The Rise of Glamping
Feel the call of the wild from the 5* star comforts of the new boutique camping.
We all heard the call of the wild this summer. After being locked down for so many months we yearned for a chance to run free, shake off those lockdown confines and reawaken our senses.
Unsurprisingly the summer of 2020 became the summer of camping and it’s smarter sibling, glamping. The thought of the great outdoors, away from the crowds, unzipping the canvas and stretching out into the fresh country air, cooking pizza in the wood burning oven and star gazing at night was hugely appealing.
Luckily the UK is well provided for, with pitch-your-own campsites and stylishly curated outdoor living sites popping up like giant puffballs after the rain. A night under the stars used to be the stuff of Enid Blyton escapades, quirky adventures for the outdoor enthusiast, rife with soggy sleeping bags and damp sandwiches. Not any more.
Now the shelter on offer is more akin to the hip festival you visited last summer, plus some culture appropriation and a little eco tech. Perhaps you’d like to stay in a Swedish-style kata or Uzbek Yurt, whilst you take your onsen bath and read some Thoreau from the light of your solar powered lanterns.
Glamping has its fans and its detractors, who feel that the more boutique the stay, the further away from the forest bathing, nature immersion you stray. But playing outside appears to be on the endangered list, and anything that gets you and the family taking in the widescreen views of the sky, scratching that adventurous itch, and softening into a different time zone; the more carefree and go-slow a sensibility will creep into everyone’s daily lives.
For families you get a feel-good hotel without the formality, for couples a refreshingly low-key hangout. It should be an experience to enjoy not endure. Easier if that cabin you’re staying in has underfloor heating, apres-sea hot tubs and a pre-stocked fridge. Whittling wood you are not, but you are getting out more. And if that means fresh air, smelling the woodsmoke, enjoying uninterrupted views and stepping out onto fresh dew and a morning sunset then you’ve started to re-wild your life in all the best ways.