What we're working towards at Home Farm Glamping
Home Farm Glamping is a boutique glamping site, nestled into Hertfordshire's greenbelt. Despite being just 13 miles from Marble Arch, guests are surprised to arrive at our idyllic long-grass meadow in what feels like the deep countryside: with lakes, woodland and 150 acres of private land to explore. It's part of the reason why we don't have a minimum stay, we want city-fatigued guests to be able to nip out of London by tube and access the restorative powers of nature. Beyond our twelve, charming glamping tents we also host our series of intimate live events, At Home Farm which has seen folk-royalty grace our woodland stage, celebrated chefs cook banquets under our oak tree and Giffords circus perform.
Set up by Jessica Allen-Back, Home Farm Glamping has been trading since 2015; back in the days when 'Glamping' was a bit of a cringey name and all a bit unknown. Since then, the appreciation to enjoy an elevated camping experience has grown, with the pandemic certifying that Glamping was a way to enjoy a night away in nature with the hard work taken out of it. Our focus has always been giving nature-deprived urban-dwelling people a way to enjoy a nostalgic night under canvas, fulfilling our promise to offer an experience where wellbeing meets wildlife. Over the past couple of years the corporate events side of the business has grown exponentially, bringing businesses out of the city for a wholesome team building day.
We proudly believe we have been able to make a direct difference in making camping a more inclusive experience for marginalised and minority communities. We were recently speaking with a Carribean church group who return to Home Farm every August, who told us that camping in rural parts of the UK is not something that their community has felt able to do historically and is something that some still feel uncomfortable/ not welcome doing today. We are proudly hosting The Queer Campfire festival, which is an inclusive festival for the LGBTQ+ community, as well as gay radio station Cloud FM. We believe our proximity to London allows communities who have not always found the countryside a space they can occupy to have an equal opportunity in connecting with nature which is intrinsic to mental wellbeing.
It's important to us that our guests leave Home Farm with a greater appreciation for nature which leads to a sense of stewardship and a desire to protect our green spaces. We have built a special relationship with Herts & Middlesex Wildlife Trust as part of our commitment to improving biodiversity and conservation in Hertfordshire. Not only do we donate £3 from every tent sale and run fundraising events at the site throughout the season, we are executing the ambitious Environment Management Plan they set us at the farm and on the wider Estate. We run tree planting workshops over the winter for locals, and welcome corporate volunteer groups for wholesome team building days to help us with hedgerow restoration, tree planting, fence building and more.
Looking ahead to 2024, we have set our sights of making the biodiversity net gain an intrinsic part of the glamping experience at Home Farm. We no longer want guests just to know we're into sustainable development and protecting the environment, we want them to choose to stay with us because of this. We want our guests to care about the protection and preservation of green spaces and get involved with the projects we are initiating on the Estate during their stay such as the kitchen garden, tree planting and woodland management, or simply enjoying the nature trails we are establishing. Alice is working on improving the ecology of our lake so that we can introduce beavers and wild swimming... watch this space!
