S2 Ep.5 – How We’d Start a Glamping Site From Scratch in 2026

  In this episode of The Glamping Business Roundup, hosts Vicki Jones and John Maddy explore a big question many aspiring operators ask: 

If we were starting a glamping business today, what would we do differently? 

Drawing on years of industry experience, they share honest insights into site planning, guest expectations, marketing strategies, and the lessons learned from running their own businesses. From wildlife-proofing structures to deciding the ideal number of units, this episode is packed with practical advice for anyone dreaming of starting – or improving – a glamping site. 

Along the way, Vicki and John also share behind-the-scenes stories from their own sites, discuss the realities of staffing and operations, and imagine what their “dream glamping site” would look like if they were starting again in 2026. 

Whether you're researching a future glamping project or already running a site, this episode offers real-world tips, industry trends, and plenty of honest reflections.  

💡 In This Episode We Discuss 

• What we would prioritise when starting a glamping site in 2026
• Why location can make or break a glamping business
• Choosing the right structures – domes, cabins, tents, and more
• Deciding the ideal size of a glamping site
• The balance between luxury experiences vs affordable stays
• Guest-favourite features like hot tubs, saunas, outdoor baths and cinemas
• Wildlife challenges and how to protect your structures
• Why simple, proven solutions often beat expensive custom builds
• The importance of great staff and team chemistry
• Marketing strategies including social media storytelling, OTAs, PR and awards
• Designing for accessibility and inclusive guest experiences
• The biggest mistakes to avoid when building a glamping site

 For our next episode we would love to feature your crazy guest stories so send them over to us at glampingpodcast@gmail.com 

Thanks so much for listening. 

To find out more about how GITA can help you and your glamping business then visit www.gitauk.org or find us on the socials...

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LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/glamping-industry-trade-association-uk

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Welcome to the Glamping Business Roundup, the podcast where we grab a cupper, dive into the glamping world and get straight and honest practical stuff.

SPEAKER_01 0:06

I'm John Maddy.

SPEAKER_00 0:08

And I'm Vicky Jones. Every week we're here to share the latest stories, tough lessons, and crucial conversations from inside the glamping industry.

SPEAKER_01 0:14

Before we jump in, a quick nod to our partners. This podcast is brought to you in association with the Glamping Industries Trade Association, Gita. They are the voice and the support system of our entire sector.

SPEAKER_00 0:26

So whether you're battling laundry, figuring out your next investment, or just need a dose of relatable insight, you're exactly where you need to be. So um how's it going, John? We've just had a little bit of a chat before we started recording and we're both very stressed.

SPEAKER_01 0:38

Yeah. Yeah. It's uh it's it's a busy, busy time of the year, isn't it, Vicky?

SPEAKER_00 0:44

Yeah. Well, we turned the water on yesterday and that did not go well.

SPEAKER_01 0:49

Because Yeah, did you have a few leaks?

SPEAKER_00 0:51

Yeah. So normally we shut it down the end of the year, we suck everything out with a wet vac so that every ounce of water is out of the whole of the pipe system, like kilometres of water pipe, and turn the water back on yesterday, and I managed to get one dome out six on because mice have chewed through one of my 15mm speed fit pipes in one of the domes. So I turned the water on and I just hear that the worst hand. So I'm gonna have to replace that's all under a deck, so I'm gonna have to take the deck up, obviously. And then um another one I couldn't put on because the toilet is out, because I had to replace the toilet floor because that had gone rotten. Another one, two bits of uh plastic that was sheared, so I've got to just replace it with plastic bits. The other one, the toilet system's leaking, so wherever the washers are that's on the cistern, that's dripping. So it was just like every single one there was just something little that needed to be sorted out. And I want to get cleaning it. I can't clean it without water, so I was uh annoyed yesterday.

SPEAKER_01 1:51

Oh, what a nightmare! And these, you know, it's it's always the same, isn't it? One of them jobs may take ten minutes or may take two hours.

SPEAKER_02 2:01

Yeah. You never know.

SPEAKER_01 2:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 2:04

And then it's just buying, it's just spending money, like it's a hundred quid here and a hundred quid there, and it's never less than a hundred pounds. And why is it never less than a hundred pounds anymore?

SPEAKER_01 2:14

Yeah. Yeah. It's uh it's it's a time where you feel like you're hemorrhaging money.

SPEAKER_02 2:20

Yes. Oh yes.

SPEAKER_01 2:21

A time where you're running potentially on vapours anyway. You're not if you're not all you know, to get if you don't go through the whole year, you know, you close over winter. So it's uh yeah Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 2:37

And I did the silly thing of in January I set our deposits to£10, so I did a like£10 deposit offer. So everyone booked their holidays with only£10. So we've got like this piddly amount of money of just people's deposits, and we're not gonna get anything until two weeks before the Easter kickoff. So we might start getting some money in the next like week or so, maybe. But honestly, it's bad times at the minute.

SPEAKER_01 3:00

And are you are you how are you finding bookings? Are you finding them steady? Are you finding them slow?

SPEAKER_00 3:08

They at the moment slow, so they were all right, like because we get a lot of people book when they leave for the next year. So we kind of get our bulk of bookings in, but then where there's all the gaps, these gaps just aren't filling. So, like Easter, we've got the two weeks of Easter holidays, and they're they're coming in so painfully slowly, and then people are booking them, but they're booking them through me and then not paying yet, and then they're like, Oh, yeah, I am definitely gonna pay, and like, okay, like I will keep the booking in there, but please can you pay?

SPEAKER_02 3:36

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 3:37

So it's just it's just painfully slow. So we're we're all right for Easter. Like, we've probably got a full week full, but then not much in the next week, and then we we booked the last weekend of Easter off and thought, Sodo, we're gonna go away for the weekend. Just because life's too short, right? We just need to do some fun stuff. And um, and again, we were chatting before we started recording about John's little weekend away, he had to try and get a bit of relaxation and he ended up damaging yourself.

SPEAKER_01 4:05

Blinding we've got to you've got to fight for that time off right now, haven't you? Yeah, exactly. It's it's so important, but you sometimes you you don't know how you're gonna squeeze it in, but when it's kind of forced upon you, should we say?

SPEAKER_00 4:24

Well, like being an A.

SPEAKER_01 4:26

Yeah, like being A and E, yeah, yeah. Yeah, a simple walk in the forest turns into a uh blunt branch trauma to the eyeball and then and then off to off to the opticians with a with a an emergency referral to the the eye department uh A and E. So yeah, it wasn't wasn't the the most joyfulest day off, but also when I'm trying to claw back a a day off back at work, it buggers the next day up as well. But you know, fortunately I've still got my sight, so all good.

SPEAKER_00 5:02

Yeah, definitely. Was Rich sympathetic or not?

SPEAKER_01 5:06

Oh yeah, yeah, he uh he was sympathetic, yeah. Yeah, I think it it made kind of him slow down as well because some of the jobs it needs both of us to do this time of year, so it was kind of forced upon him to chill out as well, which was probably quite nice. So yeah.

SPEAKER_00 5:23

Yeah. And you're open now, aren't you?

SPEAKER_01 5:26

Yes, yeah, we are open. Uh we're open on the campsite. Um we're not open in the yurts yet. So we've uh I think next week we open in the yurts, and as of tomorrow, Vicky, we are legally allowed to sell alcohol.

SPEAKER_00 5:48

You've got your license and everything.

SPEAKER_01 5:50

Yeah, so so that's super exciting.

SPEAKER_00 5:53

And then we can celebrate we pint.

SPEAKER_01 5:56

We do, yeah, yeah, we're definitely gonna have one. Yeah, the the the guy um I mean we're not opening tomorrow anyway, but um the the seller guys in tomorrow finishing off. So we will have beers on tap being served for our own enjoyment tomorrow. And we're having we're having a a little kind of local soft opening next just to say thank you to everyone that's kind of helped us on the site and helped us get the bar ready and supported us through that. So um so that's uh that's quite quite nice to look forward to.

SPEAKER_00 6:34

Yeah, definitely. All that hard work.

SPEAKER_01 6:37

Yeah, yeah, there's still a little bit to go. But um but it's it's just it's been it's funny, isn't it? When you when you when you work for yourself, especially on a glamping site, you just feel like you're in the trenches all the time, especially with like you just saying about you know having to rip up the deck in to sort out the plumbing. So you you know, fundamentally you want to you want to get in there and clean and open up. You've got to do all these extra jobs. Well with the bar, it's just been an absolute pleasure from start to finish. I've just really enjoyed it. I've enjoyed the work, I've enjoyed just back to creating and creating a a nice space. And I think it's probably because there's a beer at the end of it.

SPEAKER_02 7:20

That definitely has.

SPEAKER_01 7:21

Yeah, but it's just been you know, playing to the the the strength of the the building and you know, just complementing the character, yeah, it's pretty, pretty cool. So we're calling it the cow shed, our new pub. So that's that's cool. Yeah, that's cool. Excited about that. And uh I'm just trying to source a really big old cowbell at the moment for our last orders bell.

SPEAKER_02 7:49

Excellent.

SPEAKER_01 7:50

So that's uh yeah, that's well, on the agenda at the moment to try and find. And I've got uh I'll send you some pickies, but uh I just did a an install today, so we've got a tap wall at the back built into the wall at the back, where some of our cask, sorry, our keg, our keg beers are. So we've got a local brewery supplying us with really nice like Brevarian style lager and like a stout similar to Guinness, so a fairly good, easy drinking stout. And I built that into the wall there, but what I've done is I've I've cladded it where the taps come out the wall with um with artificial grass. So it's kind of uh yeah, yeah, it looks it looks brilliant.

SPEAKER_02 8:34

Oh yeah, I didn't know.

SPEAKER_01 8:35

I thought it was genius it was, yeah. So yeah, that's that's been great. Um just just little bits and pieces like that, putting in um putting the the pint pulls and yeah, it's been been super exciting. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 8:49

Good. Oh yeah, I got my own pictures.

SPEAKER_01 8:51

Yeah, and we've had new staff start yesterday and today. So we're just kind of going through all the onboarding with them. So that's kind of put us out for a for a couple of days doing that. But it's lovely to to get new new fresh blood into the into the family and yeah, get get them get them up to speed round site, and yeah, they're really good folk, and I think they'll fit in really well. Because I'm I'm you know, I'm sure you're you're in the same boat, you know, with that group of friends that you you employ as well. Is that it's not just about finding the right person to do the job, it's finding the right person to fit in with the staff that you've got. Because you become a family, and if they're not the right fit, it throws the whole chemistry out.

SPEAKER_00 9:41

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 9:41

So we we we try and find a bit, you know, we we sorry, we we spend our spend the time trying to find the right characters and personalities to fit into that, and then we kind of scribe in the abilities outside uh, you know, on top of that after. So yeah.

SPEAKER_00 9:58

Yeah, because I feel like most people are mouldable into for the kind of jobs that we're doing, like a lot of it's cleaning and a lot of it's general maintenance and stuff like that. Most people are kind of mouldable, aren't they? So I think finding the right character of a person who's gonna fit in with the current team definitely definitely is step one. And so I I don't ever advertise any positions, I just approach people who I think might be the right fit and persuade them into doing the funnest job of their lives.

SPEAKER_01 10:28

That's it, yeah. From what you've told me, uh you know, I'd it'd be great spending a day down doing all them jobs on your site. So I'll be I'll be well up for it. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 10:41

It's hilarious. Well, when you come down for the summit, you'll meet Hazel and Emma because they'll be working on on that because we're gonna need all hands on deck on that spring summit day, I think. Um they'll be working as well. So uh yeah, you'll you'll meet them and you'll see why it's such a love.

SPEAKER_01 10:58

Yeah, yeah. Yeah, brilliant, brilliant. That sounds great. Yeah. I'll I'll see if I can bring some some beer samples down with me as well.

SPEAKER_00 11:07

Yeah, definitely. Because we don't have the bar open. So I need to uh I need to work out what we're gonna stock in our bar for that summit day because we've got the Monday night. I'm a bit worried we're gonna have too much of a heavy night on the Monday night and then not be on it on Tuesday. So we have to rein ourselves in on the Monday night.

SPEAKER_01 11:23

We do. And also I've got well, it was Rich's idea this was, not mine, but I've got a pre-stag stag the weekend before the summit, and we come straight out of that onto the summit. So it's what's a pre-stag stag?

SPEAKER_00 11:38

What's this about?

SPEAKER_01 11:39

Well, I d I don't know. I don't know. It it said we needed a pre-stag stag. Yeah. So we're going to we are going to paddle the spay in Scotland.

SPEAKER_00 11:51

Oh, wow, okay.

SPEAKER_01 11:52

With a with a bunch of uh friends from the lakes. Yeah, and we'll yeah, yeah, there's about six of us, I think, going up and uh yeah, beers, fires, sleeping in hammocks.

SPEAKER_00 12:04

Nice, okay.

SPEAKER_01 12:07

Yeah, it'd be great.

SPEAKER_00 12:08

Okay, so you get back from that on the Sunday and then you're coming down to me on the Monday.

SPEAKER_01 12:12

That's right.

SPEAKER_00 12:12

Oh right, okay. You're gonna be shattered by Definitely, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 12:16

It'd be all good. All good.

SPEAKER_00 12:18

Yeah, oh it'll be fun. I'm looking forward to it. And uh you and you and Rich are gonna do a workshop, aren't you? Like an ask us anything kind of thing.

SPEAKER_01 12:26

Definitely, yeah. And um absolutely fine. You put me on the spot. You can ask ask absolutely anything.

SPEAKER_00 12:33

Yeah, yeah, that'll be really good, I think.

SPEAKER_01 12:35

Yeah. And then are we are we recording there as well?

SPEAKER_00 12:37

Are we gonna do uh we were thinking about doing a live podcast, weren't we?

SPEAKER_01 12:41

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 12:41

I haven't worked out the logistics of that. I think if we could do that, that'd be pretty cool.

SPEAKER_01 12:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 12:46

Um also I talked to Derry today when we had our board meeting that you were absent for.

SPEAKER_01 12:50

I know, I'm sorry about that. And sorry, everybody.

SPEAKER_00 12:54

He's on the steering committee for the landleisher and tourism show, and they're wanting to do some cool things there this year, and they're trying to build it bigger. And one of the things they're thinking about is doing a like a podcast streaming session in some speakeasy type thing they're gonna build. And so I said to Derry, Oh, can John and I do a record a podcast episode at the Land Leisure and Tourism Show. So um I'm hoping he's gonna put a word in and see if we can we can record an episode there.

SPEAKER_01 13:19

Well, being at the UK's premier glamping podcast.

SPEAKER_00 13:24

I'm not sure you can say that.

SPEAKER_01 13:26

We don't. Oh, right, okay. Sorry. Sorry for whoever whoever is.

SPEAKER_00 13:30

Uh yeah, I don't know who is. Well, probably Sarah Riley, maybe.

SPEAKER_01 13:34

Well, yeah, she's got some good listeners. Yeah. Yeah. We're not up there yet. However, Vicky, we did pass or surpass the thousand download mark. I know, it's weird about that. I know, and given that most of our episodes are are about an hour long, that's a thousand hours that people have put up with both of us. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, it is.

SPEAKER_00 13:59

Yeah. Well, uh well, given that we're so in the thick of the businesses at the moment and stressing because it's opening time and it's all very, very stressful, I thought today's episode should be a bit about a fantasy and a bit of escapism and and what we would do if we were to start all over again. If your business burnt the ground, or if you suddenly came into a load of money, or if you didn't have a site and you were just gonna start from scratch in 2026, what would you do? Just as a bit of a like, you know, maybe for some new people listening who want to start a site, they can take all of our learnings and think, okay, well, maybe this is the way it should go. I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 14:43

Yeah. Get get a full-time job and do it.

SPEAKER_00 14:47

Well, I was just thinking there, like, oh, if somebody just gave me some money to invest in something, would it be a glamping business? I think I'd just put it into funds. I'd just invest it in uh I'm pretty sure if we'd have invested the amount we've spent on this glamping site into some kind of compounding interest funds, we'd be laughing.

SPEAKER_01 15:05

Yeah, I think so. Yeah, yeah, absolutely, yeah, yeah, probably.

SPEAKER_00 15:10

But where would the fun be in that?

SPEAKER_01 15:12

Well, I was just about to say exactly the same thing, Vicky. You know, we would be battling for time off. Hang on a minute. We we are battling for time off. We'd be we'd be arguing with our managers for raises, you know, and not not getting paid enough.

SPEAKER_00 15:31

And uh familiar, yeah. We'd be bored. We'd be bored.

SPEAKER_01 15:37

We absolutely would be. And the fact that you know, rip certainly Rich and I have built that business around our respective families and the kids growing up and being able to pick them up from school and go and see, you know, performances and and all of that sort of stuff, you know, is is worth its weight in gold, really. So um yeah.

SPEAKER_00 15:58

Yeah, it's a lifestyle business, isn't it?

SPEAKER_01 16:00

It absolutely is, yeah. Yeah, it absolutely is.

SPEAKER_00 16:03

You're gonna start a glamper business in 2026. What are you gonna do?

SPEAKER_01 16:06

Yeah. So I mean, let's let's start at the top, you know, where where where is it gonna be?

SPEAKER_00 16:14

Well, yeah, where is it gonna be? I mean, you're in such a good location, LA district.

SPEAKER_01 16:18

Yeah, and and for me, if I had if I had the choice, location, location, location. Um so yeah, it you know, I think I think location does at least 50% of your marketing for you, having the right location. So, you know, we've been privy to to that that working th for us in the lakes or the peak district, and having your lumping location in the right spot, you you're hitting the ground running, really. So finding that perfect location, honeypot area, you you can't go wrong. So if it was me, I would I'd probably go back to some of the sites that I started on, to be fair. Get get rid of the people that that may may have been running them at the start, but uh yeah, yeah, working with them partners. But yeah, I think um I think that'd be yeah, kind of Windermere, Keswick, umbull side, that that type of um areas for me. Or yeah, down if we were looking kind of honeypot areas and yeah, any anywhere kind of down south, Cornwall, south, yeah, southwest, or or into Wales, North Wales, you know, um south southwest, something like that.

SPEAKER_00 17:40

Yeah. I spoke to some people at the clamping show who had got some land near where the new Universal Studio is going to be built, and they're gonna be building a camping site within spitting distance of that massive brand new theme park.

SPEAKER_02 17:54

And I thought why is that yicky?

SPEAKER_00 17:56

It's like Bedford, somewhere like that.

SPEAKER_02 17:58

Right, okay, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 17:59

Middlish. So I thought, well, you know, if if you know there's a massive attraction like that coming, that is a good shout too.

SPEAKER_02 18:05

Yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 18:07

And then, I mean, if it was me, I'd probably go and start one in America because there's so much space out there. Whenever we go out to the States and you talk to glumping site owners, uh, oh, I've got 200 acres here, and I've got 500 acres here, and like their acreage is just huge, and they've just got you know, they've massive ranch style houses, and and then nice up just feels like there's so much more opportunity for glumping out there, and the climate is drier, so you can have cooler, like, you know, there's like wagons, like the Plainscraft ones, and like they're just the Conestoga wagons, and like that kind of thing is just I'd love to do that kind of proper glumping with the with the canvas that doesn't go green because it's not damp all the flipping dime.

SPEAKER_02 18:51

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 18:53

Um, okay, so we've sorted out the location.

SPEAKER_02 18:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 18:57

Now I guess you'd want to think like how much land do you need? Because some people, you know, they'll do it in their back garden, they'll just have a a pod in their back garden. Some people will go for like a couple of hundred acres and have a small part of it as a camping site and loads of space around. How much what's the optimum do you think? What would you be looking for?

SPEAKER_01 19:15

Sure, yeah. Oh, if if it was if it was me, I I'd kind of like yeah, where where we're at at the moment. It's it's a great number for us having four yurts. Whether I would choose yurts again, I don't know. Maybe maybe I'd look at a different structure, but four is our magic number. It it means that one person can clean all four in a changeover period, just the way we we have them lined out. So if I was just doing it on my own, then just be four yurts, and you can kind of, depending on your pricing structure, stay under the VAT threshold. There's there's there's loads of pluses and minuses to it all, but it really depends on what you're doing and where you're going. And you know, are you going for that kind of rural exclusive feel where you've got a small number of glamping units in a large area so people have got space to explore and feel like they're on their own? Or do you want something that's super easy and super streamlined and kind of uniform so that it's super quick to change over? If you want a higher occupancy turnover, like your kind of your single night stays or your two-night stays, and you just want to be in and out, or you just want to outsource it to a cleaner and make the space super easy to manage. It's it's an interesting one. What are you what are you leaning to?

SPEAKER_00 20:45

So we've actually talked quite a lot about this, Mick Brown and I, about if we sold traps and cream as it is now in Somerset, we'd probably go and find somewhere in Devon, because my sister's just moved down to Devon. And um we we're looking at like at least 20 acres, and that's because uh we've got seven acres here, but we have got neighbours, like we've got a farm next door, we've got neighbours down the lane, like not like close neighbours, but there are people that it would disturb if there was like a massive party. They're all they're pretty good, so it's not an issue, but just sometimes you just want to make as much noise as you want to and not worry. So I'm thinking like 20 acres, then you can kind of put the noise-making stuff in the middle of that, and then you're not definitely not disturbing anybody. And then I'd be thinking, like I at the moment we've got six, seven if you count our cottage as well. I think in order to I'm I'm torn, would I do one like super high end luxury like tree house that then because sometimes I feel like you've got one tree house, you're probably earning as much with that one tree house as we're earning with six domes because of our price point and our demographic. So part of me is like, oh, would you just go one really high end and then it's you've got like one bed. To change. I mean, good grief, how amazing that would be. And the cleaning's easier. And or do you go like, okay, we've got 20 acres, we're going to put on like 15 units and like totally maximise the revenue. Because you think like once you're doing one, you may as well just do 15, you know. So yeah. If I was going for the quieter kind of, you know, when I'm thinking about retirement, whenever that may come.

SPEAKER_02 22:20

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 22:21

And like go for the like high-end one. And then, but if I was like full blown into the business, just blitz that VAT threshold, do it all year round, I'd be thinking like 15.

SPEAKER_01 22:31

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I think it's, you know, I see like Sarah's treehouse. And I'm like, blown away, you know, absolutely stunning. And I get, I get that, you know. And I like Sean at one acre.

SPEAKER_00 22:46

Well they're stunning too, aren't they?

SPEAKER_01 22:48

Oh my goodness. You know, absolutely stunning. Stunning. And I I I really see the the strength in having a small number of units, but but done to, you know, top spec. You've got you've got less people to deal with on site. But there's more riding on that. The there's there's market fluctuations, you know, the the charging top it, top whack, the changeovers obviously a lot more, but you can really go to town on that space, curate it. There's there's bags of um ideas around, you know, experience, and you can really pull in that and you're not having to create multiples of the same thing. So it's it's a lot easier to manage one set of guests than it is, as you say, you know, 15 or something. Um it's a funny one. I you know, I I I like the top end stuff, I think it's brilliant. And if I had the choice, I would probably go for a smaller number. So I'd go, yeah, between you know one and four. If I'm just looking for me, you know. Obviously, Rich is out on his ass. He can do whatever he wants. But um, yeah, if there was uh if there was a choice, I'd probably keep it a smaller number and you've got you've got the the best of both worlds there. Yeah, if you were doing yurts, for example, like us, you could sustain a an income on a small number of yurts fairly easily, but then you could go top end and but you'd obviously end up spending a lot more on the on the unit, wouldn't you?

SPEAKER_00 24:30

And you've always done like a combination camping and glamping, haven't you? Would you stick with the camping? Would you always do camping alongside the glamping?

SPEAKER_01 24:38

Well, we've always worked on campsites that have had the camping provision, so we've kind of always been used to that. Um we ha we haven't owned our own campsite until just a few years ago. But now we've got the figures and we see how much you can make from a bit of grass. I say a bit of grass in the loosest sense of the word because I always thought it was just a bit of grass until I bought that bit of grass, and now it's a black hole of uh of sand, soil, seed, really expensive seed.

SPEAKER_02 25:15

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 25:17

That I just spend my life thinking I'm some green keeper on a golf course, you know, it's just ridiculous. I always say, you know, with these things, it's like, oh yeah, if the shit hit the fan tomorrow, or at least I'd know, you know, I'd be able to take the ride on mower and just like get a job landscaping or something like that, you know. But uh, you could kind of hit the ground running with that. But yeah, it it costs a lot, but for for the least hassle, it's quite a nice complementary for what we offer anyway. You know, we're offering a a lower, lower type of lower end of the market glamping experience. The camping really fits in with that. But if you look at something like I suppose there's a company out there called Kip and Nook, they're based in uh Yorkshire, kind of northeast um type type area. They have higher-end kind of cabin style clamping units, and they also have some quite exclusive pitches, and then pitches come with a hot tub, some of them. So they're like hard standing pitches, so you can drive up with your camper van.

SPEAKER_00 26:31

Oh wow.

SPEAKER_01 26:32

Um, and you've got you've you've got a hot tub there, and then they've got like an open, an open-fronted barn, I believe, that you can kind of go in and there's some games. I think you can have breakfast in there in the morning, and it's more of a curated experience. It sounds amazing. We've we've tried to get in there a few times, but dates-wise, it just hasn't hasn't worked. But you know, they're kind of charging a fairly reasonable amount just for a hard standing pitch without a hot tub. Certainly more than what we're charging on our site. So it it just shows you that the two can work together really well and bring in fairly good additional income for for not that much more, really. So yeah.

SPEAKER_00 27:14

We've kind of talked about what structures. I mean, so we've had yet, we tried the bell tents, we've settled on domes, but that was because our plan of mission would only allow us canvas structures. So I do think next time, ah, next time, not there's not oh, I don't know next time, but my thoughts are I would go for something that's all year round, solid, insulated. This this is I feel bad doing shout-outs. Should I do a shout-out? I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 27:44

Yeah, do a shout-out.

SPEAKER_00 27:45

So I really like the coal bunker, um, Chris's coal bunker. Really like those. I could definitely see it.

SPEAKER_01 27:51

If you're listening, following me. Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_00 27:54

Um he's coming down to pick one with a burner in a couple of weeks. So um I'll talk to him then.

SPEAKER_01 28:02

Yeah. Um, brilliant. But I look I love them. I think they're lovely, Vicky. I think what they're doing there's yeah, super nice. Yeah, it's super nice.

SPEAKER_00 28:12

And I'd also did like the Burrow's from um show, dig little hobbit holes into the into the ground. Dan at Breed and View. Oh, we're doing so many shout-outs today.

SPEAKER_01 28:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 28:22

Here's a lovely.

SPEAKER_01 28:23

Oh, they are, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 28:25

So um I'd that's that's the kind of thing I'd be going for next. Like cabin y, more solid structures, I think. I love the domes, and they're so great for, you know, it's not a hugely expensive structure to start with. So you and I love the round space, like the yurts. I I do really love being in a round space. But yeah, just for a bit of variety next time around. That's what I'm thinking.

SPEAKER_01 28:46

Yeah, like it. Yeah, we um I'd I'd go solid. Not not that I don't like my yurts, but I've been doing them for 18 years now.

SPEAKER_00 28:56

Yeah, you're not fed up with a start of a year.

SPEAKER_01 28:58

18 years at the end of this month, we'll be do we'll have done the yurts for our business and then yeah, been involved with them since about 2002, I think. So so yeah, it's uh I'd I'd yeah, I'm not saying it's time for a change now, but if it all burnt down tomorrow, then I'd probably go solid structure. I've got you know, I've got plans and ideas and designs for for a cabin. I'd go down the line of a cabin completely, completely off-grid, off-grid from from everything and all services as well, and just and you could put it put it in any anywhere really. So I'd I'd probably roll that that out and look at you know, a really exciting, unique cabin structure that was super exclusive and uh yeah, could could you know alone on a site or have yeah, small number of options for for probably couples. You know, I love I love families and we've been doing family holidays, but the couples market, you know, um yeah, I'll probably do that. I say now because it's just just easy. It's just easy.

SPEAKER_00 30:11

My thoughts are it's one bed, it's one bed. Every single drone, we've got two doubles and a single, or a double and bunk beds, and there's just so many beds to change. I think ah, if I'd have just gone couples, they'd come in the midweeks and term time, they would just use one bed, yeah, and life might be a little bit easier.

SPEAKER_02 30:32

This is it.

SPEAKER_00 30:33

But then we just went for the demographic that we knew. We were our own demographic, therefore it was quite easy for us to market. Had we started it when we were in our 20s, pre-kids, maybe we would have gone for that demographic and we would have understood it. And now I'm thinking if we sold the site now, started something new, we're in that kind of the kids are getting older demographic, and we want to go away without them, or that kind of thing. So I think then you you change, don't you? And then you think, oh yeah, I could go for those the older couples that have got more disposable income and they go for walks and hikes and bird watching and that kind of god I'm saying, so old.

SPEAKER_01 31:06

I think it's a space, a space that that's multi-functional or multi-generational, isn't it? And uh that's what's great about I think our units is that it lends itself with lots of different types of group. Um whereas whereas with some accommodation you're more restricted. That's that you know, if you're happy with that, then yeah, you know, less hassle. Or it could be a secret ploy by ourselves, Vicky, to put you know, would-be glamping uh business enthusiasts off the scent of family holidays so we get all the business.

SPEAKER_00 31:44

That's what did cross my mind as well.

SPEAKER_02 31:46

Yeah, never take families.

SPEAKER_01 31:51

Yeah, definitely. Yeah, but um I think that, yeah, I I'm I'm all the same, same as you. I go cabin style, couples, yeah, brilliant.

SPEAKER_00 32:03

And then what kind of features are you putting in it? Are you going for the full-blown hot tub, sauna, cold plunge, outdoor shower, massage parlour, like everything?

SPEAKER_01 32:12

Well, easy. Yeah, I I would I would definitely go sauna. I think sauna and hot tub go together really well, or the sauna and the cold plunge go together really well. Um if you've ever been into a space and you you you've used a hot tub, as long as as long as it's you know, if you've got um a superheater or a uh a style of water heater that will um will will take all the hassle out of heating it up for you, brilliant. It makes it so accessible. To be honest, I'd probably go for something like a bath. If it's a couple, you probably wouldn't, you know, a nice bath. I've got a I've got a cheeky uh water recirculation and filtration system that I'd be able to reuse the water. So I wouldn't be I wouldn't be too bothered about it going going down the drain or into a holding tank at least, anyways. Um so I'd probably go for some sort of bath rather than a hot tub. But I'd love, yeah, I'd love to get to get a sauna in there.

SPEAKER_00 33:12

The problem with the bath is that on the OTAs, there is no box to tick for an outdoor bath. There is a box to tick for a hot tub, and people then search by hot tub, but people don't search by outdoor baths. I feel like we need to like Airbnb, sort yourselves out, get outdoor bath as one of your options. Because I think they're so much better than hot tubs for a million different reasons. And I think they need to they need to have that as an option for people to tick because it's just as good as a hot tub and so much easier.

SPEAKER_01 33:43

I think you're right. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 33:44

Connections Airbnb. If anyone's got any connection with Airbnb, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 33:49

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 33:49

I mean, we've not gone down the route of a sauna. Weirdly enough, I've got a sauna sat in our carport that my dad bought in 1982. My dad's been dead for two years, and uh it's still sat in my carport. Um, because it went down to our house in France and then um it came back to the UK, and then it's come like 15 years ago, it came to our house in Somerset, and it's just literally sat there. And now I'm thinking now's the time to get it out, but now I'm thinking also it's like 40 years old, so is it gonna be any good? So we're gonna build it and probably use it as a log store and just see see when we build it if it's worth salvaging or not. But it's got like the burner electric plug-in, burner jobby, and everything. It's probably completely efficient. Yeah, we were totally on trend back in the 80s.

SPEAKER_01 34:36

Yeah, sounds it. That sounds really cool. Yeah. They were like before they were cool. That's that's how yeah.

SPEAKER_00 34:43

That's how cool my dad was back in the day.

SPEAKER_01 34:45

Yeah, yeah. Awesome.

SPEAKER_00 34:47

But yeah, so saunas definitely. I would put in, I'd put in all the bells and whistles in my in my cabins. So I've seen on Instagram, and I know it was completely AI generated, somebody had sunk a container into the ground and then created like a an underground cinema room.

SPEAKER_01 35:05

Oh wow. That's awesome.

SPEAKER_00 35:08

So like things I'm blowing the budget here. Like my budget is hundreds of thousands of pounds. Yeah, for this.

SPEAKER_02 35:15

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 35:16

So yeah, and then um, I mean, back to basics, would you always make sure there's an ensuite bathroom or what are your feelings on like shared bathrooms? Would you scrap the shared bathroom thing or would you would you always go ensuite?

SPEAKER_01 35:29

For the cabins, I'd have everything on suite. Yeah. I would I would build I would build everything in into the space um so that they they they could just essentially like a mini hotel room, really.

SPEAKER_00 35:42

Yeah. Did you see Coal Bunker's hotel room that they had at the Glamping Show? So it was it was like so they had their cabin and then they had their basically a hotel room.

SPEAKER_01 35:50

So it was just a room with a deck and a lot of things.

SPEAKER_00 35:57

Yeah, I'd love to create like an outdoor hotel where it was just rooms like that, but outside, and then you had like a restaurant on site and a swimming pool. Oh, swimming pool too. I've really blown the budget here.

SPEAKER_01 36:07

Yeah, it'd be amazing.

SPEAKER_00 36:09

Swimming pool and a like spa complex.

SPEAKER_01 36:13

Yeah. It sounds ace. Yeah, all over it.

SPEAKER_00 36:18

It does, isn't it? So you built this beautiful site. How are you marketing it?

SPEAKER_01 36:24

Now, am I going for ease after what we talked about last week and saying I'm just gonna stick it on Airbnb and that's it? Or is it gonna be more of a risky experience where you know we've got a bit of a hybrid model? Or if it's super exclusive, then you could potentially go for the the you know the the viral sensation and and and you know go go 100% direct.

SPEAKER_00 36:56

Yeah, I'd definitely be going hybrid. I'd I would be getting on the social media from the very outset, like before I'd built anything, I'd be documenting the whole thing. I would put the whole build and like I don't know, mock-ups of what it's gonna look like and taking the people on the journey about what it's gonna be and getting them invested in the story of how it's come about. Yeah, so I think I'd definitely do that. I'd definitely get a good booking system, good website, list on all the OTAs. Uh what do I do? PR. Now that's a really difficult one. PR can be so expensive, and you think like, is it better just to pay that commission on the OTAs to get you out to all these different people? And if you're gonna get loads of bookings that way, then do you want to spend thousands on PR that might not? You might get in the times in the top 25 glamping sites, whatever, but yeah, is that gonna have longevity?

SPEAKER_01 37:53

Yeah, I mean, I I think I think it in the short term it gets you off the ground, doesn't it? It's something you can stick on the website. I think people want, you know, more informed decisions, isn't it? It's you know, you've won an award for this, you've been featured in so and so, you know, The Guardian, The Times. The people people love that. You go onto a site and you go, you know, it's been approved by Mum's Net or things like that. It makes you think, okay, yeah, I'm gonna I'm gonna book with these these guys. They they seemed they seem legit.

SPEAKER_00 38:25

Yeah. That gives you a bit of credibility, doesn't it?

SPEAKER_01 38:27

That's right. So I I I think it's good. I say I love, I never used to. Awards. I think you know, I I need to put in for more awards. I never get round to doing it. I I get the application sent to me and say, Look, John, you need to be putting in for these, you know, we really want to have your submission. And I'm like, Yeah, yeah, yeah, I'll get round to it. And I never do, but I think awards are brilliant. Um they they allow you to shout about about your business, they give you more structure of how you're gonna work, they they keep you um sense checked, and um especially if you're going for environmental or sustainable awards, then they allow you to kind of look at your business and and make sure that it's operating correctly, it gives you yeah, gives you a lot more information just just just by applying for them, really.

SPEAKER_00 39:23

Yeah, the feedback you get is great. So we've always done the Bristol Bath and Sumerset Tourism Award. This last year, so we did so we got silver, silver, silver, gold. Last year we dropped back down to silver, and I was mad. I was so disappointed. And the reason the main bulk of it was overaccessibility because we hadn't got a disabled unit, essentially, and we hadn't factored in ways to make our site more accessible. I I went down the route of talking about like the neurodiversity and that not all disabilities are necessarily somebody in a wheelchair.

SPEAKER_03 39:56

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 39:56

What they particularly wanted was that we were looking at people with low mobility and what we could do for them. We've got a holiday cottage that's all on one level and is fine for low mobility, but that isn't in the glamping category, so it couldn't be as part of the site for glamping. So we scored four out of ten on our accessibility, which is what dropped us down to not get the gold, which is fair enough. We're just we're in the middle of a field and it's really difficult to make stuff accessible to chairs in a field. So, but it did make me think, okay, well, maybe this is something we're gonna have to look at going forward, is that that's one thing that we our site is lacking. And this would be quite quite interesting to speak to. So Snowball, who um they appeared on Dragon's Den, they've got an app about that basically tells a person who's in a in a wheelchair or disabled or has a disability in general what places are good, so like restaurants to go to or uh holiday places to to visit or tourist attractions that are really wheelchair accessible um or just disability friendly. So we've got I think we've got a partnership with them now with Gita, and so they're offering a bit of a discount to get your site kind of looked at to see about disability. And I think they're gonna be at the summit as well. So that's interesting, I think. So I think again, if we were building our fantasy glamping site, I might create one specific disabled friendly unit that was wheelchairs and you know was was kind of factoring in that kind of that.

SPEAKER_01 41:25

Sure. I think it's great, great talk. I think there's a lot more that designers certainly around glamping structures or cabins could be really focusing on to incorporate less kind of what I would class as the traditional support mechanisms for physical d disabilities, and like the bars and you know, you go into uh a disabled toilet sometimes, it looks like you know, hospital room, doesn't it? And I remember once I went, I w I won't name the site, but this was it was quite a few years ago now, and this site was marketing the hell out of the fact that they had a an accessible pod. Um, and I walked over to it and I had a look inside. It it essentially had a hospital bed in there that would raise and lower inside the pod. It had all of these handrails, you know, white metal handrails that were completely out of keeping with anything inside the pod. Um just so it could, you know, in inverted commas be compliant space. Um it made it, I thought it's it's just it's not, it was not right. It just was not right. It was like a crap hotel room and and I was really disappointed to see it in all honesty. I was disappointed that you know that was a decision made by an organization, a group of people that had never camped. Um, you know, they probably none of them were disabled or physically disabled in any way. And I thought if anybody that is, you know, that has a physical disability that stays with them would probably feel embarrassed to stay there. And I think I think there's certain things there that could be incorporated into other spaces, absolutely, but together it was abysmal, really. Okay, so we've got we've got our ideas of our our structures, we've kind of nailed our locations down and numbers. We've looked at looked at kind of social media and how we might market it. And um So what you know, what are you wanting to avoid? So the things that you will never do again. So, you know, the things that you've done thinking I'm I'm I'm absolutely, you know, never gonna make that mistake ever again, you know, what what what would that look like for you?

SPEAKER_00 43:55

So is it I mean, our sites evolved so much that mainly I think I don't want to diss domes because I love the domes, but it's the things that cause me the major issues are the mice and the rabbits. And I think because they can get under the domes the way we've built them, and mice just get in anywhere, and over the winter it causes me so many issues. Like today with the flipping flipping pipe being chewed by a rabbit or a mouse or whatever. I just I feel like if the structure is sealed, do you know what I mean? Like it's a proper sealed structure. None of these, like guests do not like mice, they do not like spiders, um, they do not like insects of any kind, and you're in a field which is full of them. So that is I feel like that's my biggest mistake is not having a structure that is sealed from all these this wildlife that we love so much but causes so many issues. That's my like one thing. If I could do it again, I would just try and sort that that side of it out. Do you know what I mean? I don't know how to describe it. It's probably a mistake, but it's just a learning, I guess.

SPEAKER_01 44:57

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 44:59

My biggest headache.

SPEAKER_01 45:00

Absolutely get it. Yeah, I mean, we don't have problems with with mice or rabbits on site. We have moles, we have an issue with moles. But we I mean we certainly do, you know, we we're on a farm, so we do used to have mice and rats and things years ago, but we just um dare I say it, put the traps out.

SPEAKER_00 45:19

Like there's no way I could trap every single mouse in that field.

SPEAKER_01 45:22

No, I mean we just have pre pre-bated traps, they're like the rentkill style boxes.

SPEAKER_02 45:27

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 45:28

And they're absolutely brilliant of sorting all of that problem out.

SPEAKER_02 45:32

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 45:33

Just because we've got the food and everything, you know, we have a kind of a managed solution and and it definitely works. The other thing that you might consider getting is a cat.

SPEAKER_02 45:43

Yes, I have some.

SPEAKER_01 45:44

We have we have uh they're not we have a a business relationship, me and the cat on site. It's uh it there's two farm cats and they they just stayed on site when the when the other farmer and the family moved off off the site, the cat stayed because they used to live in the outbuildings, but they are really scraggy. They you know, you know, you wouldn't kids don't play with them, they're not they're not that type of pussy cat.

SPEAKER_02 46:12

Right, okay.

SPEAKER_01 46:14

But they they sleep in the barn, they they they look like my kind of hair when I wake up in the morning, you know, it's like kind of and they they keep the the mice population to near zero on the site, and it's fantastic. So I would I'm all for the natural, natural way, and that that that seems to work tremendously well for us.

SPEAKER_00 46:36

Okay, so if I could get a really big cat that would eat the bunnies too, that would be super helpful. I don't think there's anything I can get that the badges because they also cause me a lot of issues because they like to dig. One badger even stole an entire loaf of bread from somebody, and they were the guests were convinced it was somebody on side that'd come and taken their loaf of bread. And I bought them a new loaf of bread. It's like I'm really it definitely, I said it definitely isn't another human, it was a badger. And then the next day they saw the badger.

SPEAKER_01 47:03

So uh we've had squirrels. Squirrels have robbed food from tried to pull like like you know, a full loaf of bread out of one of the barns. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 47:15

They they they obviously have food waste bins as well. What about what about you, John? Have you had anything, any mistakes you'd avoid?

SPEAKER_01 47:22

Yeah, I think um too many people dealing with too many people.

SPEAKER_02 47:27

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 47:28

Um I think as I said last last last week, you know, we have we have a lot of customers now come through the doors, a lot of customers, and it's brilliant, you know, it keeps the cogs turning, absolutely fantastic. But um it's a pretty big machine to to keep it running. And um I yeah, I'd I'd scale back. I think I I I wouldn't get so big again, um, kind of all the ego years ago, and I just wanted to conquer the worlds. But actually, I think it comes with age, you just think there's enough space for everybody, and I just need my little bit, and that that's more than enough. I'm happy with that. So I don't think I'd make that mistake again. I'm just not you know bothered really with it uh to to do that sort of thing. But it's got us to where we got now, and obviously the work that I'm doing, consultancy work, etc. So happy with that. Um so yeah, I probably wouldn't make that mistake again. And I I would I don't know, it's different because getting into it now, you've got turnkey solutions, which is brilliant. I'd just buy everything off the shelf now. Whereas before we were made we'd spent so much money or R D time, you know, developing things for years and years to get to get solutions. Whereas now you can just you can buy them. You can buy them on Amazon, some of them. Absolutely ridiculous, you know. Makes me sick. But yeah, so there's things like that I just wouldn't waste my time sorting out anymore. I'd just, yeah, just buy it.

SPEAKER_00 49:03

Buy it and be done with it. Yeah, I think that like our latest dome that you know, if I'd have just spent the 65,000 we spent buying something I could have just plonked there, plugged in, job done, it would have been a lot easier than uh than doing all the extra stuff. But it has meant that what we've built is something completely unique that nobody else in the world has, sure. Which is part of it as well, isn't it? And the fun, and also when you've got a YouTube channel that you have to keep fun and content for, we have to keep building stuff to keep filming the content for it. So that does help too.

SPEAKER_02 49:35

Yeah, yeah. Um yeah.

SPEAKER_00 49:38

But yeah, I mean, I think that's quite a quite a good roundup of uh what our fantasy lamping site would look like. I have to get AI to do us a mock-up of it.

SPEAKER_01 49:47

Yeah, yeah, what it would look like, that would be brilliant. Yeah, yeah. That'd be fantastic. But I think it's fair to say, and what's really nice to hear is that if that scenario, if it all burned down tomorrow, what would you do different and where would you go and what would you create? You know, we're still we're still passionate about wanting to create something in the industry rather than go, thank God, just gonna get a full-time job.

SPEAKER_00 50:14

You know, yeah, I'm thinking it all sounds fun. Yeah, we all all these different cool things we could do, knowing what we know now, I think.

SPEAKER_01 50:22

Absolutely, yeah. And um, not burnt out, even though we're knackered with it, it's still super exciting, and and that's what and that's where you should be. Yeah, you know, listeners. If you're not at that point, then you've got to start making changes or questions around why you're doing it, because you know, I'm as I say, 18 years into this now, and I've never loved my job more. I absolutely love going in every single day, more so now than I did yeah, five years ago, and so on. And it's gotta be something that you love because this industry requires it from you.

SPEAKER_00 51:01

So Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 51:02

Yeah. Oh, that's that's that's I I love the uh when you suggested this episode, I was thinking, oh, this is this is gonna be this is gonna be tough, but it's been great. I've really enjoyed chatting about this.

SPEAKER_00 51:16

Yeah, definitely. Um, I think for our next episode, we'd really like to involve some of our listeners. So I'd like it to be called The Weird, the Wonderful and the Annoying, or something like that, which is like strangest guest requests, things guests complain about, how expectations have changed, crazy things you've found in glamping units.

SPEAKER_01 51:36

So I would I've got one, but it's kind of after the watershed.

SPEAKER_00 51:41

All right. So um you can email us, glampingpodcast at gmail.com, with any of your weird and wonderful guest experiences. We would love to know them. I'm gonna put it on the geek of socials as well and see if we can um get some stories for you for our next episode. So we would love to uh get you involved in that.

SPEAKER_01 51:58

Thanks for listening. We hope you've picked up some amazing ideas around what you might do if the proverbial hits the fan and uh and it all burns down to Mono.

SPEAKER_00 52:10

Don't forget, this podcast has brought to you in association with the Glamping Industry Trade Association, Gita, the voice supporting your business and growing our industry.

SPEAKER_01 52:17

Make sure you follow or subscribe so you never miss a practical episode like this. And if you found today's chat a game changer for your business and that you want to uh shop change shop and uh create something else, share it with another glamping enthusiast.

SPEAKER_00 52:32

And as I said, we would love your stories on guest weird guest experiences or at glampingpodcast at gmail.com. Um and also feel free to fire away with ideas of other episodes you would like us to chat about. Thank you for listening.

SPEAKER_01 52:46

See you in the next episode.