Open Air Business April 2017
The UK's outdoor hospitality business magazine for function venues, glampsites, festivals and outdoor events
The UK's outdoor hospitality business magazine for function venues, glampsites, festivals and outdoor events
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GLAMPSITES<br />
CASE STUDY<br />
Tor View<br />
Shepherds<br />
Huts<br />
This<br />
two-unit site pays<br />
homage to a family<br />
connection to shepherding<br />
As the owner of the first glampsite in the country to be awarded VisitEngland’s<br />
Gold Award, Philip Russell knows a thing or two about what it takes to keep visitors<br />
happy. <strong>Open</strong> <strong>Air</strong> <strong>Business</strong> finds out more about his approach to quality and his<br />
personal connection to shepherd’s huts.<br />
What made you decide to<br />
start offering glamping<br />
accommodation?<br />
My grandfather, Leonard Candy,<br />
was a shepherd, and my family<br />
home includes a grazing field.<br />
Around 2006 I became obsessed<br />
with the idea of opening a luxury<br />
shepherd’s hut retreat. My first hut,<br />
‘Len’ (named after my grandfather)<br />
was a self-build, which was built by<br />
myself and craftsmen on-site during<br />
the winter of 2012. It was completed<br />
in spring 2013 and welcomed its<br />
first guests in May of that year.<br />
How did you research the<br />
business before entering it?<br />
Because we had been running<br />
The Old Milking Parlour holiday<br />
accommodation for six years<br />
prior to opening Tor View, we had<br />
experience of managing guest<br />
accommodation. We stayed in other<br />
huts to see how they operated,<br />
and also engaged the services of a<br />
surveyor to help with planning.<br />
Tell us about your location and<br />
site<br />
Tor View is located on the Mendip<br />
Hills, near Wells, and is within easy<br />
travelling distance of several tourist<br />
areas including Wells, Glastonbury,<br />
Cheddar Gorge, and Bath. Maesbury<br />
Castle, an Iron Age fort, is within<br />
walking distance.<br />
The site is south facing on a hill<br />
and enjoys views of Glastonbury<br />
Tor, the Somerset Levels, and, on<br />
24 WWW.OPENAIRBUSINESS.COM