THE man who founded Paultons Park and turned it into one of the most popular venues in the south for a family day out has died suddenly at the age of 68.

John Mancey had the vision of creating a leisure park for children of all ages and their families when he bought 140 acres of the Paultons Estate in 1979. The attraction, just off the M27 at Ower, near Romsey, is now pulling in 500,000 visitors a year.

The land he bought included the burned-down remains of Paultons House with its grounds landscaped by Capability Brown and its lake and he formed a partnership with his wife Anne, son Richard and daughter-in-law Sara to turn the dream into reality.

They undertook a three-year project to restore the neglected land and silted-up and tree-choked lake and re-create the gardens.

On May 18, 1983, Paultons Country Park and Bird Gardens opened its gates to the public, with Mr Mancey at the helm as managing director.

Some 70,000 visitors turned up in that first year but, with families wanting more to see and do, he set an expansion programme in motion and to insure it met his description of "the park for a family run by a family".

The expansion continued over the years with new rides and attractions added every season and various prizes for attention to excellence, quality and good value came in along the way.

The first chairman of the New Forest Tourism trade organisation which was formed in 1988, he helped form a partnership which has become a blueprint for similar links between the public and private sectors around the country.

Mr Mancey was born in Southampton, but lived in Whiteparish during the Second World War. His family bought Calmore Croft Farm near Totton, where his brother David and sister-in-law Gina still live. Mr Mancey and his wife Anne retired in 1995 and handed over full ownership of the business to Richard and Sara, who have maintained the success of the attraction and the steady increase in its visitor numbers.

He is survived by Anne, his wife of 45 years, son Richard, daughter-in-law Sara and their children James, Charlotte and Lawrence.

The funeral will be at Romsey Abbey on Monday at 11.30am followed by private cremation and any donations will go to Sargent Cancer Care for Children.