Issue 60
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 />
CASE STUDY<br />
Adhurst Yurts<br />
A serene woodland site in Hampshire featuring six yurts and a cabin<br />
This utterly authentic glampsite<br />
allows conscientious guests to get<br />
back to the natural rhythms of life. We<br />
talk to owner Alison Lubbock about<br />
creating a woodland “monastery<br />
with nature as the cathedral” despite<br />
unhelpful planners and the odd guest<br />
from hell.<br />
What’s your back story – your life before<br />
glamping?<br />
I’m from Los Angeles and my husband, Guy,<br />
is British. This means I understand camping<br />
with rattlesnakes and palm trees while he’s<br />
more in tune with bluebells and ancient<br />
oaks.<br />
What made you decide to start offering<br />
glamping accommodation?<br />
We opened our site in 2012. To be honest,<br />
we were simply tired of friends asking<br />
to camp here with their children – we<br />
realised that although we loved providing<br />
the experience, it was also hard work. We<br />
decided it was time to open professionally<br />
to the public. And I have loved yurts since<br />
staying in one 30 years ago.<br />
How did you research the business<br />
before entering it?<br />
Our only research was to rent a yurt from<br />
Henry Dowell (the first yurt he ever built<br />
and he had lived in it with his wife and<br />
daughter) and see if we could get bookings.<br />
When that worked we asked to convert<br />
the rental towards a purchase and then<br />
commissioned him to make our second<br />
yurt. He has now made six for us with a few<br />
bath yurts thrown in.<br />
Tell us about your location and site<br />
Adhurst is a Victorian estate with ancient<br />
woodland and a river. It was already idyllic<br />
and heavenly. We spend a fortune on<br />
tree surgery and keeping the rides open.<br />
The woods descend towards the river<br />
with some stunning views. The wildlife,<br />
especially birdsong, is magical. We have<br />
some of the tallest redwoods in the<br />
country. And otters and two eagles.<br />
How did you tackle getting planning?<br />
We did retrospective planning as we<br />
were naive in 2012 and had no idea it was<br />
required. To be fair, so were the planners<br />
as we had to explain what a yurt was. I<br />
seem to recall what with all the nature<br />
surveys and reports the process was about<br />
£6,000 – a lot.<br />
We were granted permission for six yurts<br />
and we decided to make our fifth yurt a<br />
cabin instead. This turning of a circular<br />
canvas and wood structure into a square<br />
one was apparently not allowed and we<br />
ended up doing a further retrospective<br />
36 WWW.OPENAIRBUSINESS.COM
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