Glamping Business

Jfh

New Member
Location
Clare, Ireland
Hi All,
i'd appreciate it if you could give me some constructive feedback on a business idea i have.

i know glamping is fairly well developed in the UK, i'm in the west of ireland, very few glamping places around here.

i notice that there is a trend at the moment towards Glamping, (luxury Camping).
the idea is to merge comfort with nature, i'd offer the experience of a small farm, etc collect the eggs for breakfast, dig your own potatoes for dinner, eat farm reared beef/lamb.

i'm trying to gauge if this is a runner so i'd really appreciate any advice you could give;

i have the following questions in order to clarify my idea;

1)what comes to mind when you think of Glamping?

2)Would you consider glamping? trying to understand who my Customer segment?
families with children, couples, foreign tourists?

3) there are many forms of Glamping; which appeals most to you;
Tipi, Yurt, Shepherds Hut?

4) any idea of the capital involved into putting up 2 pods?

Thanks for taking the time to reply.
 

Kidds

Member
Horticulture
First thoughts are that glampers are going to want to buy the eggs and potatoes off you when you call round first thing in the morning at 9.30am (preferably cooked!). They are not going to want to go in a pen of vicious smelly chickens or get any filthy soil under their nails.
 

Kidds

Member
Horticulture
It's a while since I have been but I spent many years renting a cottage on the banks of Lough Derg for a week at handy money. Is that your competition or did they all go into private ownership in the years of the Celtic Tiger?
 

james ds

Member
Location
leinster
There are some near Kenmare , I seen them lastyear , 600/ week for tent , we had a house for the same money , they are a novelty for a while but theycan make money
 

Chris F

Staff Member
Media
Location
Hammerwich
My yurts paid for themselves in year 1. Plus being tents you can fully write them off so are pretty tax efficient. I have yurts. But if I'm honest that market is quite saturdated in the uk. BUt they are better than tipis and bell tents in dealing with weather.

this is my place www.pencukefarm.co.uk

Families are nearly all in the region 30-45. Out of holiday, get a few outside this range, but not many.
 

Penmoel

Member
Neighbours have yurts http://www.theyurtfarm.co.uk/ they are very dedicated to and provide the alternative holiday to the full. Take a look at availability pretty busy.
we had a look at wigwamholidays.com/ they tend to do the marketing as well , think you would need to be on a tourist route or camping area, again look at availability on some of their sites , not so bright.
 

willfarmbiz

New Member
Location
Bristol
Still seems to be growing a lot in the UK. There is plenty of competition, but there are also many areas where there are very few glamping sites. From experience trying to book one of these can be difficult as they're often fully booked!
I think the idea of the small farm experience could work really well if marketed correctly. I know a few glamping sites which let you hire chickens to look after during your stay. Probably most likely to be popular with families and some foreign tourists.
Cheapest options are probably Bell Tents. Going from here you've got yurts, camping pods, safari tents, geodesic domes, shepherds huts and even tree-houses. Camping pods start at about £5k. You may be able to look at diversification grants to assist with some of the funding. Have a browse of the exhibitors on www.thefarmingshow.co.uk as there's loads of relevant suppliers on there who will give you some ideas and advice.
 
Hi All,
i'd appreciate it if you could give me some constructive feedback on a business idea i have.

i know glamping is fairly well developed in the UK, i'm in the west of ireland, very few glamping places around here.

i notice that there is a trend at the moment towards Glamping, (luxury Camping).
the idea is to merge comfort with nature, i'd offer the experience of a small farm, etc collect the eggs for breakfast, dig your own potatoes for dinner, eat farm reared beef/lamb.

i'm trying to gauge if this is a runner so i'd really appreciate any advice you could give;

i have the following questions in order to clarify my idea;

1)what comes to mind when you think of Glamping?

2)Would you consider glamping? trying to understand who my Customer segment?
families with children, couples, foreign tourists?

3) there are many forms of Glamping; which appeals most to you;
Tipi, Yurt, Shepherds Hut?

4) any idea of the capital involved into putting up 2 pods?

Thanks for taking the time to reply.


I know somebody that looked into this seriously and went to see 5 sites already up and running. Listening to those people then even though these are 'luxury tents' you get next to no winter trade and in all cases the sites we went to worked on a season of April to the end of September. Although the core months are July, August and September. You will also be busy in spring and early summer school holidays. They wanted to know how many weeks per year this equated to and the average across the 5 sites was 20 weeks per year. On all counts each site did do winter business but they all said it was counted as a nice extra and only budget on what you think is guaranteed if you market correctly, have decent facilities and in a nice part of the country.

Average weekly price was £450/week so each tent was turning over £9k/year.

5 tents was manageable easily for one person to look after and service so £45k/year was achievable with any other let weeks being a nice bit on top.

Setup costs for 5 tents was quoted at £100k although this was only 1 quote so clearly there are many more options but it literally was 'turn key' so included the wood burner and electricity/water installed, bathroom, furniture, linen, cutlery, carpets, televisions etc etc.
Other setup costs would include the area to site the tents, roadways, getting elec/water to it, car parking area. Then you need to think about bike hire and walks so grassing some margins down so people can access existing footpaths etc. All in it ended up at £150k for 5 tents (yurts I think they were called actually) including some contingency funds.

The local planners said planning was not required for siting the tents but as it was a business then a change of use was required which would also look at traffic and how many days per year it could be open - it never went any further so no idea if it would of been easy or not.

They were informed marketing would cost around £5k/year

So it was looking like income of £45k less marketing £5k less about £20k for the initial purchase costs written down over 5 years leaving around £20k to fund the person cleaning the tents as required and fund any repairs required.

What about the durability of the tents in severe weather?

Anyway the friend who looked into it decided he needed to have 10 tents to make it worthwhile and then employ somebody part time to look after it for him. At that point he thought it could bring in around £30k per year after all costs.
 

Chris F

Staff Member
Media
Location
Hammerwich
£100k is way out. £60K is for mine (inc vat) and I did everything really nicely. Could have done it loads cheaper and used cheaper yurts. But four years down the line I would have been regretting that.

I however put up and take mine down. They last better that way as the miss a lot of the crap weather and it is very windy here down on the Cornwall coast. Planning however, can be really complicated. Basically you need camping and a SIte Licence for it.
 
£100k is way out. £60K is for mine (inc vat) and I did everything really nicely. Could have done it loads cheaper and used cheaper yurts. But four years down the line I would have been regretting that.

I however put up and take mine down. They last better that way as the miss a lot of the crap weather and it is very windy here down on the Cornwall coast. Planning however, can be really complicated. Basically you need camping and a SIte Licence for it.

The £20k each ones were very high quality though. 60 inch tv's, sky, jacuzzi, 4 bedrooms, dining area combined with kitchen and lounge area etc. I can't remember the size of them but I've stayed in smaller cottages.
 

Chris F

Staff Member
Media
Location
Hammerwich
The £20k each ones were very high quality though. 60 inch tv's, sky, jacuzzi, 4 bedrooms, dining area combined with kitchen and lounge area etc. I can't remember the size of them but I've stayed in smaller cottages.

That would be more like £20k for sure! Would be full planning for that though. No chance of getting away with a tent licence. Surpirsed they only averaged £450 though. I average more than that and my yurts are way smaller (320sqft).
 
Location
Suffolk
I have been involved in the setting up and construction of a local campsite in the last year and a half. I put in the drainage and the shower infrastructure and built the reception area to a 'rustic' idea that the owners had in their minds. A considerable amount of time and money was put into this and no corners were cut with presentation. This will result in trouble free operation of the showers/toilets and drains for a decade or more. There is recycled rainwater and solar PV to offset the standing costs too.
The site was opened this spring and I have spent several evenings with friends who kept a touring caravan there during July and seen it from the campers eyes. The shower/toilet facilities are better than some have at home so have been praised by all who have passed through. The biggest plus will be the 'repeat business' next year! From what I can gather the visitor numbers have been steady and all comments have been positive. I'll know more in September when I have been asked to do some more work with my 360.

Personally, we have a yurt in a secluded section of our plot which we may hire out in the future, unfortunately our infrastructure is still too primitive to offer out for £'s but it has been busy with friends and visiting offspring this year. The plot in which it sits is starting to mature offering sun traps and seclusion along with the plants and flowers making it colourful and producing fresh fruit.

A yurt/pod/shepherds hut all seem to be in the £6k range.
SS
 

Ben M

Member
Location
Suffolk
I personally feel the log pod is the way to go down the Glamping route, they can be towed around easily and dont need planning (i believe) as they are mobile...

Used to work on a farm that invested in one, was fully booked first and second year without really pushing it. They can be well insulated so used all year round. Simple set up and running costs should be fairly low id imagine.

Im confident if I had a few acres of woodland, a lake/river frontage and a nice grass paddock I could make a decent return from log pods.
 

Chris F

Staff Member
Media
Location
Hammerwich
@Ben M They would still require some sort of planning. Even if mobile the amount of time you can keep them up is limited. Whether its a tent or "caravan" would depend on the local council. You used to be able to get away with a Camping and Caravan Club licence (which are dead easy to get). But they have tightened up on this too. But if going that route, having something you can move round every 28 days would get around the C&C Club rules.
 
Last edited:

Jfh

New Member
Location
Clare, Ireland
just to say a huge thanks to all for taking the effort to reply, some really great thought provoking posts.

after i posted this, i had to go away for a few days, didn't get a chance to log on to check forum & the data on phone wasn't working so was greatly surprised to see all the replys.

i will delve deeper & if there's any further questions, let you know, thanks again
 

Hooby Farmer

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
roe valley
i am in the same place hoping to buy 3 for the 2015 season. i dont like the designs out there find them very generic like a gothic arch thing going on. what has anybody any other designs? i was thinking like a square/rectangle shape and then get my uncle to thatch the roof. sorry to hijack the thread.
 

Old Tip

Member
Location
Cumbria
Round here we find the Yurts and Tents get mouldy really quickly because of the wet weather and look rough after a couple of years, the pods are popular but tend to be for short stays and may not suit you as there will not be a lot of passing walking trade i guess. Shepherds huts again are very small so only really for couples really but are nice and easily moveable to get round planning and may have a better resale value if it doesn't work out.

Our website is dodgsonwood.co.uk if you want to take a gander, no glamping more eco tourism :)

OT
 

Chris F

Staff Member
Media
Location
Hammerwich
Round here we find the Yurts and Tents get mouldy really quickly because of the wet weather and look rough after a couple of years, the pods are popular but tend to be for short stays and may not suit you as there will not be a lot of passing walking trade i guess. Shepherds huts again are very small so only really for couples really but are nice and easily moveable to get round planning and may have a better resale value if it doesn't work out.

Our website is dodgsonwood.co.uk if you want to take a gander, no glamping more eco tourism :)

OT

I wash ours twice a year. No reason for them to get moudly except laziness.
 

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