Issue 50

GLAMPSITES
CASE STUDY
The Roost Luxury
Glamping
Two
bespoke cabins welcoming couples
to a rewilded piece of Gloucestershire
With a quest to increase
biodiversity on her land,
Lorraine Robinson counts the
arrival of frogspawn on her
previously dilapidated site as
one of her proudest moments
in her enterprise’s development
so far. We talk to Lorraine about
horseshoe bats, sorting rubbish
and doing things solo.
What’s your back story – your life before
glamping?
Tourism is in my blood! I opened a holiday
cottage in 2006 and a camping and caravan
park in 2007. After a divorce I found myself
with a 2.5 acre meadow, a wealth of ideas
and a drive to do something new.
What made you decide to start offering
glamping accommodation?
At the touring park we had become aware
of a new trend called glamping in 2011
and set about designing and building our
own pods. By the time I was ready to start
my new venture the glamping market
had grown and evolved in a big way and I
decided I wanted to create some unique,
luxurious timber cabins to tap into the
luxury end of glamping.
The process was a fairly long one with
my first planning meeting in September
2016. I didn’t open to guests until
December 2019.
How did you research your business
before entering it?
I really enjoyed the research stage – I
visited other glamping businesses,
attended trade shows and spoke to some
very knowledgeable people.
Tell us about your location and site
The Roost is a 2.5 acre meadow flanked
by ancient woodland with direct access
to many beautiful walks, including
the Gloucestershire Way, and some
great tracks for bike riding. I knew the
site was just perfect for glamping. The
development of the site had to be handled
very sensitively due to our being located
within an SSAC for the rare horseshoe bat.
Strict controls are in place to control any
night time light spill from the cabins.
How did you tackle getting planning?
Planning permission is usually the most
difficult and challenging part of any
glamping development. I first met with
planners, who were very enthusiastic and
supportive of my plans, in September 2016
but, once planning was submitted, it got
quite difficult to meet all the biodiversity
and sustainability criteria.
Because we are near a major European
maternity roost for horseshoe bats, I had
to designate half the meadow into a ‘bat
mitigation area’. This area was where I
originally planned to put the cabins so
I had to re-plan the site and bring the
cabins into a different part of the meadow.
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