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Glamping success at Llanfair Hall

It’s ridiculous to look back over my 40 odd years of working and realise that the happiest and most successful of those have been in my late 50s; being self-employed and having built up a business from scratch, while moving from England to Wales to do so. My husband and I moved to Llanfair Hall on Anglesey in 2013 with a view to setting up a glamping business. I had previously worked in enterprise education for Young Enterprise and Peter Jones’ Enterprise Academy and while loving what I was doing, had a yearning to try being an entrepreneur for myself. My colleague Ruth sat across the desk from me, no doubt sick of me moaning and said “you need to set up a glamping site!” Having no idea what glamping was, I did my research and the rest, as they say, is history

We bought an old farmhouse with 5 acres, started the long process of applying for planning permission and instantly hit a problem – there was no classification for “glamping” within the council’s lists. After endless surveys and conversations that there is a distinct difference between glamping pods and caravans, we received the go ahead in July 2014, getting Phase 1 in place ready for March 2015.

We have created 5 phases for the business:

1 – installation of 3 glamping pods with their own bathrooms and a communal field kitchen

2 – build a self-contained log cabin, sleeping 6

3 – installation of 2 glamping pods with their own bathrooms and a communal field kitchen

4 – conversion of a 1720s barn to a luxury 2 bed cottage

5 - conversion of a 2nd 1720s barn to a luxury 2 bed cottage.

The first 3 stages have been completed with guests and income increasing year on year, with repeat bookings and word of mouth recommendations representing over 50% of our business. This year we have had positive proof that we are doing the right thing by receiving a Gold Award from Visit Wales in recognition of exceptional quality and facilities and over the moon to win Best Camping, Caravan and Glamping site in North Wales this November.

We have never worked so hard in our lives, have worked with some brilliant people and met amazing guests during our 3 years. There is nothing better or more satisfying knowing that your guests have had a great rest, loved their stay with us and fully intend to come back, while recommending us to friends and family.

The hospitality industry is so varied and fun to work in, every day is different and it gives us such a buzz to get to meet and help the most fascinating of lovely guests with their pets; 260 dogs, 2 cats and a pet hedgehog so far.

  • Glamping success at Llanfair Hall

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