Glamping Business

[Chris F]

I think they is a bit of a "fad" when it comes to glamping. We made more money in year one, bc there were a lot fewer sites around and our product was really good. What I would do now is look for the next fad. These things are very cool:

 

[Jfh]

what exactly are those?

 

[Chris F]

They are called worm tents. Or Posh polytunnels depending on your point of view!

 

[Kidds]

I have an awful lot of abandoned hoops from old Spanish tunnels I want to sell should you think of building some of them.

 

[Notquiteretired]

I think they is a bit of a "fad" when it comes to glamping. We made more money in year one, bc there were a lot fewer sites around and our product was really good. What I would do now is look for the next fad. These things are very cool:

View attachment 63365

Do you get to see much "shadow art"?

 

[Chris F]

Do you get to see much "shadow art"?

Way over my head I'm afraid.

 

[Jfh]

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

those are meant to be ultra luxurious & i've heard that they are booked out most of the year.
john brennan would know his stuff so i expect them to be well run, i really should get down there for a night, research

 

[Jfh]

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.

thanks for the feedback on the customer type. the market here is starting to get fairly saturated too & we have only a fraction of you're population.

 

[Old Tip]

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

I think you will find the Lake District and the west coast of Ireland a tad damper than Cornwall Chris, but i take your point a wash will help. My mate also had a big problem with slugs in the Yurts as well as they seemed to like the material for some reason.

OT

 

[Kidds]

I think you will find the Lake District and the west coast of Ireland a tad damper than Cornwall

I take it you have never been to Cornwall?

 

[Old Tip]

I take it you have never been to Cornwall?

Visit Cornwall and Devon quite a bit and cant get over how dry and warm it is compared to us

 

[Jfh]

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.

willfarmbiz i had actually come across that farming expo alright, i have been considering going over to check it out.
you involved? do you get many overseas visitors?

 

[Jfh]

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.

hi warksfarmer,
appreciate the trouble you went to with that detailed reply.
those yurts sound a bit too glamourish, for 20k, you'd want more than 450 per week and then you are pricing yourself out of the market. it's still glamour camping, no matter how you dress it up.
even the marketing cost of 5k per year sounds outlandish, sure brochures, google payperclick, facebook would be sufficient.
just wondering if you have any idea of the breakdown,
thanks

 

[Jfh]

£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.

hi Chris F,
60k for 5? just trying to get a rough idea of cost.

 

[Jfh]

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.
sounds lovely, no thought of "off the grid"

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

 

[Kidds]

Visit Cornwall and Devon quite a bit and cant get over how dry and warm it is compared to us

Spent most of my childhood holidays down there, seemed to be covered in mist, drizzle or fog most of the time.
Could be that we were only ever allowed to go on holiday in the winter. Far too busy in summer (us and Cornwall)

 

[suffolksmallholder]

@Jfh I'm looking at the lighting side right now as the evenings are drawing in. I'll probably acquire something during the winter and it'll be LED/solar/battery, so very simple.
I'm trying to be as 'off grid' as is possible but this is a slow process. I'm having a solar hot water panel fitted onto the barn I have been creating this last 18 months and I'll make more decisions as I progress. We're finding that young trees start to look good in year six so I have a few more years before the site is how I picture it I'n my minds eye. The earth bank to the North and East and planted with wild flowers is a success too. There are young trees on the top of this too.
We had a little gathering/party yesterday evening, with 20 people inside, and I was pleasantly surprised with the very positive comments. This means folk will love to stay and pay to do so I just need for them to have a pleasant washing facility and that will take next year to finish.
SS

 

[J B]

My neighbour has an agreement (not a clue what) with 'Featherdown Farm'
They seem reasonably happy with them

 

[Mutch]

We are a featherdown farm in Dorset, I can tell you the site in N Ireland really struggled with bookings, people found the exta cost of getting there from the UK (England) plus the cost of the holiday a bit much I think, might have been other reasons as well along with the economic down turn. Possibly direct marketing in Dublin/Belfast etc.. may have been an option but I think most of Featherdown's focus is in London and glossy Sunday supplements. Is there a desire in Ireland for posh camping that the question you need to ask IMO

 

[willfarmbiz]

willfarmbiz i had actually come across that farming expo alright, i have been considering going over to check it out.
you involved? do you get many overseas visitors?

Hi JFH - Apologies for the delayed reply - I have been on holiday in Cornwall. Yes, I'm one of the organisers of the event. We get quite a few overseas visitors to our show - more than I initially anticipated. Quite a few of our exhibitors work on an international basis and some are even based overseas. As you're based in Ireland I believe that a lot of the seminar content and exhibitors at the show will be relevant for yourself too.