the Enchanted Village offers an alternate style of accommodation to Alton Towers’ existing two hotels.

The self-service lodges sit in clusters of eight, with each cluster including a shared play area for kids. Each lodge is semi-detached and can sleep up to five people. The luxury treehouses sleep up to eight and also include a private spa pool on an outside deck.

In addition the Enchanted Village offers a village store, as well as a themed restaurant called the Crooked Spoon, which serves breakfast and dinner. Construction firm Gilbert-Ash worked on the village, while luxury tree house specialists Blue Forest worked on the tree houses.

“With any of the new attractions that we do at Alton Towers, we work really closely with MMM. They’re quite a unique aspect of the Merlin Entertainment Group in that we work with them and then creatively they develop some amazing concepts behind our rollercoasters, attractions and accommodation,” said Katherine Duckworth, head of marketing at Alton Towers speaking to AM2.

During the day, guests will be able to explore the village and surrounding area on the ‘Mushroom Trail’, an immersive experience designed by the Merlin Magic Making (MMM) team, which is a hunt for the wood’s fable folk and fairy helpers. The trail will use sound effects and props to bring the magical world to life.

“The creative story that goes behind the Enchanted Village is that it is a land full of forest spirits and fables that live amongst the trees and that they are working tirelessly to keep all the lodges in the village neat and tidy,” said Duckworth. “You’ll often hear them but you’ll never see them and that’s where the whole essence of the story comes.”

As part of its push for becoming the leading short break destination in the UK, Alton Towers is also planning to install a new high ropes course. Known as the Enchanted Forest Treetop Quest, the course will allow guests to negotiate a number of obstacles at a great height before returning to the ground via an 85m (278.8ft) zip wire.

“The long-term strategy of Alton Towers is to become the UK’s number one short-break destination,” continued Duckworth. “At the moment we’ve got two hotels and by building lodges it causes consumers to think about you in a different way. When they are thinking about taking a short break alongside some of our competitors, Alton Towers is somewhere you would think of taking a short break and not somewhere you would think of visiting for just today. In line with that we’re putting in additional things to do. We have the water park already and we’re installing the high ropes later this year to give people other reasons to visit us than just the theme park.

“The existing hotels are uniquely themed but are purely hotels. This is a different experience, this is an outdoor living experience if you like. Checking in and staying in a lodge for a couple of nights is targeting a different consumer group.”

The lodges will be open for the theme park season, starting on 18 April and closing for the year on 8 November.