September 2021

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GLAMPSITES The safari tents are named after common birds, Robin and Wren. We decided to keep the colours quite calm and neutral as we wanted to create a relaxing space, not one that might jar with glampers’ taste. What challenges have you faced? As we do everything ourselves, from building the loos to emptying them and choosing the bed linen to ironing it, it is a challenge to fit it all in with our existing jobs of running the country store. We do have excellent staff at the shop however, who keep it running smoothly. The laundry has been overwhelming this year so we will be getting some help with changeovers next season. The weather has been more of a challenge this year and David has had to tow several people out after bursts of extremely heavy rainfall. How have you coped through Covid? Covid has meant that we have had to think more about our cleaning protocols. Although they were pretty robust we have tweaked them to be compliant. We have allowed a day between glampers, which has obviously affected our occupancy. Our season last year was much shorter but quite intense. The season this year has been quite long and the intensity hasn’t eased up. Interest has been immense and we have had to turn away lots of potential custom. What are your plans for next season? Our plans are to try and increase the length of stay; generally it is two nights and we would like to increase that to three and have fixed changeover days. We will upgrade the bell tent facilities so that the naked bell tents have their own showers as well as loos. Rather than increasing the number of units we have we will be looking at improving the experience at Star Field with some communal areas, but these haven’t been decided on yet. Describe your average day mid-season An average day mid-season would see us working in the shop until 11am when we do any changeovers that are needed – this can take four hours for the two of us. We then clean the communal camping facilities and I start on the laundry while David does site maintenance. We then head back to the shop to catch up on anything that needs to be done. Our check in time is between 3pm and 8pm so we often meet and greet while we are on the campsite, or guests will check in at the shop. David also delivers fire kits that have been ordered. Do you enjoy the business and why? We do enjoy the business despite the hard work. It is very satisfying when people enjoy what you have provided for them. We love meeting different people and hearing their stories. What are you most proud of? We are most proud that we have personally built something that people enjoy and keep coming back to. We have a lot of returning glampers which is the best feeling – many from the beginning and some ADDRESS BOOK SAFARI TENTS Clear Sky – www.safaritents.net WATER HEATERS Shower King – www.showerking.uk who come back within the same season! Do you operate in any other outdoor hospitality sectors? We have had enquiries for weddings but we don’t feel our site is suitable. What advice could you give to someone coming into the industry? Decide on your target audience and aim your social media activity towards that. Join glampsite owners’ Facebook groups – there is an awful lot of support, knowledge and advice in these groups. Oh, and don’t expect to get rich quick! LOO DESIGN Free Range Designs – www.freerangedesigns.co.uk BOOKING SYSTEM Bedful – www.bedful.com AGENTS Cool Camping – www.coolcamping.com EXEMPTION ORGANISATION The Greener Camping Club – www.greenercamping.org INSURANCE NFU Mutual – www.nfumutual.co.uk DETAILS Star Field Camping, Charity Farm Countrystore Swattenden Lane, Cranbrook, Kent TN17 3PS www.starfieldcamping.co.uk 40 WWW.OPENAIRBUSINESS.COM
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Page 70 and 71: EVENTS n Headliner Sophie Ellis-Bex
Page 72 and 73: EVENTS PRODUCT IN FOCUS Structures
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Page 78 and 79: Classified Directory Finman Glampin
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Page 84: HEATER MARQUEE PACKAGES. THE NEW NA

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