Open Air Business August/September 2018

GLAMPSITES
PRODUCT IN FOCUS
Achieving
Sustainability
With glamping attracting an ever more
conscientious crowd, sustainability is an important
requirement for providers
Wagtail Farm
Description: Smallholding supplying
salad and meat products to local markets
Product: Seasonal worker
accommodation
Company: Wild Hart (formally Classic Pod
Company)
Telephone: 07971 869058
Website: www.wild-hart.co.uk
Details: Wild Hart created a small, well
insulated cabin manufactured with
timber from a local sawmill for the
owners of Wagtail Farm. It is used as
accommodation for seasonal workers
sourced through WWOOF, a worldwide
movement linking volunteers with
organic farmers and growers to promote
cultural and educational experiences
based on trust and non-monetary
exchange (www.wwoof.org.uk). This
allowed the smallholding to accept
workers, in particular family groups, for
several months of the year to help with
farm duties.
With beautiful features, waney edge
cedar cladding and a tin roof to echo
the rain, it has space for a double bed
and single bunk, a seating area around
a small stove, and a covered veranda
with bespoke sink. The timbers used
are naturally durable and sustainably
sourced, and don’t
require any treatment. This
was important for a smallholding with an
organic stance.
The Classic Pod Company has
rebranded and become Wild Hart. Set up
in 2016 by designer/maker Nick Sneller,
the company was originally formed to
design and manufacture cabins and
pods but has since incorporated other
products. Wild Hart Cabins, Playscapes,
Gardens and Home Furniture.
“Children thrive in the natural world”,
we all do; that’s why Wild Hart is all about
nature, escaping to a country cabin,
exploring wild places, learning through
natural play, or having beautiful wooden
furniture at home.
Feedback: The clients were able to
work alongside Wild Hart to design
and develop the cabin to their vision.
It was built as a project with WWOOF
volunteers as a learning opportunity,
and many tasks were experienced by a
number of workers staying at the farm
over three months. Their interaction
and enthusiasm enabled them to learn
new skills, each worker also added their
own creativity to the project by making
decorative mushrooms from timber
off-cuts. The clients were hugely satisfied
and have referred Wild Hart to other
customers.
GETTY IMAGES
Somerset Glampsite
Description: Luxury off-grid glamping in
a variety of structures in the south west of
England
Product: EasyGrid 3000
Company: Energy Solutions
Telephone: 01634 290772
Website: www.energy-solutions.co.uk
Details: A strong theme from last year’s
Glamping Show was the desire of rural
glamping sites to deliver enhanced amenities
to their guests, ensuring visitors' stays are
unique and comfortable. But how to get
power to those remote facilities? Well, you
need a power system that delivers on many
levels including lower carbon emissions,
quiet running, cost efficiency and durability. A
glampsite in Somerset ticked all those boxes
with their purchase of an EasyGrid 3000 at the
show in 2016.
The EasyGrid unit connects to solar arrays
but also has a connection for a generator. It
utilises energy from the sun to charge a battery
where energy is stored until needed. The array
then tops up the battery as the power is used.
Each accommodation has its own solar
power source providing plenty of light inside
as well as a means of charging phones if
required, although guests are encouraged to
undergo a digital detox during their stay!
Feedback: The owner said: "It was clear
our guests wanted a more rural experience
and EasyGrid was the
perfect solution for
providing power for our
environmentally friendly
site in rural Somerset.
EasyGrid allows us to
provide accommodation
deep in the heart of our
wood where the mains
can't reach but without the
downside of solar power
alone."
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