Today’s interview is with Avril from Lowarth Glamping.
Can you tell us a little bit about yourselves?
I am retired and originally from Scotland but have lived in England since my teens.
Have you always wanted to run a glamping site? How did you get interested in it?
No never, trained as a nurse. I wanted to do something with a small paddock/piece of land adjacent to the farm house. Had tried several things which all failed finally came up with the idea of a campsite and then a glamping site.
What made you pick the location for your glamping site?
The paddock is right next to my home, it was just a piece of waste land and that seemed such a shame and a waste.
Do you get a wide range of different people from different walks of life or are there certain types of guests who come to stay at your site?
I seem to be attracting 20 to 40 years olds who have a reasonably well paid job and are looking for an ‘experience’ – something a bit different. Mostly couples, but families as well.
When guests stay, do they usually cook on site or do you find a lot like to go exploring and eat out at local places?
We offer a self-catering stay, but find that mostly our guests just prepare light meals and hot drinks and go out to dinner. We recommend our local Pub, The Quarryman, which is excellent and just a stroll up the lane. Lots of our guests book in to Rick Stein, Jamie Oliver and several celebrity chefs in North Cornwall.
We provide BBQs for our guests to use and they do use them often.
If there was one activity to participate in, landmark, or place of interest that you would recommend guests visit while staying at your site, what would it be and why?
Our local landmark place of interest is the Camel Trail and most of our young guests will hire bikes and cycle the trail.
What do you think sets your glamping site apart from others?
Lowarth is a tiny Glamping site of only 5 Lotus Belle tents with panoramic views across open countryside as far as Bodmin Moor. There is the feeling of open space whilst actually being on an intimately small site. The Lowarth team treat all our guests as friends and because it is a small site it is not long before the guests themselves become friends with the other guests.
We take the term Glamping seriously and the tents are on a platform and fully carpeted and furnished. The double beds and day beds are very comfortable and have attractive duvet sets with a choice of duvet tog ratings and extra blankets. There is a fully equipped kitchen and maybe best of all a wood burning stove with wood provided, for a very cosy stay whatever the weather.
What has been the most memorable moment that has happened on your glamping site?
Many guests come to Lowarth as a birthday or anniversary treat.
Recently we had 4 generations come and stay in one of our 5 meter tents. There was Lily, her mother, her grandmother and her great grandmother. They had all come to visit a lobster, in the lobster hatchery in Padstow that Lily had been given as a Christmas present.
Do you provide any services/entertainment/activities onsite or elsewhere for your guests?
Lowarth has a laundry room and a treatment cabin with a resident Shiatsu practitioner. We have a large designated area for a fire pit and a blazing fire in the fire pit is very popular with our guests, with them all getting together on a pleasant evening to drink wine and toast marshmallows.
What plans (if any) do you have for your glamping site in the future?
We have added a 5th tent this year and that will be the maximum number of tents I intent to have, because I feel that being tiny, but not crowded, is actually one of our strengths.
We plan to re-invest into the site year on year. Wi-Fi this year and perhaps a social tent next year. Sometime in the future I would like to install a hot tub.
