The husband and wife team behind one of the latest additions to a national glamping franchise have given their thoughts to people considering following in their footsteps.
Steve and Clare Small set up glamping business Wigwam Holidays Charnwood Forest, last October.
The site – part of the national Wigwam Holidays franchise – sits in woodland, not far from one of Leicestershire’s top tourist spots Bradgate Park, in the heart of the 200 sq mile National Forest.
They now have six log cabin-style wigwams on part of a former paddock, with a planning option to extend that to 10.
The pair – Steve works in the airline industry and Clare used to work as an airline cabin crew member – wanted to offer families the chance to go camping, but with modern conveniences and luxuries such as heated cabins, en-suite bathrooms, cooking facilities, fire pits, barbecues and hot tubs.
Clare said if they do expand the business they could add facilities geared to people with disabilities as well as sheltered dining areas.
The first site within the national business was in Strathfillan in Scotland, and with the rise in popularity of glamping three more Scottish sites followed suit and Wigwam Holidays as a company was born.
It was expanded to a franchise model in 2014 and there are now dozens of sites around the 海角视频.
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Clare Small said: “We bought a cottage eight years ago with a bit of land and a paddock and put in planning to have 10 glamping wigwams in the bottom section.
“We got everything in place, but needed the investment to buy the cabins and Barclays came along and helped.
“We’ve invested quite a lot and want to see what materialises before deciding to put the other four in. Right now we have a lot of friends and families booking all six because it is such a tranquil spot, so will look to see how that goes.
“When it comes to whether a franchise will suit someone, I think everyone is different – it depends on what you want.
“I wanted the back-up of having someone at the end of the phone I could talk to if I needed to.
“Doing a franchise has been perfect for us, but others might want to be more independent.”
Leicestershire business news: Summer 2019
Steve Small said: “Our aim was always to create a business that would work with our land and provide an income for our family.
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“Early interest in the site has been incredible and we are now looking at ways in which we can grow the site in response to the requests we are receiving.
“The environment is important to us and we have tried to develop a site that sits comfortably within its natural surroundings owing to the materials we have used.
“The cabins we offer are carbon neutral, we do not use concrete in our bases and we use recycled materials wherever possible.”
A few years ago the couple took part in the National Forest Planting scheme which saw them plant around 700 native trees and 550 hedging plants which helped to model the site prior to the arrival of the cabins.
Species planted included oak, birch, rowan, field maple, sweet chestnut, hazel, dog rose, crab apple and holly.
Chris Rodrigues, relationship manager at Barclays in Leicestershire, who provided funding for the initial phase of the business, said: “I think Steve and Clare should be very proud of what they have achieved in a short space of time.
“It’s been a labour of love and has involved the entire family in preparing the site and getting it to the high standard it is today.
“I wish them all the best for their future business success.”
The National Forest was established 25 years ago and covers a section of central England including parts of Derbyshire, Leicestershire and Staffordshire.
In 2017 it launched a 10 year tourism strategy plan to move it from an “emerging destination into an established one”, with aspirations to grow visitor spend by 15 per cent and create more than 700 new jobs.