Issue 62

GLAMPSITES
CASE STUDY
Boundary Farm
Glamping
A group friendly glampsite on an arable
farm offers carefree breaks for families
Josie Easy and her husband
John set up their glampsite to
diversify the income from their
land. Despite the chaos of peak
season (when John spends
his days on a tractor) the site’s
success has allowed them to
expand to include a self-built
Scandi A-frame cabin. We talk
to Josie.
What’s your back story – your life
before glamping?
I was born in the Seychelles and moved
to the UK when I was around eight. I
grew up in Norwich, some would say
dragged up in Norwich! I used to work
in social services with vulnerable adults,
a job I loved.
John and I met through a dating
page in the local paper back in the day,
pre-internet and Apps. We fell in love,
got married in 2009 and started a family.
We have two children that are in their
early teens.
John comes from a farming family
and he is the third generation. He has
been driving tractors since he was a
youngster and, when his dad retired,
took over the 200-acre farm in 1999. He
is an arable farmer and works all the
land himself apart from the summer
months when we have help from Gary,
a long-standing family friend who has
worked the land since was nine.
How did you research the business
before entering it?
We looked into the type of
accommodation we would book as a
family if we were to go glamping, as
I used to enjoy going camping. The
sound of rain on canvas was blissful but
“THE SOUND
OF RAIN ON
CANVAS WAS
BLISSFUL
BUT THE
THOUGHT
OF SLEEPING
IN A REAL
BED AND
HAVING
A HOT
SHOWER
AND LOO
INSIDE
A TENT
THRILLED
ME”
the thought of sleeping in a real bed
and having a hot shower and loo inside
a tent thrilled me. John hates camping
full stop! He loves his homely comforts
like myself so we looked into sturdy
canvas structures to implement all that
in. We have been up and running since
2016 and it was one of the best things
we have done was to diversify, as we
knew that the face of agriculture would
change and we need to find a way
to continue farming, bringing up our
children and making a living.
Tell us about your location and site
We are based in Suffolk, on the
boundary of a beautiful village called
Kelsale, hence the name Boundary
Farm. We are on the Heritage coast and
lie between Aldeburgh and Southwold.
The glamping site itself is set up in
a two acre meadow away from the
main farmhouse (where we live) and is
surrounded by farmland, woodland and
plenty of nature. It is a lovely peaceful,
rural location and the sea is only five
miles away.
We are lucky to live in such a lovely
location with many attractions for
visitors all year round. It’s two hours
from London. It is known for its great
music festivals like Lattitude and for
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