Lockdown Changes and how we've changed our Welsh Glamping Site!

Oh it’s so good to be open and have guests here at our glamping site in Wales!

We have been open fully for just over a week (but have decided not to put up our Tipi this year to reduce the number of guests sharing the facilities). It’s been so nice to meet new faces and to welcome familiar faces back, to hear children playing in the woods and to see smoke rising from the campfires and yurts. 

As with the first lockdown in 2020 - we didn't exactly use the lockdown to put our feet up (I’m not sure if we know how!) First of all we got focussed on getting as ready as we could for when we did reopen -  and as with most winters this means getting the sewing machine out! We make all of our own Tipis and Yurts here and this year the task was the Mongloian Ger. For those of you who have been before you will know that our Mongolian Yurt/Ger glamping structure was a traditional white colour, but this year, after deciding to use a different type of canvas, we opted for a light brown colour Yurt instead! We also changed the design of the Ger too  - making a round window which we think gives it a cosier ‘hobbit house’ look. 

We have also done something we have wanted to do for years, which is to get back into our veggie garden and to put up a polytunnel again! Without lockdown this simply isn’t something that we would have had time for but we were inspired by our lovely HelpX lady, Alex, (15 hours work a week in exchange for accommodation) who has been with us since the first lockdown. Alex got stuck into the veggie garden last year and has inspired us to get stuck in too! 

 The strawberries growing in one section of the polytunnel are already bearing fruit which we look forward to sharing with our guests here. We should also use this opportunity to thank all of our past guests in their help with the veggie garden - using the compost bins and providing your potato peelings, apple cores, banana skins etc, has helped us make our very own rich compost fertilizing everything beautifully!

Our woods have also seen a huge transformation - the lockdowns have meant we have been able to fell hundreds of ash trees which we planted in the 90’s but which had to be removed due to Ash Dieback, a disease that has badly affected the Ash tree population across the UK and much of Europe. As a consequence of this the woodburning stoves in our Yurts and Tipis and all of the outdoor campfires are fueled with wood exclusively (for the first time)  from our very own woodland - making our glamping site very sustainable. We have of course done heaps of replanting! We have added oak, maple, sweet chestnut, silver birch, cherry, larch and a few crab apples which you can spot when walking the paths and trails as you explore the woodland on your glamping holiday.