March/April 2022

PEOPLE
he pandemic was hell for so many people but
for us it has marked a real opportunity,” says
Helen McCombie Armstrong, co-creator of yurt
glampsite Glamp and Tipple.
“I had run my own agency providing pet,
house, child and elderly relative care for 10 years
but with kids of my own it became too stressful.
In December 2019 I moved away from that
business and was just taking a few months to
reset and figure out what to do next when Covid
hit.”
Helen’s wife Lou was working 50 hour
weeks as a shift manager at Lidl to keep the
family afloat. “I am a trained dog trainer and
behaviourist so I had been doing a bit of that
to keep the money coming in but when Covid hit I wasn’t able to
work,” says Helen. “We were lucky that Lou is a key worker, but
financially things were squeaky! It was then that Lou had the idea
of getting a bell tent to hire out locally. We love glamping so were
pretty familiar with bell tents, and it seemed like a no brainer what
with lockdown meaning people couldn’t go anywhere.”
It seems the couple hit gold, and within two weeks they had
gone from a single tent to eight, along with eight Lazy Spa electric
hot tubs. Lou’s days got even busier and the family, including four
children, worked tirelessly to service the demand.
“We went all over the south of England,” says Helen. “Surrey,
Norfolk, Suffolk, Hampshire, Kent etc. We would set one tent up,
drive straight to another place to take one down, then back to base
for a deep clean before getting straight on the road again to the
next booking. For Lou, this was often after having already done a
5am-2pm shift, often working 20 hour days. We hardly slept, with
me doing all the admin at night, and we were home schooling too!”
“WE LOVE
GLAMPING SO
WERE PRETTY
FAMILIAR WITH
BELL TENTS, AND
IT SEEMED LIKE
A NO BRAINER
WHAT WITH
LOCKDOWN
MEANING PEOPLE
COULDN’T GO
ANYWHERE.”
THE PAY OFF
Within one season, the couple had accrued enough money to
jump at the opportunity offered by a local farmer. “A local farmer
approached us in August 2020 to see if we’d be interested in renting
land to establish a permanent glampsite. This had always been
our absolute dream. The farm is just four miles from where we live
so we put in planning permission for bell tents along with all the
infrastructure to do things properly – electric, water, waste and Wi-
Fi. Planning was granted in October and we started the project in
November, opening in April 2021.”
The initial investment in the ground was around £150,000 and
was entirely funded by the bell tent hire business. “We did so well
in that lockdown season that it gave us the financial leg up we
needed to create Glamp and Tipple,” says Helen.
“It was obviously a huge decision and one we discussed at length
but the feeling was we had to give it a go, even though we could
end up losing all the money we had worked so hard to gain.
“We are a great team and as I had previously run a successful
business, Lou trusted me with the admin and accounts side of
things.”
The site offers private facilities throughout and has now, in its
second season, has been upgraded from bell tents to yurts. “We
tried to futureproof the site by thinking about what would happen
if Covid reared its ugly head again and ensured that everything is
well spaced out. Every tent has its own private toilet, shower and
cooking facilities.
“We are open all year round and have successfully had guests
sleeping in bell tents throughout the winter. All the tents were
heated with electric heaters but the bills were astronomically
expensive, as you can imagine. That’s when we decided on
insulated yurts. We have five beautiful structures now from Kents
of Cornwall, and they have the added advantage of being able
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