Glamping Business Issue 4-Glamping Show Preview by Glamping Business Magazine

l mping G BUSINESS

Issue 4 September 2016

Glamping Show Preview

Offaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Pitch Desperately Seeking Seclusion

Ivy Grange

Farm Yurts

Inspiration and Information for Glamping Operators

Hello & Welcome

Welcome to

l mping G BUSINESS

Cover photograph: With thanks to The Hobbit Box at Secret Meadows w: www.secretmeadows.co.uk Photography by Norman Leftly e: norman@thepartyphotos.net

Glamping Business is published by: Maggie Media Ltd 01423 263219 Registered Business: Unit 2, Wyevale Business Park, Wyevale Way, Hereford HR4 7BS Other Publications: Holiday Parks Management www.holidayparksmanagement.com Publishers: Maggie Media Ltd Nina Blanchard e: nina.blanch@maggiemedia.co.uk Editor: Steph Curtis-Raleigh t: +44 (0)7887 928819 e: steph@upgradepr.com Sales: Kathryn Kelly t: +44 (0) 7575 408580 e: kathrynkelly@maggiemedia.co.uk Nina Blanchard t: +44 (0) 7799 430327 e: nina.blanch@maggiemedia.co.uk Design: Dean Coulter Design on Tap www.designontap.co.uk www.glampingbusiness.com Other Events: The Glamping Show w: www.glampingshow.com e: dan.w@theglampingshow.com

There is so much excitement in the office surrounding this month’s Glamping Show. The event has grown massively since its successful debut last year and we have invited our exhibitors to share their news with you in this issue. We also bring you our first glampsite review from Ivy Grange Farm Yurts in Suffolk. I went with some of the team to enjoy a night under canvas in this beautiful location and to find out how the owners Kim and Nick started the business and what they have learned over their years of running it.

Finally, there is a selection of some of the speakers who are holding seminars at this year’s show. With over 60 to choose from there is bound to be a subject to suit every business. I hope to see you there!

Steph Glamping Business Editor

Contents 05 35 38

© Maggie Media Ltd. Glamping Business is published 4 times a year. No reproduction of any part of the magazine is permitted, nor storage in a retrieval system without prior consent of the publisher. No commercial exploitation is permitted. No warranty is implied in respect of any product or trader mentioned herewith. Prizes offered in competitions might be substituted with ones of similar value.

We also bring you an update from our novice glamping operators Phil and Avril who were inspired at last year’s Glamping Show to create a stunning wood-framed structure to rent out which they are calling Offa’s Pitch. They offer advice on the planning process and share the joy of finally opening for the first time.

Industry news and products

Accessible Glamping - a case study

Desperately Seeking

Seclusion - Offa’s Pitch

Lotus Belle explores the history of camping through to glamping

from planning to opening

Glamping Trends from Anytime

Preview of some of the seminar speakers at The Glamping Show

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T: 01257 453791 F: 01257 453780 E: ask@greenecoliving.co.uk W: www.greenecoliving.co.uk

INTRODUCING THE NEW CHALET POD WITH BUILTIN ENSUITE 4.8M X 3.0M New Chalet Pods (with ensuite) Kitchenette (optional)

! Built to last I5 year Guarantee ! Comprising of the highest Structural Insulated panels (SIPS) ! Sleeps a family of four comfortably ! Rental incomes of £65.00 upwards per night ! Unit comes fully built with en-suite and all Electrics ! Kitchenette (optional) Oven, 2 Rng Hob, Sink, FridgdFreezer

Green Eco Living specialises in eco friendly, energy ecient rooms and have designed a premium guest space. ! Bespoke Chalet Rooms start from standard 4.8m x 3.0m wlth en-suite included. ! SIPS Panel design (Structural Insulated Panel) Low energy lighting and UWC Double Glazed windows. ! Introduce a New Leisure Accommodation attached to your existing glamping pods. ! Individual sizes and lay-outs available to suit your needs ! Delivered and installed by quality professionals,working to achieve maximum customer satisfaction The new chalet pod rooms create premium guest space and are ideal for the leisure industry.

An eco-friendly investment opportunity for your business with a great return potential Benefits ! Relatively low investment with the potential for an excellent return. ! Planning Permissions are very favourable with Local Planning Authorities as they recognise that ecoPODs encourage sustainable tourism.

SUSTAINABLE BY DESIGN

BESPOKE CHALET ROOMS

Green Eco Living, who install across the UK can help you plan design your bespoke chalet pod rooms. or even a new style, bigger chalet pod that comes complete with kitchenette and en-suite facilities. As a leading supplier of outdoor rooms Green Eco Living has developed the most thermally efficient process in the UK through its unique SIPS Panel design (Structural Insulated Panel), an injected foam insulated 70mm thick wall section - equivalent to two layers of standard fibreglass loft insulation. Further insulation is fitted to the roof and floor space and under floor heating, low energy lighting and lockable doubleglazed windows and doors create a warm andinviting outdoor space.

COME & VISIT ONE OF OUR FANTASTIC CHALET POD’S ON STAND NUMBER OSA 1

"Your own private bathroom, right next to your tent or caravan" New from CampPlus, the Duo Semi-detached, it serves 2 campsite pitches. Each has it’s own en-suite shower room. What more could a pampered camper want! Your guests share the small building but that’s all they share. State of the art soundproofing and a floating floor ensure that your guests feel at ease in their own space. And each side has its own hot water and electrical supply. CampPlus units are very easy to install, they’re plug & play. Just connect them to water, electrics and sewerage and they’re ready to go. ! Happy customers ! Superb quality ! Excellent value for money ! Very short payback period. ! From £ 7600 / £ 3800 per pitch

www.theglampingshow.com

CampPlus by CPES Ltd www.campplus.co.uk info@campplus.co.uk Tel. 01790 753153

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Rooms with a View WWW.AQ UAS HEL L.UK Harry Singh is the UK distributor for Aquashell, a company that designs, manufactures and installs floating cabins, larger houses and platforms Aquashell is already very successful in France where its structures are used as bars and restaurants as well as custom accommodation to suit individual locations. They are often modern and yet sympathetic in design, blending into the landscape and allowing guests to enjoy being at one with nature. Incredibly, installation can take as little as 48 hours and power and waste can be mains connected from a distance of 80 metres from the shoreline or it can be self-contained. The only issue for owners is that of gaining the relevant planning permissions, as per any form of glamping structure. Harry believes that the possiblities for floating accommodation stretch beyond glamping. “From the very start, I felt this business was very innovative and exciting,” he says. “It is ecologically friendly and has tremendous potential, not only in tourism but it also has the potential to provide affordable homes. In the future, floating homes could even be placed on flood plain, utilizing land that normally has very little value and is unsuitable in every way for conventional housing.”

Naked Flame Introduces Glamping Pods to its Range

WWW.NAKEDTU BS.CO M Naked Flame are continually looking to add more hand-crafted products to their ever-growing list of "wow" factor Glamping solutions. These Glamping Pods can be used as accommodation or Saunas and are all hand-crafted in a choice of woods and in various sizes to suit customers’ needs. Crafted from the best Scandinavian sustainable timber, which can be matched perfectly to their range of Woodfired Hot Tubs and outdoor shower and changing rooms. Contact Naked Flame on 01484 766233 or see more at www.nakedtubs.com for natural Glamping solutions that don't have to cost the earth.

Walk this way for quality WWW.CO IRSTOR E.CO.UK Coirstore imports 100% natural, ecofriendly coir matting direct from the manufacturer and therefore can offer premium quality coir products at cheaper prices than most of its competitors. All products are unbleached and Bright/Natural/Golden in appearance, as well as being naturally fire retardant and resistant to moisture, moths, rot, bacteria and salt water. Ideal for Bell tents, Yurts and Tipis; the addition of half moon mats is proving to be extremely popular for the company. Constructed from 100% unbleached and natural Vycome yarns in a Panama weave, each half moon is hemmed and machine stitched. There is no latex backing so the mats can be laid either way up To offer customers even more choice Coirstore will soon be taking delivery of selected half moon diameters in 2 qualities (Anjengo/Vycome & Vycome/Vycome) and 2 different weaves; Panama or Herringbone. For marquees and bigger structures, they currently offer two types of matting; High quality Anjengo/Vycome yarns in Herringbone weave, and 100% Vycome in Panama weave. These mats are 2m wide, available in 12.2m and 20.1m lengths. Due to popular demand Coirstore will also be stocking 2m wide mats in 9m & 10m lengths for convenience. Apart from event flooring these mats are an ideal choice for walkways, wedding aisles or as an easy way to protect lawns. Coirstore provides free delivery on all orders within the UK mainland and delivers throughout the British Isles, Europe and further afield if required. They aim to dispatch orders within 24 hours or at the customer’s convenience.

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Glamping News

Look into the Future Rooms WWW.FUTUR ERO OM S.CO.UK

Exclusive Tents create the perfect synergy between living space and the environment, while still making sure that guests have all the comforts they can't live without. Bringing guests out of their element, yet making them feel right at home – an experience that everyone from all walks of life can appreciate. That is glamping.

Pods by Future Rooms is a family-run business that designs, builds and installs stunning and unique Pods, whether they be for Glamping, extending accommodation or activity space; their use is versatile. The company was created following the success of Future Rooms; a business offering an exciting range of garden rooms for work, leisure or domestic uses. This experience allowed the company to gain expertise in manufacturing a wide range of timber-framed buildings to high standards.

At first when people asked us, “What do you do for a living” the answer was simply, “We craft and sell the most awesome tents,” says the company’s Jordan Carranco. “But as the years went on we started noticing that our tents were becoming more than just tents to our customers, they were becoming their futures, their ideas, their business, their livelihood, their passion, and their dreams too. It was crazy!”

There are six stunning Pod models, which are the result of extensive research and first-hand experience with Future Rooms, and have been in the making for 5 years. The shell models include a range of features that make the Pod practical and efficient, and furthermore the models can be varied to include extra features such as a shower room, kitchenette or extended deck.

“ We won’t give away our “secret recipe” on how to make the world’s best luxury tents, but we will share with you what makes us so special. Other tent companies manufacture, make, or build tents. We craft tents. Crafting is something that goes beyond quality. What we do transcends into every stitch, every cut, every client, and every need. To make damn good tents it takes hard work and dedication. It can’t just be a job. It has to be a life’s passion. You have to care more about your product and your customer then your bottom line.

The Pods are available in a range of standard dimensions, as stated, but these can be adjusted to fit the available space.

No Roughing-it Required E XC LU SI V ET EN TS.CO M Exclusive Tents was created with the desire to bring even those who would never be caught dead "roughing it", to some of earth’s most exotic and untouched destinations. Along with their clients, the company has crafted some of the most unique: resorts, lodges, and guest houses ever to be seen.

“There were a lot of things we knew we would be doing when we started this company, but there were also a lot of things we couldn’t have guessed in our wildest dreams,” he adds. “Now with over 30-plus designs, having worked with clients such as Richard Branson (Owner of Kasbah Tamadot Resort), and being a part of one of the world’s only true floating lodges (4 Rivers Eco Lodge) we have discovered that raising the bar in what is possible is a specialty of ours. Get away from the familiar, try new things, and explore the world your way. “The World Is Our Canvas"

There are two types of cladding; wood or metrotile, and there is no differentiation in price between the two. The company also offers different finish styles of wood, doors, windows and lighting. Each Pod is built in the UK workshop premises and every one is hand made to order, making them bespoke and unique to your individual design. Depending on the access to the site, the Pods are either fully constructed and delivered ready built, or panels are constructed and then transported to the land for installation. Future Rooms will install the Pod to the area, connect it to the electricity supply and, if necessary, the water system, provided it is brought to the area where the pods will be located. The most effective form of installation for the Pods is for them to rest on six concrete panels; four in the corners and two in the middle. It is also possible to place wheels on the Pods at a small additional cost so they can be transported. The company is experienced at installing at properties with challenging access, and therefore they ensure that the Pods are custom built in our workshop to accommodate this. There is a free, no obligation site visit prior to any possible purchase in order to assess the area and determine what would be the most effective way of delivery.

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Fully Insulated “Tiny House Cabins” that ooze character and charm. Custom Built in Kit Form which can be delivered throughout the UK Comes in three standard sizes, with a range of add-ons and extras, Bespoke sizes possible.

Prices from £7,950

www.tinyhousecabins.co.uk/glamping.html

Glamping News

Keeping Glampers Dry with Nizam WWW. NI Z A MT E NTS.CO M H. Nizam & Sons bring five generations of experience and knowledge of manufacturing canvas fabrics and tents for various applications. The company has combined its accumulated experience with innovation today in textile manufacturing to produce tents that exceed customers' expectations. From lightweight to heavy robust canvas, Nizam weaves tents for various applications. The canvas tent fabrics have UV, antimildew and waterproofing agents saturated throughout the canvas before manufacturing so even after wear and tear the tents continue to provide a waterproof barrier. Nizam achieves a high value of hydrostatic water head creating a waterproof canvas that minimizes condensation build-up. The structure of cotton allows water vapour molecules to pass through, at the same time providing a barrier to water droplets. The company also offers flame-retardant finishes meeting British, German and USA outdoor camping standards. However, with the addition of seams, zips and other desirable features a recreational Glamping Tent cannot be as waterproof as a car, house or other solid structures. Here are some common examples of how water can enter a camping/glamping tent, and corrective actions and notes to consider:

Condensation

When warm moist air meets cooler air, condensation of water gas into water liquid occurs. The tent walls and roof form an impermeable layer between the inside and outside climatic conditions. The moisture inside the tent condenses on the canvas fabric and water droplets are formed. Sometimes these water droplets build up

to appear as though the fabric is leaking when in fact the cause is condensation. Condensation can be reduced if the tent is well ventilated to reduce the build up of warm moist air on the ceiling.

Zips

Utmost care is taken in during design to cover zips with storm flaps or position them where water will not flow. At times, winddriven rain can force water under the flaps and through the zips. To minimize this, ensure all doors and windows are closed with flaps securely covering the zip wherever possible.

Floor

If the ground is wet or water pools exist under the floor, then the downward pressure of standing or kneeling on the floor can draw water through minute wear holes in the floor of the fabric or where there are joints in the floor fabric. To prevent this, do not set the tent up in hollows and make sure water drains away from the tent site.

Structural Integrity

A well set-up tent on level ground is structurally strong and the most waterproof. During periods of prolonged rain and wind it may be necessary to tighten and adjust the frame, pegs and guy ropes as well as making sure any ground water is flowing away from the camp site. A sagging roof or awning weakens the tent structure and could allow water to pond on the roof causing leakage, structural damage and fabric tears.

Bespoke Shepherd Huts from Wiltshire WWW.AS HTO N SH E PH ER DH UTS.CO.UK In a small village in the North of Wiltshire, a small group of dedicated craftsmen take pride in recreating the traditional Shepherd Hut with a modern, contemporary twist. Ashton Shepherd Huts are beautifully made and fitted throughout to the highest quality. Handcrafted doors, oak steps and double glazed windows are standard in all the Shepherd Huts. Woodburners can be installed if required to make the Shepherd Hut warm and cosy. Stunning kitchen and bathroom facilities, dining and bed choices can be chosen to satisfy personal requirements. Ashton Shepherd Huts offer eco-friendly, locally sourced materials where possible to create stunning traditional Shepherd Huts Shepherd Huts can be placed in a variety of locations, if accessibility is an issue, the company will rise to meet the challenge! There are four sizes of Shepherd Hut ie The Ashton 7'x12',

The Hampton '7x14, The Hannington 7'x16' and more recently the company has created The Blunsdon 7'x18'. This largest Shepherd Hut is luxurious and spacious offering a shower room with toilet and wash basin, a dedicated kitchen area and a separate bedroom. All of the Shepherd Huts are bespoke, depending on the personal requirements of the customer. The Shepherd Huts are delivered furnished to a very high standard and the very best quality or , if preferred, ready for the customer to furnish themselves.

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Eco-friendly Waste Solutions WWW.T H ES EPTI CTA N KSTO RE .CO.UK With many years' experience, UK-based, family firm The Septic Tank Store offers a wealth of experience in planning, supplying and installing sewage systems. Using the newest eco-friendly products where possible, they take foul effluent put it through a natural process to leave water with reduced pollutant levels for discharge to the appropriate point. Each and every client has a different requirement and every solution is carefully planned to optimise capacity and minimise ongoing running costs hence the use of eco-friendly compressors. The TSTS team can design your installation, supply the units and complete the installation. They specialise in providing the most practical system at the most competitive price. From initial concept to completed works, TSTS provide practical solutions, use the best quality units, and employ reliable, professional staff to complete the installation. The Eco-friendly systems are manufactured by some of the most reliable manufacturers in the industry including Bio-Pure, Matrix & Graf. For those needing a solution for cassette toilets, an Elsan tank system is required. Elsan tanks are strong enough to cope with the toxicity of the chemicals. They are designed to reduce odours and minimise bacteria. For those needing a system to help clean up discharge, then TSTS will be happy to help plan the position for a reed bed to do just that. For a caravan site requiring an Elsan tank for five caravans, or a 1000-person system for a large commercial site, the team has the practical experience help with a cost-effective solution. TSTS can also supply a full range of drainage pipes and fittings and a range of soak away tunnels.

www.theglampingshow.com

Glamping News

From Tiny House to Cozy Cottage WWW.T I NY HO USE CA BI N S.CO.U K Tiny House UK was formed in 2012, initially manufacturing various bespoke Tiny House-On Wheels designs, which are not only compact but also surprisingly spacious inside. The old English styles added to their individual charm by introducing cedar-tiled roofs, exposed beams and rustic timbers. All the tiny houses are built as all year-round cabins that are warm and cozy. Tiny House uses the same materials as you would expect to see being used to build a loft conversion on a residential house and their lifespan is expected to last the same. “Based on the same designs with the unique upper sleeping loft, our customers wanted the designs larger and not particularly built on a mobile chassis,” says the company’s Mark Burton. This is how the Cozy Cottage range came about hence the company name Tiny House Cabins. With sizes up to three times the size of a tiny house, the static cabins are able to have two double loft areas, which can sleep more people and more internal space for many more features such as a large shower room, kitchen and room for a proper dining area. Due to the interest from all over the UK, Tiny House now builds them in kit form, which can be delivered via lorry, and assembled using local traders, giving the customer flexibility with chosen features and the internal layout.

Dream Safari Tents WWW. SAFA RI TEN TS .N ET If you want to get into glamping, come and talk to Clear Sky – one of the UK's leading suppliers of high quality, exclusively designed Safari tents, at prices that make setting up or extending your glamping business a profitable decision. With a choice of styles, sizes, colours and frames starting from only £2990 +vat, and expertise gleaned from running their own glamping site, Clear Sky can help turn your glamping dream into a reality. Call 0845 299 6484 for more information or to book a free consultation.

The Cool Caravan WWW.DUB- BOX.CO M Dub Box was born out of necessity. With an ever-growing family who loved camping and the great outdoors, Matt Clay needed a more comfortable upgrade from a tent, but a cooler option than a white caravan. Affordable solutions just weren’t available. So with an in-depth knowledge of trailer manufacturing, a background of architectural metal work and a lifetime’s fixation with campers, he set to work designing his ultimate glamping trailer. It had to be lightweight and be able to stand up to trailer/caravan standards and conformities, but most importantly it would need to look cool. Taking inspiration from American classic caravans and vintage campers, two back ends of front-end crashes were adapted and modified and formed into a mould, from which a fibreglass shell was produced. Bonded to a galvanized box section and fitted on BPW braked T section chassis, together with pressed corner steadies Dub Box was really coming to life. Insulation with the British climate would be imperative, as well as finding the right repro fixtures and fittings that would ensure the aesthetics would be spot on. The result of months of planning and hard work has acuminated in a stunning glamping trailer that is now being manufactured to order. “The attention we received when going camping and to events was phenomenal, people would stop us in petrol stations, driving through town, even driving down the motorway to take photographs. It seemed like a natural progression to start building them for other people,” says Matt, and we can see why. Not only are they lightweight (590kg up to 1050kg), can be towed by the majority of vehicles and have full type approval, but these fabulous campers are tailored to your specification and can be ordered in your choice of external and internal colours, customers choose their own upholstery, kitchen cupboards, worktops, flooring and even blinds from a chic, contemporary range of materials. Dub Box is the two or four berth trailer that really puts the glam into glamping and cool back into caravanning. It has the real wow factor and gives a unique camping experience for all.

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Mini Safari – Maxi Style WWW. AL BI ON CA N VAS.CO.UK For festivals and pop-up hotels, glamping equipment and signage specialist, Boldscan, has launched The Kora, part of its Albion Canvas range. This easy-build, mini version of the classic safari tent sleeps two and comes in a choice of muted colours, ranging from light sand to olive. There is a special launch price of £1,699 +vat (normal price £1,985), valid until 1st September 2016, plus discounts for multiple orders. The high quality tent is manufactured in Boldscan’s Somerset factory from heavy duty 415gsm polycotton canvas, which is fire retardant and water and mildew resistant. The price includes a 650gsm PVC walled ground sheet and sectioned timber poles. The inner tent is 4m x 3m with a wall height of 90cm and a central ridge height of 2.4m, so plenty of room for a double bed and space to spare. Outside the covered porch area (3m wide x 1.3m deep) is the best seat in the house for festival goers.

Introducing the Wyoming WWW.C E DARTR E E .CO M Cedartree's expertise in the design and construction of quality, good-looking buildings for gardens and schools and hotels, has been extended very substantially with the introduction of their range of "Faraway" Lodges, designed especially for glamping locations. Cedartree’s lodges have tremendous character, are quirky and different but are of the highest quality with a lifespan of at least 30 years. They are also very well insulated with tremendous warmth retention, and are easy to connect up to hot water, heating systems, wifi and other modern conveniences. Meanwhile, with the addition of side verandas and a large covered terrace, they offer the last word in outdoor living, alfresco dining, and the joys of a hot tub! Great as ancillary accommodation for the home owner, the Faraway Lodge comes into its own as a tremendous business opportunity for glamping parks, holiday parks, hotels, wedding venues, farm developments, stately homes, golf clubs, in fact anyone seeking an exceptional financial return on a really good-looking long-term asset. The Glamping Show 2016 sees the launch of the new Cedarhut range called “The Wyoming” a fabulous new step forward in outdoor leisure.

Glamping News

Insulated Chalet Pods WWW.GR EE NECOLI VING.CO.U K Green Eco Living’s Chalet Pods are unique in that they are fully insulated as well as being double glazed, contain full en-suite not a wet room and with the option of a kitchenette. You can also include wardrobe space if you wish. The Chalet Units come in a number of different sizes and layouts which can always be tweaked to suit individual requirements. Green Eco Living has developed the most thermally friendly, efficient Chalet Pod on the market in the UK. Not only are the walls insulated, but also the ceiling and floor. Based in Lancashire, Green Eco Living is a leading provider of Chalet and Camping Pods who also offer Boutique Hotel Rooms and Garden Rooms for the every space. These are built on site so can be used when access is an issue.

Classic Glamping WWW.CLASSI CG LAMPIN G.CO.U K If you are thinking of setting up a glamping site, Classic Glamping is here to help. Are you wondering whether a yurt is better than a safari tent, or what is the precise difference between a ModBox and a pod? Do you want expert advice on how to build, decorate and equip your accommodation? Are you in need of a helping hand with advertising, marketing and dealing with guests? And would you like to know quickly if you can get a return on your investment? Well, the team at Classic Glamping knows the answers. From visiting an empty, muddy field in the middle of winter to handling your bookings 24/7, they will be there to guide you through the entire process from start to finish. Classic Glamping are the experts based in the West Country. Their older sibling, Classic Cottages, was set up in far West Cornwall in 1977 by Tony and Clare Tregoning with the aim of making self-catering holidays more of a pleasure. Classic Cottages has been online for a very long time, and Classic Glamping is able to take full advantage of its older sibling’s superb knowledge of what makes the internet tick.

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Glamping News

A Tent for Every Purpose WWW.L ES HAD ETE NT.COM Hangzhou Leshade Outdoors Co. Limited has an extensive range of beautiful canvas bell tents, teepees and safari tents. Their range of tents are designed and manufactured to withstand the rigours of camping in the UK. Made from the highest quality materials, the tents are constructed from a range of different weights of canvas, PVC groundsheets, sturdy frames and accessories for all budgets. It is increasingly important to give your customers something original or unique and the company can customize the tent to give customers a more traditional experience with wooden poles, frames and pegs. The bespoke design service allows you to create a tent that is unique to your business. Festival glamping hire businesses have a different challenge – pitching and striking large numbers of tents in often-difficult weather conditions. Hangzhou Leshade can offer a more lightweight highly durable option to help speed up the

operation. More permanent sites, such as glamping holiday sites, with a regular turnover of customers may wish to use heavier duty canvas and accessories to maximize revenue by minimizing minor repairs between hires. A quality canvas tent will last for many years and the company can supply a range of spare parts to the original specification to ensure that your investment is maximized. This is the first time the company will be present at a UK exhibition so make sure to check them out at The Glamping Show.

Sleep Easy with Mattressman

Just Hanging Around

WWW. M ATT R E SS MAN .CO.U K

WWW.HOOKEDONGLAMPING.CO.UK

If your business relies on the comfort of your customers and you need mattresses for your business, look no further than the Mattressman Trade department! The rapidly expanding Mattressman team provides high-quality mattresses, bed frames and divans to glamping sites, hotels, holiday homes, leisure parks, landlords and more across the country. All mattresses meet Source 5 or Source 7 flammability standard, and with a huge variety of types and sizes available, there’s sure to be something to suit your needs.

Hooked On Glamping hand crafts unique glamping accessories specifically orientated to the Bell Tent and Glamping market. The Glamp Clamp™ hooks, hangers and selfsupporting tables (circular, offset oval, and rectangular designs) fit around pole sizes from 25-50mm diameter and can be adjusted to any height.

Popular mattresses in Mattressman’s trade range include the Hotel Four Pocket, a pocket sprung mattress with luxurious natural fillings and a Medium-Firm tension. Ideal for easing back pain and preventing the buildup of uncomfortable pressure points, pocket springs provide much better support than open coil mattresses, as they respond individually to pressure, allowing them to mould to the body and the natural curve of the spine. Pocket sprung mattresses are also ideal for couples, as the individual movement of the springs means minimal disturbance between partners and a better night’s sleep. The Mattressman trade department supplies mattresses in all standard sizes from small single up to super king size, but can also offer custom size mattresses, with sizes up to 7ft by 7ft. King and super king size mattresses are available as versatile zip-and-links, too. You can also get a great range of stylish bed frames, or buy your mattresses as a bundle with a quality customisable divan base. As part of their expansion, the Mattressman trade department can now come to you. They travel all over the country, visiting customers and potential future customers to tell them more about Mattressman’s services and let them test out some of the trade department’s best-selling mattresses! By visiting businesses in person, the Mattressman trade team aim to further establish sound and longlasting relationships with their clients. Mattressman offers free delivery to most areas of the UK on all orders over £45, whether you want one mattress or 100, and if you place your order before 4pm, you’ll get it the next working day – perfect if you need to replace a mattress in a hurry. If you want to find out more or to get the best deals, give the friendly Trade sales team a call on 0800 5677625.

All the products are assembled around the pole after the tent is pitched, and are flat packed for ease of transport. Chandeliers, lanterns, double sided mirrors and other unique accessories, complement the range of fully Glamped and Glamp Yourself Table ranges. Hooked On Glamping specialises in glamping decor as individual as you are. A range of products will be available for purchase on stand 101 at the Glamping Show.

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We develop, manufacture and hand-craft, unique glamping accessories specifically orientated to the Bell Tent and Glamping market. Self Supporting Pole Tables:

*Glamp ClampTM Hooks and Hangers

Circular, Offset Rectangular/ Oval/Square

Chandeliers, Lanterns

Fully Glamped/Glamp Yourself Table Options

Tangls light storage Double Sided Mirror Around the pole cupcake Glampstand

Table bracket includes 3 hooks

Guy rope markers

Made in UK *Patent pending The Glamp Clamp™ hooks, hangers and self supporting table fit pole sizes from 25-50mm diameter and can be adjusted to any height. All our products are assembled around the pole after the tent is pitched, and packed for ease of transport. We specialise in making your glamping decor as individual as you.

A PLACE TO STAY Design

Build

Install

Future Rooms is proud to offer a range of quality Pods that are versatile, affordable and are perfect to generate new income for glamping, functions and event businesses.

www.hookedonglamping.co.uk info@hookedonglamping.co.uk Christine Green—Telephone: 07902420515

Specialists in Diversification into Glamping Enterprises Advice in all aspects: ! Securing Planning Permission ! Business Rates Negotiations ! Valuations for Funding ! Grant Aid Visit us at the Glamping Show at stand 190 on 22nd-24th September and we are presenting on “Securing Planning Permission and minimising Business Rates liability”.

By Future Rooms Tel: 01536 524808

www.theglampingshow.com

info@daviesandco.co.uk

01452 501455

www.daviesandco.co.uk

www.podsbyfuturerooms.co.uk

Glamping News

Securing Planning Permission for Glamping WWW.DAV IESAN DCO.CO.UK Landowners and rural businesses need to work on the basis that planning permission will be required before they can develop a Glamping site. There are one or two exceptions to the normal rules, which generally are attached to an Exception Certificated Site or the severe operational durations that attend the use of a 28-day rule under the General Permitted Development Order (DPDO) 2015. The principle documents to be aware of; The National Planning Policy Framework 2012, The Local Development Plan, The Tourism Strategy (local), any National designation (Area of Outstanding National Beauty (AONB), Greenbelts, etc.). The key issue on many occasions is to decide whether the temporary glamping structure constitutes “development” in which case planning permission is definitely required.

road to which the project accesses must be considered capable of taking additional 5% traffic. Regarding “Material Changes in Use of Land” even where the structure could be classified as “temporary” planning permission could be needed, a good example of this could be a very large marquee(s) for corporate private parties which have a major impact on the “primary use” of the land. Key parameters:

Whether or not development has occurred in accordance with building and engineering operations will depend very much upon the key factors; size, permanence, and physical attachment to the ground.

Economic – how many jobs can be created in the localised area from your Glamping project? Environment – how to maximise use of public footpaths, bridleways, etc. and the economic environment for the tourism development whilst maintaining regard for the protection of that natural environment, and this is specifically applicable to AONB, Greenbelts, National Parks, etc. Social Cohesion – what benefits will your project bring to the localised area e.g. increased visitors to the local shop, Public House, local garage, and other small businesses, along with businesses that your project will eventually utilise?

However, please bear in mind that any significant ground preparation works for a temporary structure could in themselves constitute a building or engineering operations requiring planning permission.

In securing planning permission, it is vital to obtain the support of local people including the Parish Council and to involve them in the initial discussions following the Government’s “localism agenda”.

Highways – being conservative with the Glamping operation in relation to traffic movement, public safety is essential, the main

For more information contact Davies & Co Chartered Surveyors www.daviesandco.co.uk

Development can be either a building or an engineering operation or a material change in the use of the land. However, in some cases, referred to above, in which planning permission is required, it is deemed already to have been granted under the GPDO 2015 known as “Permitted Development”.

Topstak Outdoor Living WWW.TOPSTAK.CO.UK Topstak is a family business backed by over 40 years’ experience in the industry and well known for its professional and dedicated service providing products to the trade and stove shops. These products include The Egg - a unique BBQ with unmatched capabilities that surpass all other conventional cookers combined. It is a smoker, a grill and an oven and can cook any food all year round. Endorsed by Heston Blumenthal, Rick Stein, Raymond Blanc, Claude Bossi to name but a few and available in 5 sizes from the MiniMax up to the XX-Large. The Ozpig is also great when entertaining outdoors. Relax and enjoy the warmth of an open fire in safety while you boil the billy and cook up a feast.

Another favourite is the TubTub Wood Fired Hot Tub. Enjoy the outdoors with the luxury design TubTub. With a wood burning fire, the TubTub is easy and quick to warm to 38 degrees. By the conscious choice of material and design the Tub-Tub can be used anywhere. The Tub-Tub accommodates four adults. Finally, the eye-catching Tonwerk T-EYE wood-burning stove has many innovative features and the new eco series has a patented automatic air supply making it ideally suited for well insulated or low energy housing. Visit Topstak on stand 122

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Glamping News

Eco Solar Huts for Remote Locations WWW.B L AC KDOWN SHE PH ERDHUTS.CO.UK With glamping accommodation and luxury garden retreats on the rise, Blackdown Shepherd Huts are launching their Eco Solar Huts in response to customer requests for environmentally friendly huts. Will Vickery, who owns Blackdown Shepherd Huts, says: “We’ve had an increase in demand for huts that customers want situated in remote, unspoiled locations, Alongside this, people want to feel good about having a low impact on the environment. We’ve also had requests for huts to be located where it is not possible or feasible to run mains power, so we’ve come up with a solution with our Eco Solar Huts.” The Blackdown Eco Solar Huts allow customers to be in the middle of a field and still have all the ‘glamping’ creature comforts of the regular Blackdown Turnkey Shepherd Hut, e.g. lights on, charging phone etc. Will explains how the huts function: “Our huts work by harvesting the power of the sun. This eco-friendly method means that everything in the hut is powered without any mains electricity. It even has a 12v fridge running off the solar. Our huts have been designed to use as minimal power as possible so there will still be power even on grey days.”

The Eco Solar hut is wired for 12V, so it has USB sockets which will delight those who still want to stay connected. “There is an inverter that steps up the 12v to 240v to run the gas hot water boiler fan, ignition and the gas hob ignition. Inverters themselves use a small amount of energy when on. To this end, we have mounted a little remote ‘light’ switch so the inverter only needs to be flicked on when the water or hob is needed to help people reduce the power being used.” The Eco Solar huts can be powered with either semi-flexible Mono-crystalline solar panels curved over the roof or with rigid ground mounted panels, Wills says: “This can be useful if the hut is located in a shady spot, such as a wood, as the panels can be mounted a little distance away to get the full sun.” Blackdown Eco Solar huts start at £18,500 with additional costs for solar lighting packs. More information about the Blackdown Huts and the extras available for residential and commercial solutions can be found at www.blackdownshepherdhuts.co.uk

Customer Ser vice is their Bond WWW. BO N DFA B R IC AT IO N S.CO.UK Bond Safari Tents provides unforgettable luxury camping accommodation, ideally suited to rural settings. The company also offers the capabilities to create bespoke structures to the client’s own specifications where required. The Safari Tents are available in three sizes and all of the structures are made at Bond’s factory in Gloucestershire with the highest quality performance materials, including impermeable PVC roofs and waterproof, rot-resistant and breathable canvas walls and of course hidden galvanised steel frames, which create one of the most robust structures in the industry. Bond is a leading and trusted manufacturer in the UK with over 28 years of experience in the design and manufacture of bespoke marquees and glamping structures. The company works closely with customers to provide high quality products and a personal service. “Right from the beginning Bond were different from other tent suppliers in the marketplace. They insisted on a site visit very early on in the process,” said Kate Tregoning of Brownscombe Luxury Glamping in Devon. ”They were competitive on price but what made them stand out was the customer service changes were made to their basic design to suit my site, the team came to put them up over two visits and they coped with the rain and long hours with good humour. The feedback on the finished product has been very positive and I would highly recommend them.”

Keeping Glamping Clean and Green WWW.TIKSPAC.CO.U K ` The TiksPac concept is an environmental idea whereby stations for the free distribution of dog waste bags are placed at selected locations, such as footpaths, parks, recreation grounds and other public areas. There are two different models: CSR is for the local authorities, and RENT is for property owners, social landlords, caravan and camping grounds, marinas and hotels. The TiksPac station is made from high quality annealed steel, and the bags are 100% biodegradable. TiksPac has approximately 7000 stations placed in Scandinavia and England. Visit TiksPac on Stand 145 at The Glamping Show to discuss your requirements.

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Dimpsey’s Private Festival WWW.D I MPS E Y.CO.UK Dimpsey Glamping in Somerset has designed an alternative to the queues, crowds and mud at Glastonbury with its own private festival at the five-star shepherd's hut glamping retreat near the foot of the Blackdown Hills. Emma Warren, who owns the luxury retreat says: “Dimpsey is getting her festival vibe on with unique little touches to make things extra special for glamping break guests over the summer. We've gone for interior festival design, with luxury cushions, throw and curtains from the lovely local ladies at Winser and Hill curtains. These are bespoke designs incorporating vintage fabrics. “From listening to your own tunes, having some hot tub time, eating amazing local food, to relaxing around the fire pit while stargazing at the stunning Blackdown Hills skies and toasting marshmallows, we've got it all sorted. And the little things make all the difference with a glamping experience. There'll be no getting cold whilst stargazing, since you'll have your very own festival blanket, handmade by Caroline Le Brun from shirt scraps and incorporating secret pockets for your phone and valuables.” Emma has been keen to create an intimate festival feeling where people can create their own perfect vibe both inside and outside the shepherd's hut. She says: “No festival would be complete without outdoor cooked food and we've got that covered with an outdoor oven from the Garden Oven Company. Think slow cooked beef from the farm, chargrilled vegetables, pizza; the list of culinary delights goes on. Or to perfect luxury glamping we can deliver you a recipe basket of ingredients and you can try new recipes out at in the hut. I'll also be providing a festival picnic hamper for those who want to take it easy.” Dimpsey's five-star glamping also boasts a wood-fired Hikki hottub for a post-festival relaxation. Emma says: “This is the ultimate luxury glamping festival accessory this summer and you'll have your very own at the Dimpsey Shepherd's Hut.” Dimpsey's festival of music comes courtesy of a portable Crosley record player and some vinyls. Emma adds: “We want people to feel comfortable getting their groove on at Dimpsey inside or outside the hut. People can bring their own records to play their favourite tunes, or they can find us on Spotify at Dimpsey_Glamping and listen to our playlists.” Dimpsey shepherd's hut is designed and kitted out to feel like a luxury hotel. The hut is 18 feet long and contains a double bed, seating, kitchen area and a bathroom with shower and flushing toilet. Visitors can stay for £125 per night for two adults and this includes logs for the wood burner and the fire pit, a welcome tea tray and eggs, bacon, butter, milk and bread for a hearty first morning breakfast.

Glamping News

Vamp up your Glampsite Showers WWW. HO RNE .CO.UK Since 1909, Horne has been designing and manufacturing specialist thermostatic valves and showers that deliver safe and comfortable warm water for handwashing, bathing and showering into a variety of specialist markets including the growing holiday park and glamping sectors. A selection of shower panels from Horne’s extensive range can be evaluated at the Glamping Show in 2016. DDA/Equalities Act compliant showers will be of interest for ‘inclusive’ and ‘accessible’ sites whilst timed-flow-control (TFC) showers, such as the Duo Sport shower column, should be of interest for the environmentally conscious operator. Horne pre-plumbed showers are specifically designed for a maximised lifespan – they are strongly robust and resistant to vandalism. Installation and operation is particularly easy, while simple maintenance procedures and lowcost spare parts ensure optimal performance and long service. The Duo Sport shower column is particularly well suited to camping and glamping sites; its striking and clever design offers enhanced functionality as well as strong aesthetic and, perhaps, quirky appeal. Made from a number of complementing materials, for durability and colour characteristics, the Duo is truly unique. To match the interior design, choose from 4 colourways for the actuator paddle and spray plate: aquamarine, black, grey and yellow. Water and energy efficient, all Horne showers are listed as ‘Efficient Showers’ on the Water Technology List, which means they are eligible for Enhanced Capital or First Year Allowances. As an income or corporation tax payer, any investment in efficient showers can be used to offset your taxable business profits. This can equate to an additional saving of up to 30% off the shower purchase price. Join Great Langdale National Trust Campsite, New Pines Holiday Park, Stubcroft Farm campsite, Whitemead Forest Park and many others with a vibrant Duo revamp for next season. First stop Stand 90 (indoors) at The Glamping Show!

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CampPlus joins forces with CPES Ltd WWW.C AM P PLUS.CO.UK WWW.C P ES .CO.UK CampPlus, Dutch manufacturers of ensuite campsite pods, will be represented in the UK exclusively by CPES, Caravan Park Electrical Services Ltd. Ted Waring, director of CPES said: “I first came across the CampPlus units when we were contracted to install them at Sand-le-Mere and Trevella Holiday Parks. I was impressed by the quality of the pods and I think that the concept of en-suite camping has a great future in the UK. We have started to broaden our services with the introduction of the CamperClean unit. CampPlus en-suite pods are a logical next step.” Erik Verwaaijen of CampPlus added: “We are very happy with CPES as our UK distributor. They are an innovative company with an excellent reputation in the UK leisure industry.” CPES will be exhibiting the latest CampPlus model, the Duo at the Lawns Show, The Glamping Show and the Holiday Park & Resort Show.

Experience a new kind of camping! WWW. AD RI A-MO B I L EH OM E.CO M The idea of glamping is all about the experience, the comfort and the adventure plus those extra special touches. It’s a way to experience the splendour of the outdoors without forgoing the creature comforts. Adria is already a leading manufacturer of caravans, motorhomes and mobile homes, with an excellent reputation and years of experience. Adria have recognised that Glamping has become a huge part of the camping industry, and has expanded its range with the introduction of luxury boutique tents. Adria’s Boutique and Safari tents are intelligently designed to provide glamour plus the peace of mind of Adria’s standards of build quality and durability. With an unique interior design, glamour comes as standard. The stunning tents offer designated bedrooms with beautiful features such as king size beds complimented by hotel style bathrooms with powerful showers. The comfortable open-plan lounges boast stylish and contemporary sofas, and the kitchen and dining rooms are both equipped with high quality accessories and modern fixtures and fittings. Available in a selection of sizes and various shapes, you can select a series of specification levels of Safari tents or upgrade to Boutique tents with additional features including air conditioning and an outside terrace complete with hot tub give you those luxury finishing touches for the perfect getaway.

Glamping News

Outstanding Innovations WWW.SAFAR ITENTS .CO.UK Outstanding has been supplying camp and glampsites across the world for the past seven years, offering them tents that set them apart from the competition. Recently the company has developed its new Lodge tent, which is a sturdy model with an optional first floor, offering the ultimate example of glamping. In addition, the wooden frames of all the Outstanding Tents models have been improved. Previously, the tent frames were produced with 80mm round wooden frames. Last year, Outstanding decided to create a new construction calculation and now only produces 100mm round wooden frames – without increasing any costs. This new construction guarantees that every tent can withstand at the very least a gale force 8 and a 10centimetre snow load. It has made a very strong tent even stronger. In addition, the new end couplings and roof tensioning makes the Outstanding tent more durable. The ratchets in the end couplings, which are installed in the wooden frame, can come loose after a certain period of time. Consequently, the ends of the pinewood trusses might tear eventually due to weather conditions. To prevent this from happening, Outstanding developed new end couplings. These are especially designed to secure the ratchet even more securely and will prevent it from coming loose over the years. Moreover, Outstanding developed the roof tensioning, as the most roof tensioning methods nowadays are not a good solution for the long term. Since last year, Outstanding can tension any roof with a pole sleeve. Another benefit of an Outstanding tent is that the inner tent is delivered in parts. The basic inner tent is 5x5 metres. Outstanding can expand this basic inner tent by zipping one (or more) compartment(s) of two metres in the inner tent. This makes it easy to expand the inner tent to any size required. Another advantage of this is that should the tent become damaged, Outstanding only has to replace the damaged part and not the entire tent. Consequently, the costs of replacement will be low. Outstanding also supplies hight quality furniture to go in the tents. This is made of scaffold wood and is spray painted in four optional colours. The scaffold wood is dried back till 17% humidity to prevent it from shrinking and the resin outlet is decreased by this adaption. An Outstanding tent is the equivalent of a relaxing adventure. Enjoying glamping, that what it’s all about. That is why this company calls itself: ‘Outstanding, the new way of camping’.

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0845 601 1099

Cedartreeâ&#x20AC;Ś making the best of nature. Cedarhuts and Cedarcabinsâ&#x20AC;Ś. Glamping at its best.

www.cedartreeuk.com

Units 7&8 Bates Industrial Estate, Wycombe Road, Stokenchurch, High Wycombe HP14 3PD

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A Strapping Storage Solution WWW. P LAST ICB OXSHO P.CO.UK PlasticBoxShop has created a tough hands-free box which is great for festivals, camping and sports events. The box, which comes with a strap, is ideal for the greatoutdoors and is already selling fast. The core of the festival box is the super-tough 62-litre Wham BamBox, made from a new and ‘virtually indestructible' plastic and with a tight-fitting snap-on lid. Wham has added a wide, strong strap with shoulder pad, attached to strong brackets which are factory-fitted to the box. Designed to be extremely durable, the Wham BamBox is strength tested to 400kg, so campers and festival-goers can not only carry their kit easily to site, they can sit down on the box when they get there. Its 62-litre capacity means it will swallow up a good range of essential kit, and it can all be carried over the shoulder. For more details of PlasticBoxShop's new super-tough festival box with carrying strap, plus the thousands of other boxes it sells, visit: www.plasticboxshop.co.uk

Maintenance Free Luxury WWW.TH ELO GPO D.CO.UK Log Pod Innovations Ltd a sister company of The Log Pod Ltd is pleased to announce the launch of the all-new unique and innovative Pure Pod. The Pure Pod is manufactured from a co-extruded substrate, 100% recyclable after its extensive life cycle. It is 100% waterproof, UV resistant and fire rated B1. Graphics can be applied using today’s modern printing methods i.e. flatbed digitally printed, vinyl wrapped or simple use draped banners for ease. Real stone paint can be sprayed onto the entire structure in a range of colours, allowing the pod to blend into any environment. The Pure Pod offers zero maintenance; simply wash, hose or jet wash. Sure Heat, the state of the art Nano technology infrared heating system from Log Pod can be installed (under the floor panels) as an optional extra. The Pure Pod offers all year round accommodation, keeping guests cool in summer and warm in the winter.

Glamping News

Join the Tribe WWW.WIGWAMH O LIDAYS .CO M National glamping accommodation provider Wigwam® Holidays has helped spearhead the ‘glamorous camping’ revolution here in the UK since 1994. And with more than 70 sites across the British Isles, the company continues to provide excellent opportunities for prospective glamping business owners. Wigwam sites are located in many different terrains, from remote, romantic islands to rugged, spectacular coasts, and from busy working farms to English vineyards. The cabins, constructed in Scotland from sustainable timber, are fully insulated, heated, with double-glazed windows, a lockable front door and lighting - and that’s just for starters! With its excellent reputation, Wigwam® Holidays could be the perfect choice for those who don’t want to pitch a tent, yet still want to enjoy a great holiday in the great outdoors. With support from the start, Wigwam® Holidays will create, deliver and promote in line with your business plan. As Wigwam® Holidays has grown, so has the choice of cabins. The portfolio includes: Wee Brave (sleeping three persons); Big Chief (sleeping up to five persons); Running Water (sleeping four people with a en-suite shower and toilet); and the Running Water Deluxe (sleeping four people, including a shower, toilet, kitchenette and dining area). Wigwam cabins can provide year-round income at an affordable price for your guests. And whether it’s a solo traveller, a couple or a multi-generational family, Wigwams are ideal! The company will be present at this year’s Glamping Show where their experts will be on hand to help you make your dream come true, providing business plan support, asset finance, assistance with planning, IT development, website help and much more on an as-needed basis. So if you have a dream of running your own business, which has flexibility and an ability to fit into your lifestyle, together with excellent initial and on-going support, think Wigwam®.

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www.lunevalleypods.co.uk Takes camping to a new level of comfort and relaxation. Makes camping practical and enjoyable all year round! " Ideal for extra accommodation for your business or home " Insulated " Electric pack fitted " Delivered to you Is ‘Glamping’ or ‘Camping Pods’ the way forward for your business or home? All pods can be designed, sized and priced to meet your individual needs. Want to know more? Call us on

01524 782600

Sam 07887 852535

Pat 07973 370083

Email: info@lvtb.co.uk

www.theglampingshow.com

Get on the Wagon WWW.W IL DWO OD -DES IG N.O R G Wildwood-design was formed in 2008 as a business specialising in the restoration and design of traditional horse drawn vehicles. Soon after, the company began production of a traditional horsedrawn bowtop wagon mounted on a caravan chassis and towable by a car. This was named the "Twagon" (towable wagon). Since then Wildwood has built numerous bowtop twagons all to various internal designs, depending on customers’ requirements. As a fully bespoke product it means that clients can put their own personality into the design, through their choose of colours and fabrics. This combined with the care, passion and craftsmanship of the Wildwood team means that customers always receive the stunning space they envisaged. Following the huge success of the bowtop twagon this year the company is launching a new showman's model, at this year’s Glamping Show. The new model is built on the same purpose-made chassis as the bowtop model. But it is based on the original design and proportions of a traditional 1940's showman's caravan. This model will incorporate the central design feature of this beautiful caravan -the mollycroft roof, and more. Even though Wildwood is passionate about traditional architectural features and build products that are from past times, the company still integrates contemporary materials and building techniques into all builds. For example all twagons come fully insulated for all year round use, prices start from £13,500 +VAT.

Hard Working Style WWW.YAM AH A- MOTOR . E U/ UK Yamaha will be showing its Concierge and Super Hauler models at the Glamping Show this year. The Concierge is a clean, quiet and economical solution for customer transport. Available as a 4-stroke EFI or the electric AC powered Concierge it is designed to enhance your reputation by offering a first class customer transport solution. With its luxurious seating for 4 and gleaming white bodywork, the stylish Concierge ensures that your customers will be transported in style to their destination. In today's highly competitive connected business environment, this high-end Yamaha hospitality vehicle is ready to deliver the ultimate customer satisfaction every time. The Yamaha Super Hauler is always ready for hard work.

Glamping News

n Hex Pods – A Modular Solutio NICKSNELLER@ HOTM AIL.COM With 25 years woodworking experience and a love of nature, Nick Sneller, founder of the Classic Pod Company, has incorporated local sustainably sourced wood with innovative design to create bespoke pods that are not only portable but modular. Nick wishes to offer the opportunity for people to create spaces that allow the natural environment to be more accessible and enjoyed by everyone. “These designs can help revitalise peoples ability to re-engage with nature again,” he says. The Classic Pod company takes a new approach to creating a unique tailor-made space, and offers the opportunity for the client to co-design and be creative. With the use of sustainably sourced wood, high quality insulation and state of the art 12v lighting systems, the new design of hexagonal pods or Hex-Pods enable the client to create an adaptable unit or multiple units that fit together. This modular aspect of the design gives a flexibility of construction like no other. Hex-Pods can even be extended with additional pods in the future, as requirements change. Hand-crafted and fitted out with bespoke furniture, these pods can provide luxury yet not detract from the connection with nature, the use of natural round pole beams exemplifies the natural aesthetic. The internal round pole frame shows a sensitivity to natural form that adds an amazing character to the room. The Hex-Pod is a strong lightweight structure that can be flat-packed for assembly on site, or delivered in one piece. This allows the possibility for these pods to be hired for weddings, festivals or any short-term event.

When you need to move large or bulky items quietly and efficiently, the Yamaha Super Hauler utility vehicle is ready to make every day more productive. This hard working 2-seater comes with a super-size aluminium cargo bed giving a hefty cargo payload of 363kg, making it the fast and convenient way to transport equipment or provisions. And with a choice of a 4-stroke or an electric engine, the Super Hauler has all the power you need to get around quickly and efficiently. Contoured seats give good back support, while the plush front and rear suspension ensures a smooth and comfortable drive.

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Glamping News

Energy When You Need It

Support All The Way

WWW. E NE R GY- S OLU T IO NS .CO.U K

WWW.Y URTSFOR LIFE.CO M

Energy Solutions’ EasyGrid range of power systems has already proved very popular with owners of remote leisure facilities in the UK and across Europe. The ability to deliver power to areas without a mains connection means that even the most remote glamping locations can offer their guests amenities such as lighting, heating, cooking, fridges, even washing machines. Bringing just a few extra comforts and amenities allows businesses to deliver a truly individual experience for their guests.

Yurts for Life are able take you from idea and empty field, all the way through to your finished Glampsite. The company can even look after your yurts all year round with its bespoke maintenance packages to ensure you make the most out of your investment. Along with a number of trusted partners built up over the years, Yurts for Life can assist with planning, insurance, finance, interior design, ground-works, third party bookings, marketing and more. Just stop by stand OSA47 at the Glamping Show for more details. All yurt frames are crafted in Sunny South Devon and Yurts for Life encourage all of its owners to visit the workshop in order to really understand how the yurts are made, meet the team who will be looking after the yurts on-site from installation through to storage or cover changes over the winter months and for the team to understand what you need for your venture. For those who need assistance with positioning of their yurt onsite, Yurts for Life will also come to your premises and advise accordingly.

The EasyGrid range delivers power efficiently, quietly and with the added bonus of easy integration with renewables. During summer months, solar panels can charge the batteries during the day, where the power will be stored until required; during months when there is less sun a generator can be connected and will automatically start up and charge the batteries when needed. The bonus of the EasyGrid system being that power can be delivered silently by the batteries, helping maintain the ambience of a glamping site. The range has three different variants, so whatever the size and requirements of the site there is an option to suit. Each EasyGrid system is designed to be a straight “plug and go” solution; they can be easily installed by a local electrician and can be housed outside or within an outbuilding. Should you then decide to expand your site or relocate accommodation the units can be easily moved. This year at the Glamping Show EasyGrid will be showcasing the full range.

Yurts for Life make Ash yurts in sizes 10ft to 30ft diameter, in 2ft intervals in the Kyrgyz design style. The yurts have steam-bent roof ribs as opposed to straight ribs like the Mongolian yurts, which are known as Gers. The canvas covers, thermal lining and winter covers are also made in South Devon at the canvas workshop. The canvas used is Regentex XP extra-proofing – waterproofing, fire retardant and rot resistant proofing which is impregnated into the canvas at manufacture to give you the best possible start for your yurt. Whether you are a large landowner looking to diversify or a potential client with space for any extra yurt bedroom to put on AirBnB, Yurts for Life can help you to generate an income stream that will give you an ROI of 2-3 years depending on the specification of your yurt(s) and the market you are targeting. The yurts come with a 5-year workmanship guarantee on the yurt frames and a 1-year workmanship guarantee for the covers. From a durability perspective you would expect your yurt to give back a minimum of 10-years on the frame and 5-years plus on the canvas as long as a maintenance plan is followed. New for 2017, for clients who want to hold larger events on-site, Yurts for Life has a 40ft diameter yurt that will seat up to 100 people. It is a great way to extend your offering from just accommodation, to a weekend wedding, yoga course or just a bunch of friends getting away together for a party with a difference!

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A Washable Coir Alternative WWW. PAUL LS MATTI N G.CO.UK Paull’s Matting is delighted to introduce Paull’s Polyprop Matting - A durable and washable alternative to its extensive natural coir range but made from woven polypropylene yarn. Paull’s Polyprop Matting is tough, durable, washable and lightweight compared with other natural floor coverings. The two-tone yarn gives a coir-coloured finish with the benefit of being non-absorbent, non-rot and incredibly strong. Paull’s is launching a limited range of sizes in 2016 including 40’s and 30’s lengths and 5m & 4m half moons, with the full range available in 2017 to match the natural coir stock, which is one of the most extensive on the market.

4.5m, 5.5m, 6.5m and 7.5m for Yurts and Tipis. Paull’s also offer a 3 piece set for a 10m round Giant Tipis.

The company has endeavoured to ensure that Paull’s Polyprop Mattings’ appearance is as close to the colour of its natural coir as possible to give a warm finish to any event space. The polyprop is also completely reversible, as is the coir with its distinctive herringbone weave.

All of the stock is pre-cut, bound and colour coded for convenience. Paull’s hold good stocks and offer quick delivery and customers will not be disappointed by the quality of the service or the appearance of the finished product, which adds a luxury feel to any Bell Tent, Yurt, Tipis Marquee walkway or entranceway.

The full range will include 50’, 40’, 30’, 20’ and 10’ lengths for marquees, large structures and walkways. The half moon range offers 2m, 3m, 4m, 5m, 6m and 7m sizes for Bell Tents and

Price lists are available on request. For more information visit www.paullsmatting.co.uk , call 01935 822204 or email sales@paullsmatting.co.uk.

www.theglampingshow.com

Glamping News

State of the Art Accommodation WWW.T HE LO G P OD.CO.U K With the ever-increasing demand both from the Glamping provider and the Glamper for quality accommodation, The Log Pod Ltd has introduced the Grande Max Plus. The Grande Max Plus comes complete with shower, toilet and washbasin vanity unit together with a purpose-built kitchenette unit that comprises of sink, microwave, fridge and hob manufactured in Germany to the highest quality and reliability, in addition the Grande Max Plus can be supplied with underfloor state-of the-art nano-technology Sure Heat Infrared Heating System, which has many cost saving and safety features, thermostatically controlled for all round warmth. See the Grande Max Plus at this year’s Glamping Show.

wergate Glamping Risk Seminar from To WWW.TOWE R GATE I NSU RA N CE.CO.U K Stephen Bennet from Towergate Insurance will be giving a seminar on the impact of Glamping on the UK holiday market and how this will affect your insurance requirements.

? Is Online Booking Necessary WWW.NETGU IDES.CO.U K A quick look at the 2015 ABTA statistics show that online booking directly with the end provider is by far the most common method of booking a holiday in UK. These statistics also show that the number of people booking on tablets and smartphones are increasing substantially year-on-year. So how to react to this? With an attractive, responsive website with online booking to tap this growing market trend. Netguides have extensive experience of the power and reliability of cloudbased systems and in 2009 launched GemaPark, a new generation booking system specifically designed for holiday parks. GemaPark is a service-based system that you just pay to use, no capital cost, no local installation or security concerns with your computers and no backup worries. GemaPark also integrates with a range of payment gateways so handling credit cards is straightforward and entirely separated from your website. A key feature of a cloud-based system is that it is accessible from any location, so it is as easy to manage your bookings from home as from the office and it all works off a single database so there is never a risk of double booking. It also works on PCs, tablets and smartphones.

Whether you’re interested in starting a business venture or you want to be part of the well-informed crowd before investing in a new market this can be a great fact finding opportunity. The main focus is to help eliminate risk to your business and to protect your guests and employees.

GemaPark park features include park setup with flexible tariffs, an interactive availability chart to view and manage your bookings, customer booking and invoice documents automatically emailed, batch invoicing for repeat customers, operational, management, financial and marketing reports, online booking widgets to go on your own website, included support and much more. New features are available on a regular basis.

“This seminar is a chance for us as insurers to discuss ways in which you can reduce those risks as a business to create a safe environment for your staff and guests. This will help to decrease the likelihood of damaging circumstances that could affect the profitability of your business,” says Stephen.

If you are switching business systems or trying one for the first time you may find that it is not easy, but get it right and you’ll never look back. There are few changes you can make to your business that provide such high rewards in time and revenue.

“We’ll start by delving into the Holiday Park market and look at how the new addition of Glamping risks is changing how the insurance industry is evolving, with the development of modern leisure. One of the key areas of concern for insurers is the materials many of the glamping structures are made from and the risks they will be exposed to,” he adds.

Netguides can also build websites and has been doing so since 1996 – in fact the company has a special offer on fully responsive park websites if you sign up for GemaPark.

“Fire exposure is a significant concern as it’s something that can lead to large devastation to your business. Glamping units are predominantly temporary structures with flammable materials forming over 90% its construction. In order to help reduce the potential exposure, there are some things that can be done which we’ll explore more in the seminar.”

“Our guarantee to you is that we will be there for you every step of the way. Our expert team will set up your system and be on the end of the phone helping you get the most out of it. Online booking made simple,” says Director Roger Bee. www.netguides.co.uk

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w w w. t h e l o g p o d . c o . u k The Log Pod Ltd will be launching their all new GRAND MAX PLUS.The GRAND MAX PLUS has been designed and developed after consultation, input and us listening to the caravan, camping/glamping site owners. The GRAND MAX PLUS has built in as standard is a walk in enclosed shower, wash basin vanity unit and toilet. A compact kitchenette unit incorporating a sink unit, fridge and microwave oven. Heating in the GRAND MAX PLUS is SURE HEAT, a state of the art infrared underfloor heating system, SURE HEATs nano technology offers all year round clean, safe, low cost temperature controlled heat. The GRAND MAX PLUS like all our range of log pods (excluding flat packs) are fitted with 3 axles 6 wheels with a choice of solid/pneumatic tyres together with front and rear detachable tow bar for ease of moving on site. Alongside the GRAND MAX PLUS will be the PURELOGPOD, this unique and innovative pod is manufactured to the same standards as our log pods with the added advantage of having an inner and outer skin which accepts all of todays modern digital inks and print media, this allows bespoke images and graphics to be applied giving the opportunity to blend/fit into any environment and can be changed from theme to theme as and when required, we can even spray the PURELOGPOD with a range of Real Stone Paint that looks exactly like stone or granite. Both inner and outer skins/panels are a co extruded substrate that offer the following benefits 100% waterproof, UV resistant, B1 fire rated, Antibacterial. The PURELOGPOD requires little or no maintenance simply wash or hose down.

Telephone Trevor or Edgar on 01269 850005 Email: trevor@thelogpod.co.uk - edgar@thelogpod.co.uk

ASK ON THE STAND FOR SHOW DISCOUNT

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Glamping News

Lune Valley – Flexible Pods WWW. LU NE VA LL EYP ODS.CO.UK Lune Valley can build pods to suit your needs – any size, fixtures or fittings, and price range. There is a choice of three roof coverings; Decra – lightweight roofing tiles with a 40-year guarantee Siberian larch feather edged boards – with a life expectancy of 40+ years untreated Western red cedar feather edged boards with a life expectancy of 60+ years. (This is an extra 15% on top of standard pod price). All Lune Valley pods are built on a steel galvanised base with lifting points as standard. This is so you can move your pods around with a forklift or telehandler. If you don't have access to a forklift, you can add wheels to you base and tow it around your campsite.

Spas Specifically for Glamping WWW. ROTOS PA .CO.U K Hot Tubs are the number one accessory searched for by holidaymakers online. They can increase accommodation occupancy by 25% and drive out-of-season bookings. RotoSpa UK has more than 12 years’ experience of supplying the holiday industry and more than 20 years’ experience in manufacturing portable spas. It is a familyowned business, which manufactures Rotospas in the Midlands – the heart of the UK. The high-performance spas are unique in design, built, engineered and insulated. They offer high quality and use only the best components and latest technology. RotoSpa is renowned for its hard-wearing portable spas, which are very low maintenance and affordable. Despite being truly portable, they are engineered for the rigours of daily use. Rotospa is unique in manufacturing in the UK, whereas many other hot tubs sold in the country are imported. Therefore, customers can be assured that they will receive the highest quality after sales care as sourcing spare parts is never a problem. “We have worked hard to identify improvements to our hot tubs which are required by the glamping industry,” says the company’s Matthew Zacaroli. “Our R&D department has spent the last 12 months developing features such as alternative energy sources, fast draining, automatic fill and top up. “We have noted that in some circumstances electricity is not readily available or not available at the power rating required to power and heat a hot tub. Rotospa can now supply a mini biomass boiler that will heat our hot tubs and even supply hot water for a shower! We can also connect our hot tubs

Lune Valley pods are fully insulated in the floor and roof with 75mm of insulation as standard. Doors and windows are UPVC oak-look with 22mm double glazing and multi point locking systems All the external timber is Siberian larch or western red cedar, this means there is no maintenance as these timbers do not need staining, they will just silver over time. In addition all pods come with LED lights, sockets and a heater as standard. Lune Valley can always upgrade your electric pack to suit your needs. For more information contact info@lvtb.co.uk

heating to existing Biomass boiler circuits. Rotospa can also supply a unique portable outdoor gas boiler unit that will heat our hot tubs and provide a hot shower too.” Rotospa has also noticed that holiday lets are using domestic hot tubs and experience problems with maintaining the high level of water quality required. Hot tubs manufacturers have been slow to identify this and development of a bespoke product for the industry has been limited. In conjunction with its first portable commercial spa project, Rotospa has developed a water filtration and automatic sanitation system to work directly with Rotospas. After two years Rotospa is now ready to launch its product, which is the first hot tub purpose-made for the holiday let business. Rotospas are now available with the following features to suit the requirements of holiday lets! Fast automatic emptying ! Automatic water fill system ! Automatic top up system ! Multiport sand filtration ! Heating options ! Automatic chemical dosing systems Glamping and holiday let operators can purchase directly from Rotospa at trade prices rather than paying a distributor. The company is keen to build ongoing working relationships with customers and is proud of the training it provides following a sale, so that operators know how to service and maintain their products for years to come.

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Glamping Accessibility

Glamping

for everyone

VisitBritain reports that more than one in six people in England and Wales have an ‘activity limiting’ health problem or disability. British and international visitors from this market segment currently spend over £3 billion on overnight tourism trips in England each year. Good accessibility benefits all visitors. Disabled people have the greatest need for accessible facilities and services but only around 8% use a wheelchair, with many more having other mobility, hearing or visual impairments. People with health conditions and impairments (and their travelling companions) spend £12.1 billion a year on tourism in England. This is known as the “Purple Pound.” Visit England’s ‘Unlocking the Purple Pound’ conference (2015) highlighted the increasing value of the accessible tourism market. There are over 14 million disabled tourists taking trips around the

UK each year and more demand than ever for accessible holiday accommodation. Following a successful pilot project in 2013/14, VisitEngland accessed a grant of €125,000 from the European Commission to expand the Access for All initiative. The project, which started in October 2014, consisted of two phases: product development, where over 50 businesses were supported by Access New Business in improving their accessibility, and a national consumer marketing campaign. The campaign aimed to raise awareness of accessible destinations and businesses in England and accessible destination guides were published as supplements, along with online and print adverts, competitions and more.

the family for around 400 years and the upkeep of the listed buildings meant that extra income had to be generated. The Gathering comprises four safari tents, supplied by Boldscan, plus a grand Victorian shooting lodge with 4 en suite

Tommy and Kirsty Noel have just opened The Gathering at Edale, an idyllic setting at the start of the Pennine Way. The sheep farm has been in

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Glamping Accessibility

veterans will soon be trying out. Bookings are already excellent throughout the summer, mostly for groups taking over the whole site, and the website has only been live for three months. The Noel’s mission now is to rally support to improve the stiles and gates in the National Park, making them similarly accessible. Tommy had to hire a consultant to convince the planners that the site was low impact and beneficial for the local community. Eventually they were prepared to grant permission if he reduced the number of tents and relocated them. In addition to taking on three staff, he also uses all local businesses to supply cheese, meat, fish and wine.

twin/double bedrooms and a party room. The aim was to create a range of accommodation that would delight a gathering of friends or several generations of families. With the help of Athena Stevens, a good friend who is wheelchair bound as a result of cerebral palsy, one of the Tsavo tents has been adapted to make it completely accessible throughout.

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Athena has been an accessibility consultant to London Underground since 2006. She has great memories of camping with her grandparents as a child. She commented, “Back then it was relatively easy, as I didn’t have to think about doing the work, for example whether the kitchen counters were accessible for cooking.” Boldscan put Athena’s suggestions into practice, widening the entrance from the usual 750/800 mm to 1,000 mm, allowing space for an electric wheelchair. Additional height gives the potential for a hoist to be installed over the bed, if necessary, whilst in the kitchen the wood burning stove and counters were lowered. They chose a wooden hut installed inside the tent for the bathroom, so it could have private access, rather than through the bedrooms. She also recommended that the bathroom had additional lighting. The result is a fabulous glamorous camping experience that Athena and some of the Help for Heroes

Alan Wenham, chief designer at Boldscan, first had the idea for accessible tents following an enquiry a couple of years ago, but the Tsavo at The Gathering is the first to be developed. In fact, it may be a first anywhere. Alan Wenham commented “Being single storey with a wooden floor makes the Tsavo Safari tent ideal holiday accommodation for disabled access, adding the extra width makes for even better access. Unlike buildings, tents have fabric walls so there is already a degree of flexibility”. “Clients provide the hard standing, so it is important to think about positioning for access to the tent from the car and also up to the veranda via a ramp. Boldscan’s safari tents and new Etosha range have the potential to be adapted. Making Glamping accessible for the disabled is an important cause and I am proud to be instrumental in its design and application.”

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Desperately Seeking Seclusion (part 2) It was a beautiful sunny morning in September 2015 when we left Mardu Cottage and headed to for the very first UK Glamping Show. We were as excited as a couple of kids not least because days off for us recently had been very few and far between. We had our full planning permission for two pods in our file but we were unsure as to whether to go for one pod or two? Although surrounded by beautiful open countryside our paddock was just an acre in size and so the idea of siting two pods conflicted somewhat with our determination to provide a very exclusive high-end stay. So we arrived at Stoneleigh Park looking for some reassuring advice. Even though we’d read up on the show, it was still an eye-opener seeing the variety of glamping structures, including some very innovative use of forms of transport converted into places to stay. We met and chatted with interest to all sorts of people, from those who were already owners of sites looking to expand and many who’d come to the show with nothing but the passionate desire to realise their dreams. Throughout the day we managed to put our question to several of the experts all of whom after consideration said that ultimately it was a business after all and therefore two pods would be their choice. While we could definitely see their reasoning and knew that economically they were right, we soon realised that despite the complete sense of it, typically

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By Philip Wright

we were going to do the complete opposite! I guess we knew that to establish any kind of business you have to be willing to take a risk or two and there are times when it’s just got to be about what you really want it to be and nothing else will do. One of the main attractions about the growth of glamping in the past ten years or so is how it has managed to encompass a multitude of different styles but the common factor needs to be quality. Wherever you pitch your holiday letting business that one word should be your absolute touchstone. Amongst the huge range of glamping possibilities at the show there was one exhibitor that for many people including us stood out; Welsh Oak Frame. This was evident by that fact that we couldn’t get near their stand for most of the day but eventually just before leaving we managed to speak to director Paul Edmunds. Although we didn’t really know it for sure at the time that five-minute conversation was pivotal for us. The sheer beauty of a solid oak-framed pod was incredibly appealing to us and it turned out that WOF were based only a 45 min drive from our Shropshire home which would make any future meetings relatively easy to arrange. So a joint venture was proposed where they could

supply the oak frame and we’d undertake the rest. Sometimes you find things just falling nicely into place suggesting that it’s all meant to be. We had already had spent a year applying for planning permission however, the oak-framed design was going to be quite different to the style of pods that we had gained permission for. So before we got too excited we knew that first we had to go back to our friends and neighbours to see how they felt about the proposed change. So we started by taking a CAD drawing of this new design to those living nearby to gauge their response and without exception it was this one they preferred. All we needed to do now was convince the Planning Office – a process that fills most of us with dread. Not just because it is lengthy and involves a lot of paperwork but because like most times when one is involved with the law it’s usually your life or your livelihood that’s on the line; it’s personal. Even if you have some experience with this and the planning policy documents hold no fear for you, my advice is to get some help.

Operator Focus

This can be as simple as your architect or scheme designer acting as agent and helping to complete the forms to employing a bona fide planning consultant who literally ticks all the boxes. Over the years we’ve done both and both have lots to recommend them. Of course, the more you do, the less it costs but one thing that is definitely worth doing is applying for pre-planning advice. This is the modern version of picking up the phone and speaking to a planning officer only now you have to complete a form (not forgetting to enclose the appropriate fee) send in your proposal and follow up by emailing your questions to their responses. To be fair the system does work, and you (should) get a clear indication of whether they will support your proposal. Money well spent really. So, that was the way we went and after some consideration and email discussions the answer came back that, on balance the planning office felt they could support our proposal. Not a done deal by any means but enough for us to begin to get a little excited. Try your best to really enjoy these small victories if they come your way because this all takes time and a great deal of effort! Having got a green light from our locals and the ‘subject to’ support of the planners we shook hands with our supplier and the deal was done. The design change was on. Throughout the planning process and no matter how single-minded you may think you are there will be times when you have reservations and doubts about what you’re doing. This is when the entrepreneur in you really has to do his or her bit by reminding you what it is about your dream that first drove you on. For us it was the desire to create a masterpiece of a structure that was avantgarde yet looked like it belonged where it was to be sited and one that when lovingly furnished people would find

blissfully restful. The first wave of disappointment came when the planning office refused to accept our proposal to allow the change of design as a minor material amendment to our original planning permission because of it’s considerably greater size. Further disappointment came when after having pointed to the fact that the volume of both the original pods taken together was almost the same as the new single design was also refused and we were told we had to go through a completely new full planning application. Horror struck us… We knew that the council had since adopted a whole new gamut of policies that we’d have to surf through and that these took further account of the fact that we live in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and that the brook on the perimeter of our paddock fed into a SSSI so much so that meeting the new policies proved to be very challenging and of course time-consuming. The real problem though was that we’d increased the risk factor ten-fold by commencing the project on the strength of the preplanning response we’d gained from the council. Not something I’d recommend to you but we did it because time simply wasn’t on our side. It is situations like this that can physically drain you. Of course it was completely self-inflicted but there was the extra stress of worrying that if you push too hard on your local overworked planning officer they may just take the easy route and say “No!” So, although we had a watertight building we didn’t have an impervious planning consent and we stopped any further work, just in case.

Throughout all of this planning stuff there are so many other things you’re going to have to do. Avril’s constant refrain was, “Where’s your list?" My own list, because we were also managing the project was many pages long. I still had three pages of lists to deal with when we received notification that our planning application was going to be approved. We danced around the house for a full twenty minutes such was the relief! It was one of those very important victories to savour. Now all we had to do was bring the project in within the (revised) budget we’d set and in time to catch some of the 2016 tourism season. July 19th 2016. Many months of hard exacting work later and after numerous shopping trips our quality project is finished. Everything takes that bit longer than you imagine and even naming our holiday pod was no exception. After many months and even more attempts, being only 150m from the Offa’s Dyke Trail we decided upon ‘OFFA’S PITCH’ then we had an open afternoon for friends and neighbours to say ‘thank you’ to them. The sun came out as did the wine and we had a great time. When I’ve finished this I’ll be completing the descriptive writing for our website of the same name and hopefully, by the time it goes to press we may well have received our first guests. Along with everything else we discovered, the one attribute you really must have is tenacity. If you do decide the glamping business is for you then grab your own dream like a rottweiler would and, hang on to it. Good Luck! Philip Wright www.offaspitch.co.uk

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Setting the scene Anytime Booking is a huge fan of the Glamping Show. Now in its second year, it is poised to be bigger and better than the last. Glamping is steaming ahead as one of the fastest-growing holiday market sectors in the UK and around the world; the UK slice is set to be worth 1.8 billion by 2017. It is refreshing to see a dedicated trade show for the industry when there is more demand than ever for expertise in one place to quench this insatiable thirst for all things glamping. So why is glamping such a success? Provenance and authenticity are more important to the holidaymaker than ever. Novel and nostalgic, glamping is the perfect soul-remedy for the pressures of modern life. The very spirit of being in the great outdoors, chasing butterflies, listening to crickets, enjoying a campfire and eating produce from the surrounding landscape is very much there, but all with a certain style. Imagine the world slowing down. Exchange your orange squash for handpressed lemonade. Trade old tin saucepans for an enticing dutch oven

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by Vanessa Glossop

swinging over a fire-pit. Swap your roll mats and sleeping bags for a kingsize bed with cotton sheets, torch light for fairy lights and damp zipup canvas for majestic safari tent or a perfectly formed pod with ensuite. Having some luxuries and comforts around you doesn’t mean you are any less close to nature; it’s still there, but for many, far more enjoyable. Glamping sets a different kind of scene for holidays, weddings, hen and stag parties, birthday celebrations, reunions and festivals. Hotels and holiday chains are increasingly bringing glamping facilities into their offerings to enjoy a slice of the action. Haven Holidays, a mainstay of the family holiday in Britain, is a case in point – they have launched new holiday experiences in super-tents, yurts, geodomes and safari tents. The very message in a chain like Haven investing in glamping is that the future of this slice of the holiday market is secure and bright.

Make sure you know your guests Glamping is the thoughtful end of the holiday market, where all the frills and spills have been thought about and lovingly provided. If you are a glampsite owner, or are seriously considering becoming one, this does put you under pressure to know your customers deeper though. Some customers want to feel the mud squelching between their toes, but they just don’t want to carry all their stuff with them, so it’s a choice of convenience. Others expect sheer luxury and if there is no fluffy robe hanging on the back of their ensuite door, they won’t be back. Know which end of the glamping market you’re going after and set the scene.

This end of the holiday market has really moved on in the past couple of years. You can no longer simply stick up a few unusually shaped tents and cross fingers that this will turn into a good little business. Glamping presents so many more accommodation choices now but it has also become much more than the physical structure you’re staying in, it’s about the holistic experience. As such the service level, the little extras and the adventure need to be reflected in the holiday proposition from outset to finish.

Look to technology to keep you ahead If you are a holiday business of any kind, the actual technology does not need to be a barrier to your visibility on the web. We recommend that the hub of any successful glampsite should be a well designed website with a flexible online bookings management system plugged into it. Entice your customers in from the very beginning, show them what’s different about you, and make it easy for them to book a holiday with you. This is where Anytime Booking can step in to help you manage your business while enhancing your customer service and, in turn, your guest experience. Our system will drive direct bookings to your website and link with the OTAs (online travel agents) of your choice to increase your occupancy and revenue. We can help you delve deeper to manage the relationships you have with your customers. The powerful CRM enables you to retain all the information you need about your customers to communicate with them time and again. We also support all the aspects of a busy reception desk, including taking payments. For complete ease, you can even use our own payment gateway, Anytime Payments, which talks to your existing merchant provider. Come and find us at The Glamping Show on stand 136, we love to talk! www.anytimebooking.co.uk

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A brief history of camping and glamping by Ben Igoe of Lotus Belle

The very first man-made shelters would have consisted of foliage thrown over a stick frame. This basic idea for a ‘tent’ however quickly evolved into more sophisticated forms. As early man walked north out of Africa he encountered increasingly challenging environments. The use of animal hides for warmth and durability became commonplace while the the use of wooden or bone supports, with guy ropes made from animal hair, anchored to whittled wooden stakes were invented for rigidity and to combat the elements.

Tents were very much a place to call home for millennia, however, with the advent of farming, more permanent structures became the norm for living in, though tents were still used by traveling armies and nomadic tribes.

YURTS In ancient Siberia, tribesmen would herd sheep, goat and yak across the harsh frozen tundra. They learned to create an

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insulating fabric by layering sheep’s wool, sprinkling it with water and working it into felted mats. The word for ‘nomad’ actually comes from the local word for felt. So the nomads were literally ‘felt people’. These tribes famously invented the Yurt style tent or ‘ger,’ (pronounced g-air) which was a semi-portable design that allowed for comfortable survival in extreme environments. Struts made from saplings were fastened onto a central wooden ring and fixed round the top of a circular lattice wall. This structure was then covered with the felted mats. When it was very cold extra mats could be added, while during the hottest summer days sections could be removed to allow for airflow through the space. Knowledge of the Yurt spread during the infamous rise of Genghis Kahn in the 13th Century. Nowadays this ancient nomadic shelter is very popular across the west in a huge variety of ancient and contemporary forms. Yurts have a wonderful earthy simplicity about them providing a great option for shelter that is relatively affordable, accessible and gentle to the earth. The materials used and the shape of the Yurt were important to the nomads, who believed in finding balance and harmony between man and nature, and of the worlds above and below. The circular shape of the Yurt represents the unity and interconnectedness of all things.

BELL TENTS The first appearance of bell style tents

can be traced to the armies of Byzantine Emperor, Maurice in 582 – 602 A.D. However, the most notable bell style tent in recent history was the Sibley tent. Henry Hopkins Sibley invented the Sibley Tent in the mid 1800’s. It resembled a Native American tipi with a smoke hole at the top and a fire pit in the centre. Whereas the Sioux Tipi required 12 poles to form a tripod, the Sibley design needed only one telescopic central pole, and required no guy ropes, as it was secured to the ground around the base of the canvas. This design vastly reduced set up time, weight and therefore improved portability, which proved hugely advantageous. During the American civil war 44,000 Sibley tents were produced and used. Sibley registered a patent for his design in 1856 and should have made a fortune, but he never received a dime in royalties following his resignation from the army.

Tents for Recreation. The idea of camping as a pastime has been around now for just over 100 years. Thomas Hiram Holding is believed to be one of its first proponents. Holding was a keen cyclist and wrote a book in 1898 called ‘Cycling and Camping in Connemara’ (in Ireland). In this he described the portable camping equipment he had designed and invited enthusiasts to contact him. This led to the formation of the Camping and Caravanning club in 1901, which today has over 300,000 members. Various types of bell tents as well as the familiar wedge shape reigned supreme for decades. Then in the 1960s a plethora of lightweight, durable high tech materials

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were introduced with aluminium poles and synthetic fabrics. Camping became more and more popular with people realising the benefits of staying in a tent rather than a boarding house. Camping was far cheaper and camping equipment was improving rapidly so staying under canvas quickly established itself as a firm favourite amongst British holiday makers. Thousands upon thousands of campsites popped up all over the UK and Europe and modern camping was born.

Festivals With the rise of British Festival culture, modern tents made from nylon with flexible carbon fibre poles have been sold in their millions driving prices down further and further. Many are critical of this, as it has unfortunately led to a ‘throwaway culture’, with tens of thousands of cheap nylon tents being simply used once and left on site at festivals. In response to this trend, many festivals now offer pre-pitched tent packages including bedding etc, for people to rent. This has been dubbed Glamping (Glamorous-Camping), which we will be coming back to later.

Lotus Belle One tent you may well find advertised for rental at Glastonbury, for example, but certainly would never see left behind on site is the Lotus Belle. This design is a relative newcomer but is taking the market by storm. Essentially it is a hybrid between nomadic Yurt and Bell tent. It’s highly functional whilst maintaining an elegance and beauty rarely seen in tent design. The company that makes these carries the strap line ‘Tents for Life, not for landfill’, alluding to the fact that you wouldn’t dream of abandoning one of these beauties. Harriet Seddon, Bristol, created the design while at Falmouth University in an attempt to fuse together the best aspects of Yurts and Bell tents. Her

dissertation was titled ‘The importance of Circular space’. This resonates of course with the sacred Mongolian belief system. Her lecturers at the time told her that her designs for the ‘Onion Dome’, as it was originally known, would never amount to anything and the idea sat on the back burner for several years. Then in 2011 Seddon met a manufacturer of high quality bell tents who was overwhelmingly positive about the design and encouraged her eventually to invest her life savings in producing a run of 40 tents. Three years later, Seddon has quit her teaching job and runs Lotus Belle full time with partner Ben and they’ve seen sales increase rapidly worldwide. The Lotus Belle tent is constructed from the highest quality components with a high tech 360/380 gram canvas which comes ready with a premium water, rot and fire retardant treatment. The clever design boasts all the portability and usability of a standard bell tent whilst affording the roomy luxuriousness of a yurt. Lotus Belles are very simple to use and can be pitched by one person in under an hour. With 18 square meters of standing space in the 5m model, being inside is a totally different experience to that of a standard bell tent.

Glamping Lotus Belles have become synonymous with, and to a large degree have ‘surfed the zeitgeist’ aboard this new phenomenon known as Glamping. Traditional camping in the UK has its drawbacks. The prospect of a leaking tent, damp muddy sleeping bags and generally roughing it doesn’t appeal to some people. Not to mention having to wash and unpack everything when you get home. Glamping offers that, back to nature escapism, with minimal effort on the part of the consumer. The ‘Glamp site’ rents out Glamping accommodation complete with all the home comforts and mod cons in situ ready for when their guests arrive. With European holidays now growing pricier and potentially now less accessible, the great British summer holiday is making a huge comeback. Brits spend over 2.4 billion each year on domestic camping holidays with more now taking

place in the UK than trips to Spain and Greece combined. British landowners are realising the potential of this lucrative market by diversifying parts of their land for the setting up and running of a campsite. It is a simple process and many participants have seen their incomes rise dramatically as a result. The Glamping business model is great fun to set up, and attractive to start ups, because it avoids the infrastructure costs of having to provide toilets, running water and power hook ups for tens of pitches. Starting off with just 3 or 4 ‘Glamping’ pods with an inexpensive composting toilet, revenues of £2-3k per month are easily achievable. Then it’s a simple case of scaling up as far as is comfortable. Glampsites in the UK have been using Lotus Belles since they first came to market in 2012 and are still going strong. With its novel design, durability and low cost it sells itself (looks great on a website!). A tent can pay for itself in a matter of weeks, but will last for many years giving a potential return of 20 or more times the initial outlay. 4 metre Lotus tents start from £1090 inc. VAT. Lotus Belle Tents Ltd will be exhibiting at the Glamping show 2016 (stand OSA27) as well as the Farm Business Innovation Show if you’d like to meet Hari and Ben and the tent directly.

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Operator Focus

Ivy Grange Farm Green and Glorious This issue Glamping Business took a group trip to Suffolk to stay at Ivy Grange Farm, which is set in an idyllic spot a few miles from the seaside towns of Southwold and Walberswick. Nick and Kim Hoare moved to Ivy Grange 7 years ago and are now in their sixth season of running a glamping business – although they remain unsure of the world ‘glamping’ having marketed themselves as a ‘yurt’ camping business from before the ‘g’ word even gained currency. Now, the couple are branching out with their first ever Shepherd’s Hut which will

take the place of one of their 5 lovely yurts, although when we visited it had not yet been delivered but it will be available for rent from next season. Nick and Kim made the move to Suffolk after leaving jobs in London in mental health and TV respectively. After extensive research they found Ivy Grange Farm and spent a while commuting back and forth before moving full-time to Suffolk. “I was unsure at first as to whether I would want to leave London as I enjoyed the pace of life there and the feeling of being in the centre of things,” says Kim. “But the more time I spent here in Suffolk, the happier I was about staying full time.” “We knew right away that we wanted to run some kind of hospitality business,” says Nick. “We decided on yurts because we love the way they look and the fact that they have a low impact on the environment. There is something magical about

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Kim and Nick

them. We also felt that our neighbours here in the village would appreciate yurts over other kinds of glamping accommodation that might be more permanent.” Alongside the five yurts, guests at Ivy Grange have access to a large comfortable barn, which is well equipped with games equipment, including a ping-pong table and bicycles. There are indoor showers and bathroom facilities, a kitchenette and an honesty shop featuring local produce. It is an ideal place to while away a few hours with the kids if the weather is inclement – although Kim and Nick assured us that the region is known for its low levels of rainfall! “The barn was one of our first projects here,” says Nick. “We spent a year preparing things and then we opened the first summer with two yurts and invited our friends to stay in order to be guinea pigs and give us some feedback.” The feedback was of course positive and revealing. “It soon became clear that Ivy Grange is the perfect environment for families with young children. Our nephew’s wife told us how safe it felt for her small kids to run around the meadow. Strangely, we hadn’t really considered being a family destination, we had intended to market ourselves more to couples,” says Nick. “Now, we find that we are getting a good mix of both.” There certainly is plenty to attract guests of all ages to Ivy Grange. The flowerstrewn meadow does beg for a game of tag, or impromptu cricket match and the seaside is of course not far away. The larger yurts can accommodate a family of four or more quite easily and Kim and Nick are eager for their young guests to appreciate their environment, so there is a nature trail and bird boxes are dotted

Operator Focus

around to guide eyes, young and old to what is going on around them. The couple are keen environmentalists and gently encourage their guests to respect their surroundings – not through placing signs everywhere – rather by providing facilities, such as recycling bins and organic produce for them to use. In addition, they offer a service whereby they will pick up guests from the local station to encourage them to use public transport and offer them a £12 rebate, which could go towards the cost of sheet or towel rental. They have awards on display from Suffolk Greenest County Tourism and the Suffolk Gold Carbon Charter. “You wont find any hot tubs at Ivy Grange,” says Kim. “We are in an area where we do get water shortages and this is not the kind of experience we offer. Instead, there is a popular pizza oven, made by Kim and Nick themselves, there is a covered outdoor kitchen and a wonderful private outdoor shower, where guests get the luxury of mains hot water in a wooded bower with foxgloves for company (at least that was the case in June). Every year Kim and Nick take on a new project and carry out improvements to the site. “We spend from our turnover and it’s a fairly organic process,” says Kim. “This year we insulated part of the barn for example. We are looking forward to the Shepherd’s Hut arriving. We are having it made locally and it is really beautiful. We are interested to see what our regulars will make of it.” One of the reasons why Ivy Grange is investing in a Shepherds Hut is because

the yurts can be quite physically demanding to take down and set up. “Although it is possible to leave them up all year round we tend to take them down and store them in winter. But it can be a tough 4 or 5 weeks hard labour to do this and we and we are looking at ways of reducing the amount of work we do on site so that we can enjoy doing the other things we love, such as biking,” says Nick. Wood has been Nick’s biggest challenge, however – cutting it, storing it and moving it about the site. “I reckon it has taken three years to work out a really good system and build up a stock,” he says. “The secret is to try not to move it about unnecessarily. Don’t put it in one place to chop it, then another to store it then move it again. We also learned not to give it all away for free to guests, just give them enough to get them started, otherwise they hoover it up!”

it is certainly important for the couple to try to find time to smell the roses, too. Kim is a keen gardener and there are pots, containers and raised beds dotted around the farm. “It’s only since I came here that I really got into gardening,” she says. “Every year we try to learn a new skill that we can use, such as making the pizza oven. It’s a constant learning curve.”

Online marketing and SEO is another area where Nick and Kim have honed their skills. “Our website is definitely our front of house. We do all of the SEO, we manage it and can create text and add photos,” says Kim. “Two years ago, we added a SuperControl online booking system and that saved loads of time and made things much easier. Everyone has to be on Tripadvisor these days but we found that we don’t need to have a paid business entry, we tried it and it didn’t offer us any real benefits.” Kim and Nick’s clientele is increasingly return custom and their yurts are fully booked in the height of the season. They don’t offer a rigid changeover date for bookings, which is popular with guests but they do impose a three-night minimum in high season. The Shepherd’s Hut might offer them a longer season but

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Speaker profiles

Seminal Seminars Seminars at The Glamping Show At last year’s Glamping Show the seminars were so successful there was standing room only in most - and not even that much space in others. Following the success of the seminar programme, the show’s organisors asked visitors for the subjects they wanted to hear about in 2016. This year that are over 60 seminars scheduled on a variety of subjects, requested specifically by delegates, including case studies from other operators, sustainable glamping, marketing and social media and more. Here are some of the highlights you can expect to see:

Cool Camping James Warner Smith As the Marketing Manager of the Cool Camping guidebooks and website, James is responsible for one of the largest social media audiences in the UK camping and glamping sector.

Seminar: Making the Most of Social Media

In this session, industry expert James Warner Smith will offer insight into how to engage and build a social media audience and, most importantly, how to turn a free social space into the perfect marketing platform.

Country Glamping Holidays Rob Farrow Originally a manager in the caravan and static dealership of the family group; Rob went on to establish and successfully ran the caravan hire division. He then progressed to head up the complete holiday park, which they had run for over half a century; providing camping, caravan, static and lodge holidays.

Seminar topic: “Its camping Jim, but not as we know it!”

Considering the ‘perfect storm’ that has hit the camping and caravanning industry over the last five years (towing legislation, low exchange rates, high fuel costs and floods) can existing caravan sites diversify into glamping?

Centre for Alternative Technology (CAT)

The Centre For Alternative Technology is an education and visitor centre demonstrating practical solutions for sustainability. Covering all aspects of green living: environmental building, ecosanitation, woodland management, renewable energy, energy efficiency and organic growing, CAT is a unique and valuable practical demonstration centre, boasting the largest range of installed renewable systems anywhere.

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Seminars: Sustainable Building Materials 1 – Straw and Timber Frame

Understand the variety of sustainable building materials you might use to set your glamping pod apart from the rest. A must go to talk if you want your glamping pod to appeal to an ecological conscious and discerning glamper looking for a unique experience. CAT experts will take you on a whistle-stop tour of 2 materials in particular straw bales and timber frame to see what’s creatively and structurally possible with these materials Other seminars by CAT ! Sustainable Building Materials 2 – Rammed Earth and Cob ! Solar Thermal ! Wind power ! Solar PV ! Compost Loos ! Reedbeds and Waste Water Management

Katrina Boydon - Barnutopia

Katrina Boydon spent ten years in the United States as vice president and head of web content and media operations for a successful Silicon Valley media and marketing company. She managed web presence efforts for hundreds of brands and thousands of websites generating qualified online leads for business to consumer and business to business clients. In 2014, she moved back to Britain to set up a yurt glamping site with her husband and four children.

Seminars: Building Barnutopia

Barnutopia Luxury Glamping opened in June 2015 with three fully furnished yurts. By mid-July the yurts were fully booked through to the end of August and the site continued to take bookings through the autumn and winter, establishing itself as a year-round glamping venue. This is a first-hand account of how they built Barnutopia. Other seminars by Katrina ! Choosing the Best Booking System ! The www of Web Presence

Speaker profiles

Towergate Insurance Stephen Bennett Working in the insurance industry for over 10 years with experience ranging from motor traders, professional indemnity through to the military. Stephen is now proud to be delving into the diverse world of site operators.

Seminar: Glamping Through the Eyes of an Insurer

A discussion about the differences between a caravan and glamping pod, and a tent and a yurt, and what you can do to reduce your business risks. In this session we will explore what practical and achievable measures that site owners can take to help reduce insurance exposures and better protect their businesses.

Clear Sky Safari - Mark Scott

Clear Sky Company Director Mark Scott has over 20 years experience in the Holiday industry, specialising in systems, customer trends and data analysis for the UK Caravan Parks and Camping sector.

Seminar: Your Guide to Getting into Glamping

We’ll take you through everything you need to know about setting up a glamping business from planning permission and where to locate your safari tents to marketing and setting up a website.

destined for landfill. Max still heads up the business with support from a skilled team of designers and fabricators. Having featured on George Clarke’s Amazing Spaces in 2012 Max is now sharing his time between managing Reestore, designing lots of fantastic new products, sipping lattes in his upcycled shipping container office in his back garden and most recently as a TV presenter on Channel 4.

Seminar topics: Design, Amazing Spaces Philip Wright

Philip and his wife Avril are still in the process of establishing their glamping business in Shropshire. You can read about their experiences in this issue on pages 38 and 39.

Seminar topic: Planning Harper Landscape Architecture LLP (HLA) Nick Harper Nick is a chartered landscape architect with over 25 years professional experience and he is a partner of HLA. He has worked on many amazing projects during his time and has developed a depth of experience with leisure and tourism sites of differing scales from a large scale quarry site with hundreds of log cabins in Somerset to a small scale glamping field with 12 tents in the High Weald in East Sussex.

Seminar topic: Landscape Design for Glamping Sites

More than that we’ll also show you how to make your site special – from hot tubs to rooms with a view, we’ll look at what guests want from their glamping experience and how you can stay a step ahead of the competition.

Nick will speak about how to search out and utilise the landscape potential of a site to maximise interest for glamping visitors and how this could enhance the local landscape and ecological interest to create long term sustainable sites.

Roundhouse Yurts - Tina Hyde

Neil Warren Support Neil Warren

Tina Hyde owns and runs Roundhouse Yurts and together with her partner Jeremy Daffern, a trained cabinet maker and antique furniture restorer, they hire out their craftsman made yurts for weddings and parties nationwide from their base at the foot of the Black Mountains near Hay on Wye.

Seminar: Yurts, a Great Glamping Business Max McMurdo

Max McMurdo established Reestore ltd in 2003 when he became uneasy at the consumptionfocused ways of the traditional design world. He set about manufacturing a range of high-end desirable furniture items created from waste

Neil has spent a career focussed on working to make tourism have a better impact, from one-to-one business advice to working on regional and national initiatives. Five years ago, when working on one such initiative with a shoestring budget he stumbled into video making just as YouTube was taking off. Overtime this has grown into a video production and support for award winning tourism businesses and organisations like Quality in Tourism and South West Coast Path which now takes place alongside his work on green/ sustainable tourism.

Seminar Topic: Going Green without Selling Out or Turning Off

Judging how to communicate your green credentials can be tricky? You want them to add appeal and inspire customers but are scared they’ll alienate and annoy. This seminar will provide practical tips and advice of how to strike the perfect balance drawing on examples from those making it work. Other Seminars: Video: Making the Most of the Moving Image For a complete list of speakers and seminars visit www.theglampingshow.com/glamping-show-seminars

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