What Exactly Is Glamping? UK Glamping Uncovered.
When Home Farm Glamping near London opened in 2014, people didn’t quite understand the merging of ‘glam’ and ‘camping’. Now it’s a popular mini-break option, and we are proud to have been amongst the first in the UK to offer an affordable and luxurious option to camping.
If fumbling around with tent poles in the dark only to realise you’ve left the pegs at home or barely sleeping on a wafer-thin ground mat in a musty old sleeping bag with around 5 layers on sounds sounds all too familiar (and slightly haunts you), then glamping may just be up your street…
So, what is glamping?
Cue glamping, the blend of “glamourous” and “camping” that promises all of the benefits of immersion in nature, without all of the irritations and inconveniences once euphemistically described as ‘character building’. You can now enjoy home comforts, rustic luxuries and, best yet, a good night's sleep in glamping sites across the UK.
“Glamping aims to combine the best parts of a camping holiday with all the luxuries and conveniences of a hotel stay. All the exposure to the great outdoors, but with a level of service and comfort exceeding anything the traditional camper might expect.”
Turning a pea field into a glamping meadow
At Home Farm, we believe strongly that everyone should be able to enjoy a relaxing night under the stars, hanging out by the campfire, eating proper food and enjoying their favourite tipple, with a minimum of fuss and preparation and without needing to watch Bear Grylls! Our charming glamping meadow set into a 150 acre estate in Elstree, was created by the estate manager Jess Allen-Back in 2014 when glamping still required an explanation.
Today there is a whole spectrum of accommodation types that constitute as glamping, like treehouses, shepherds huts, hobbit holes and safari tents. Jess, the owner of Home Farm, wanted to retain the feel of camping by opting for bell tents and yurts made by British manufacturer BCT Outdoors.
Her mission was simple: to allow guests to enjoy the simplicity and beauty of the countryside and fall in love with the great outdoors. A key part of this was ensuring our prices are fair and accessible, to ensure couples, families and friends can afford a glamping trip.
Being a city-dweller herself, Jess wanted to make nature accessible for green-deprived Londoners, fusing their need for efficiency and high expectations with the simplicity of nature. Being conveniently located in Elstree means we’re only 13 miles from Marble Arch, so now you don’t even need to leave the M25 to be properly in ‘the wild’.
All of the best bits of camping, just a better night’s sleep!
On the camping side, you still get all the joys of sleeping under canvas out in the countryside. Although our bell tents and yurts offer a significant upgrade on your traditional camping tent, you still have the full experience of being close to and surrounded by nature. Here are the small touches that you’ll find during your stay at Home Farm, which for us put the glam into the glamping:
Warm, squishy duvets and pillows by Soak & Sleep
Comfortable mattresses and proper double beds (!)
Welcome hamper containing all of your plates, cups, cutlery, mugs, matches, firelighters, bottle opener
Complimentary marshmallows and skewers
Logs from the Aldenham estate and environmentally conscious charcoal
Excellent bathroom facilities, with lovely showers, toilets and fancy amenities
Privacy and exclusivity: only 12 glamping tents to share 150 acres of private land
Bookable massages to enjoy in your tent or the pop-up meadow spa!
Where wellbeing meets wildlife
Our tents are all spaced out in a large luscious meadow, full of long rye grasses and wildflowers. To the south, more meadowland rolls away up the hill to a paddock of grazing horses, and woodlands full of oaks, chestnuts, ash and beech trees surround you to the north and east. In the daytime, our gorgeous lake offers shade, peace and quiet, and the opportunity to spot dragonflies, herons and kingfishers while you enjoy a picnic. Home Farm is even home to an increasing array of wildlife including rare ground-roosting birds ducks, moorhens and Canada geese; rabbits, bats, moles, the occasional fox or deer and even red kites!
In the evenings, you can watch the sunset unencumbered by buildings and skyscrapers getting in the way - enjoying the light dipping across the meadow. When night falls, it's time to light the fire pit and let conversation flow. Out here on the edge of town, away from the lights and pollution, there’s so many more stars to be seen. Although we’re so close to London, city life will feel like a distant memory.
Glamping also offers holiday makers a big step above and beyond the normal camping experience, aiming to make everything as accessible, comfortable and convenient as possible. Check out our blog post camping v glamping which compares the two experiences, and details the upgrades you can expect by glamping at Home Farm.
Intimate outdoor events on London’s doorstep
Throughout the pandemic, we saw how vital spending time in nature was. As a nation, we’ve grown to appreciate and respect the great outdoors and now almost prefer al-fresco dining and open-air events. It was this that inspired the creation of our sister organisation At Home Farm, a season of outdoor cultural and live music events hosted on our magical woodland stage.
For fans of flare and theatrics, we have all manner of epic productions to marvel and delight.
We’ve had the pleasure of Rogue Theater performing a three day run, combining tragedy and comedy, music and pyrotechnics, for a hilarious and heartwarming rendition of Hansel and Gretel. For tiny tots, the beautiful fairy folks at Tiny T’s have recreated everyone’s favourite fairytales, and even brought a real live unicorn to visit us!
Foodies and lovers of feasts are similarly spoilt for choice. Throughout the summer you can join us for open air banquets under the oak tree, with our friends at Woodfired Canteen bringing along some of the most talented and influential chefs to cook lunch and dinner for you and your friends.
For those who like their dining experiences to be more ‘hands-on’, we have sausage making workshops with Perry the Butcher, and cocktail mixing classes.
For those who prefer their brains to do the work, we have gin tasting classes with Puddingstone Distillery where you can experiment with the effects of different botanicals; and wine tasting sessions with Hertfordshire Wine School that let you in on all the best cheeses to pair with your favourite plonk.
Adventurous play for urban-dwelling kids
Finally, if you’re looking to burnish your credentials as a bona fide hunter gatherer, we have any number of workshops for that. From masterclasses in bush craft with The Wilderness Foundation where kids can learn to make campfires and basic survival skills, to foraging classes where the brilliant lasses at Totally Wild will take you on a big wander around the estate, picking all sorts of edible bits out of the hedgerows and meadows, and cook it all up for your lunch. Our expert conservationist Rob can teach you all about woodland regeneration and rewilding, and his former colleagues at the Herts and Middlesex Wildlife Trust can pack you off with echo-locators to look for bats after dark.
There’s so much going on at Home Farm Glamping, you’ll be as immersed in the fascinating and unfamiliar, the entertaining and the sublime, as you would on any trip abroad. And with all the luxury and comfort of the tents, and the relaxing wholesome atmosphere of the site, you’ll have a wonderful time doing perhaps the best thing there is to do on holiday - nothing at all!
If you fancy a stay with us, why not check out our lovely yurts and bell tents?