Issue 56
The UK's outdoor hospitality business magazine for function venues, glamping, festivals and outdoor events
The UK's outdoor hospitality business magazine for function venues, glamping, festivals and outdoor events
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GLAMPSITES<br />
arriving I do the check-ins while they<br />
finish off.<br />
Once everyone has arrived I will<br />
quite often do a campfire for all the<br />
guests and bring marshmallows for<br />
everyone to toast. If it is a group<br />
booking then I tend to leave them to it.<br />
Check-ins can be any time from<br />
3.30pm until about 8pm when I put<br />
the kids to bed and then collapse in a<br />
heap!<br />
Do you enjoy the business?<br />
I really enjoy hosting people here.<br />
We have made some amazing friends<br />
through running this business and<br />
as around 80% of our bookings are<br />
repeat customers it is like continually<br />
having friends here, which is why I do<br />
so much chatting! Obviously you get<br />
the odd difficult guest but on the whole<br />
we have such lovely families with the<br />
same ethos as us and everyone gets on<br />
really well.<br />
What are you most proud of?<br />
I’m really proud of the awards we’ve<br />
won. We won silver awards for the<br />
last two years at the Bristol, Bath and<br />
Somerset Tourism Awards and I’ve<br />
also won a sustainability award for<br />
the things we have done here to make<br />
the site as sustainable as possible.<br />
But I think I am most proud of the fact<br />
“OBVIOUSLY<br />
YOU GET THE<br />
ODD DIFFICULT<br />
GUEST BUT ON<br />
THE WHOLE<br />
WE HAVE<br />
SUCH LOVELY<br />
FAMILIES WITH<br />
THE SAME<br />
ETHOS AS US<br />
AND EVERYONE<br />
GETS ON<br />
REALLY WELL”<br />
that we have taken an empty field and<br />
turned it into something magical, all<br />
on our own with a lot of hard graft, and<br />
we are showing our children that hard<br />
work can pay off.<br />
What other outdoor hospitality<br />
sectors do you operate in?<br />
We run small scale events here as we<br />
also have a 10 meter event dome, a<br />
large studio space and a five metre<br />
octagonal wooden cabin. I mainly run<br />
afternoon teas for private groups such<br />
as hen parties or baby showers but we<br />
also run Pilates retreats, where I cater<br />
full board, and day retreats for fitness<br />
or networking groups where I provide<br />
lunch or tea and cakes.<br />
I can keep the events fairly separate<br />
if we have guests staying here just<br />
for glamping but when we have full<br />
retreats then they take over the whole<br />
site so it works really well.<br />
What advice could you give to<br />
someone coming into the industry?<br />
It’s a crowded market so think about<br />
your USP and what you can offer that<br />
no one else can. Join the glamping<br />
owners Facebook groups and don’t be<br />
afraid to reach out and ask for advice!<br />
ADDRESS BOOK<br />
DOMES<br />
Trudomes www.trudomes.com<br />
INTERIOR DESIGN<br />
Stylemongers of Bristol www.<br />
stylemongersofbristol.co.uk<br />
BOOKINGS SYSTEM<br />
Bookalet www.bookalet.co.uk<br />
INSURANCE<br />
Friar Best www.friarbest.co.uk<br />
DETAILS<br />
Tractors & Cream<br />
Bedwell Lane<br />
Othery<br />
Somerset TA7 0QJ<br />
www.tractorsandcream.co.uk<br />
32 WWW.OPENAIRBUSINESS.COM
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