A family who previously lived a nomadic lifestyle in South Africa has moved to Dumfries and Galloway and is preparing to launch a new glamping business in the area’s protected Dark Sky Park.
Lottie Reeves - alongside her partner Kevin, mother, and two young children - relocated to Scotland during lockdown and after settling into the Castle Douglas community decided to establish an off-grid escape in the countryside. Supported by a £25,000 loan from the British Business Bank and GC Business Finance, four wooden cabins are being built on the family’s seven acres of land next to Galloway Forest Park.
In 2009 the park was one of the first places in the world to be named an International Dark Sky Park – an area committed to protecting dark skies by controlling light pollution. There are now more than 100 around the world.
Read more:
-
Shares plunge in Scottish soft drink giant amid job cuts
Ms Reeves said each of the eco-friendly timber-frame pods at Galloway Glamping will be finished with luxury touches, including hot tubs and fire pits.
However, there will be no wi-fi connection with the founders hoping to encourage visitors to spend time outdoors. Situated on the banks of Loch Ken, guests can participate in water sports and wild swimming.
Prior to moving to Scotland, Ms Reeves and her partner spent almost a decade living in South Africa moving through towns and villages working on community development projects and supporting themselves by providing web development services on the side. They moved to Surrey five years ago to be closer to family and start their own.
“I’ve always been interested in nature and wellness and felt that combining these with tourism would be the ideal venture for us," Ms Reeves said.
"My partner Kevin viewed a house in Castle Douglas during lockdown, and I took the leap to move to a new town – and a new country – without even having seen the place. But, it was perfect, and the ample land that the house offered seemed the ideal fit for our glamping cabins.
“We’ve come across a couple of hurdles along the way, such as rising build costs, but the support from the Start Up Loans programme has been an invaluable boost. We are welcoming our first guests soon and finding our feet as a new family business.”
Barry McCulloch, senior manager at the British Business Bank, said the Start Up Loans programme has supported 189 entrepreneurs with more than £1.5 million in loans in Dumfries and Galloway since it began in 2012.
“Tourism is a critical sector of the Scottish economy and, particularly since the Covid years, the staycations market is booming," he added. "Galloway Glamping will be a fantastic place for families to experience the outdoors and sleep under the stars – with some welcome home comforts and shelter from the unpredictable climate."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here