Issue 61

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PEOPLE ENTREPRENEUR’S CHAT Vicki Jones Cream tea BnB in a fabulous geodome? Vicki and Bryan Jones’ impressive family glampsite has grown from humble beginnings 14 WWW.OPENAIRBUSINESS.COM
PEOPLE ractors and Cream is a glamping and events site in Somerset comprising six glamping domes, a holiday cottage and an event dome. It also offers private afternoon teas and parties for up to 40 guests, networking events, pilates and yoga retreats. From the age of five Vicki Jones knew she wanted to be a dance teacher and had a burning desire to work for herself. Her dad had his own business in the meat production industry and entrepreneurism was in her blood. “Once I finished my dance degree I started as a self-employed dance teacher very much assuming that my business would be a dance school,” she says. “During my teacher training, I worked in a Gatwick airport hotel and got a love for the hospitality industry. It is also where I went on to meet my husband and now business partner Bryan.” The couple was married in 2008 and in 2011 Bryan was relocated to Bristol, which took them from a tiny flat in Surrey to a small holding in Somerset. “I had a successful dance teaching career in Surrey but when we moved I had no connections, knew nothing about the dance schools here and found it really difficult to get a full-time dance teaching role,” says Vicki. “I had always made celebration cakes for friends and so I thought maybe I could part-time teach and also start a business making cakes. I started Bedwell Cottage Cupcakes and also got a job at a local dance school.” Then along came two children, Annabelle in 2013 and William in 2015. “William was about two weeks old when we decided to plan the business we had been thinking about since we moved here. We went through lots of ideas from rearing goats for meat to ice cream production but then decided that with our mutual love of hotels we would create our own outdoor hotel, aka a glamping site!” AFTERNOON TEA EXPERIMENT Vicki and Bryan started their application for planning permission and while waiting bought a yurt from eBay. “It was a bit of an experiment,” says Vicki. “My mum paid for it and it was about £2,000. We put it up and offered private afternoon tea experiences in it. We could seat up to 16 people so we got lots of hen parties and baby showers which were great fun. We needed a name for our business which would encompass dance teaching, celebration cakes, afternoon teas in a yurt and potentially glamping in the future so came up with Tractors and Cream – it was totally random!” In 2016 the planning permission came through and two further yurts were purchased from Mongolian Yurts Direct. “Again, my lovely mum paid for these and we took out a £15,000 loan to get the rest of the infrastructure sorted. We opened the glamping site to our first guests in May 2017.” In total, the couple have invested £150,000 over seven years building the site. “We started on a shoestring with help from my mum and then each year we have re-invested profits. We keep saying we need to stop adding things but we have planning for up to 10 structures so would like to build at least one more dome! Turnover is great, profit is not so great as we keep spending it all on improving the site. “We have done things really gradually as we didn’t have £150k to do it all in one go and I honestly wasn’t sure how many structures I could cope with! In our first year we had two yurts up but I had a two and four year old to contend with so only ever had one yurt in operation at a time. “2018 saw me get a bit braver and have both yurts in operation. In 2019 I got even braver and we tried out a bell tent as a third structure. It was an absolute disaster as literally one week after it was up and furnished, it came straight back down in a storm! We got it repaired but then I didn’t trust it so barely rented it out. That is when we started looking for the most wind-resistant canvas structure, which turned out to be a geodesic dome. We bought one ready for the super duper “WE STARTED ON A SHOESTRING WITH HELP FROM MY MUM AND THEN EACH YEAR WE HAVE RE- INVESTED PROFITS. WE KEEP SAYING WE NEED TO STOP ADDING THINGS BUT WE HAVE PLANNING FOR UP TO 10 STRUCTURES SO WOULD LIKE TO BUILD AT LEAST ONE MORE DOME!” WWW.OPENAIRBUSINESS.COM 15
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Page 5 and 6: Waterside Lodges THE SOUTH Lodge ho
Page 7 and 8: MARSHALL MEADOWS MANOR Riding the W
Page 9 and 10: SPONSORED FEATURE and landscape arc
Page 11 and 12: INDUSTRY UPDATE Farm Business Innov
Page 13: INDUSTRY OVERVIEW OAB’s Top Picks
Page 17 and 18: PEOPLE it and it’s become a hobby
Page 19 and 20: LAUREN BETH PHOTOGRAPHY BECKY TRANT
Page 21 and 22: FUNCTION VENUES ANDREW MARSHALL BEC
Page 23 and 24: FUNCTION VENUES Keyword Tactics Sam
Page 25 and 26: FUNCTION VENUES Increase your prici
Page 27 and 28: FUNCTION VENUES PRODUCT IN FOCUS La
Page 29 and 30: CREATING EXPERIENCES THAT YOUR GUES
Page 31 and 32: FUNCTION VENUES PRODUCT IN ACTION P
Page 33 and 34: GLAMPSITES CASE STUDY Loose Reins E
Page 35 and 36: GLAMPSITES channels. This approach
Page 37 and 38: When Nature Calls Complete waste ha
Page 39 and 40: GLAMPSITES Driving Winter Bookings
Page 41 and 42: GLAMPSITES Other Tips for Boosting
Page 43 and 44: GLAMPSITES PRODUCT IN FOCUS Hot Tub
Page 45 and 46: PHOTO SOURCED FROM SAULEDA HIGH PER
Page 47 and 48: EVENTS JEZ PENNINGTON CASE STUDY Ar
Page 49 and 50: EVENTS SNAP ROCK AND POP JEZ PENNIN
Page 51 and 52: WWW.OPENAIRBUSINESS.COM 51
Page 53 and 54: EVENTS CASE STUDY Windsor Great Par
Page 55 and 56: FORT PV THE UK’S FIRST ALL-IN-ONE
Page 57 and 58: EVENTS PRODUCT IN FOCUS Heat & Powe
Page 59 and 60: EVENTS PRODUCT IN FOCUS Bars & Cate
Page 61 and 62: SOUNDPROOF KARAOKE BOOTHS SingPods
Page 63 and 64: • Sewage Treatment • • Sales
Page 65 and 66:
PEOPLE Behind the Scenes Anna Littl
Page 67 and 68:
BRINGING CREATURE COMFORTS TO THE G
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Issue 61

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