Northumberland glamping site named one of best in UK…

Northumberland glamping site named one of best in UK adds new shepherd’s hut after 100% summer occupancy

A Northumberland family farm which was named one of the best new glamping destinations in the UK earlier this year has added a new shepherd's hut after "unprecedented demand" over the summer.

Hillside Huts & Cabins, based at Earsdon Hill Farm near Morpeth, opened to guests in March and just a month later was named one of the UK's best new camping and glamping destinations by The Times, alongside Trees at Tughall in Chathill. Since then, its owners say it has seen 100% occupancy and a fourth shepherd's hut was commissioned in the summer, and it has just this week been nominated for two categories in the North East England Tourism Awards - Camping, glamping and Holiday Park of the Year and New Tourism Business Award.

And it's good timing if a recent report is anything to go by. Booking.com announced in their annual Travel Predictions Report for 2023, in which Newcastle was named a trending UK destination, that a third of UK travellers were looking for "off-grid" style holidays to escape from reality.

The fourth hut is nestled on the edge of a wood overlooking a wildflower meadow, with the L-shaped cabin having been created using recycled materials including floorboards from a Cheshire mill and corrugated iron from an Ayrshire barn ravaged by Storm Arwen. The interior has an open plan bedroom, kitchen, and sitting room with en-suite shower room; while picture windows look out over the fields towards the coast.

Philip Gregory, who runs the business with his wife Fiona, said: "We opened our first three Shepherd’s Huts to guests in March this year, by April we had achieved 100% occupancy, a trend which we have seen continue to date. We realised there was a desperate need for this sort of off-beat rustic chic accommodation in this area of Northumberland and we commissioned our fourth hut in the middle of the summer."

The fourth shepherd's hut at Hillside Huts & Cabins (Hillside Huts & Cabins)

Four years ago, Philip and Fiona were clearing brambles from an overgrown wooded field edge on the farm just north of Morpeth. They realised that the views across to the Northumberland coast they had stumbled across could be a perfect spot for a "luxury" glamping experience.

Philip had spent 25 years organising safari holidays in Africa, and together they set about working with The Northumberland Shepherd's Hut Company to create huts and cabins built to their own precise specifications, inspired by Philip's experience of safaris and a visit to a resort in the Canadian Rockies.

Philip continued: "It has been a big investment, with farm incomes being squeezed we knew we had to find another way of making income form the land. It seemed the obvious choice with my experience of luxury safaris, this venture combines our interest in wildlife, the environment, and our love of the Northumbrian landscape."

The couple are hoping to expand further in 2023 by offering guests yoga and Pilates classes on the farm in the wildflower meadow and barn. For more information on Hillside Huts & Cabins, visit the website.

Are you planning an off-grid style holiday in Northumberland for 2023? Let us know!

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