The ever-growing popularity of glamping has presented UK landowners with an exciting opportunity for generating new revenue streams on their farms and estates. Whether it be a beautiful series of lakes, a bluebell wood, or a secluded spot, rural land holdings often have hidden gems perfect for hosting holiday makers who are looking for a connection with nature and the outdoors.
Brown&Co, agricultural business consultants and land agents, have been helping their predominantly farming, estate and land owning client base explore this opportunity through a number of channels, and still see this as a positive market, especially given the boom in staycations since the relaxing of COVID-19 lockdown restrictions.
Depending on scale, a glamping site can utilise some, or all of the capacity of existing family and workforce on a farm. Sites can be developed over time and scaled up to suit the site and existing time commitments, whilst adding to business profitability. Access to capital can be a limiting factor. Historically, grant funding has been available for setting up new glamping sites, through schemes such as the LEADER grant scheme and the RDPE Growth Programme. These schemes have offered up to 40% funding towards projects that encourage rural tourism, create employment, and generate business for local economies. Brown&Co have been actively involved in these grant schemes and anticipate the return of funding for rural tourism activities in the coming year.
Planning permission can also be a challenge, whether it be building on a green field site, or mitigating against objections. This is another area that Brown&Co specialise in through their dedicated planning department, who are well versed in the intricacies of local planning regulations.
As a landowner, having access to a perfect site does not necessarily mean that you have the time or desire to set up and operate a glamping site. A busy farm or estate may not have spare labour to allocate to managing a new enterprise, which is why Brown&Co are encouraging some of their landowning clients to make sites available for lease to eager glamping operators. Set up correctly, there can be great synergies in relationships of this kind, with operators gaining access to land they wouldn’t otherwise have been able to, and landowners adding a welcome rental income stream to their business.
To find out more, find their website at www.brown-co.com.
