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Wales Online
Wales Online
Lifestyle
Joanne Ridout

The bonkers Welsh campsite for sale with converted planes, a UFO, submarine and a neon speedboat

If your new home search must include a way for the property to earn income, it's likely you are considering a house that comes with holiday lets either already established or the opportunity to create them by converting empty outbuildings.

It's not likely your search will be for a handsome house that comes with a UFO, two converted planes, a submarine and a speedboat in the garden, bonkers holiday lets that people are desperate to stay in as a unique base from which to explore the beautiful county of Pembrokeshire.

Welcome to Apple Camping, the now famous and wonderfully weird holiday let site that has been showcased on television programmes such as Channel 4's Four in a Bed, BBC's My Unique B&B, and been used as a location for movies and music videos, and is one of the prime sites driving the latest airbnb adverts, find out more about that here.

READ MORE: The cool converted army truck called Big Daf where you can stay with your own hot tub and rural views

There's a period property for sale but it's what's in the garden that grabs the most attention (Apple Camping / Fox Grant, Salisbury)
Two fields of fun come with the house for sale (Apple Camping / Fox Grant, Salisbury)

The brains behind the site is creative thinker and enthusiastic creator Toby Rhys-Davies who has been developing the truly unique holiday let business for over a decade.

Even though Toby's initial plan for the land at Norchard Farmhouse was for glamping pods the idea of building something more unique at the site became more relevant and realistic as he researched this growing niche market.

Toby says: "I really wanted south Pembrokeshire to have something a little bit more alternative, but someone else was given a licence for glamping so I had to think outside the box, and thought, 'what is to stop us repurposing things like aeroplanes and things that people might want to stay in?' and that's been the case ever since."

So travel back in time over a decade and you will find Toby taking his mum shopping, but it most definitely wasn't an everyday retail experience for his bemused mother.

After being renovated, the cockpit is a cool place to chill out (Apple Camping / Fox Grant, Salisbury)
Inside, Toby has brought the luxury back to the previously mouldy Jetstar (Apple Camping / Fox Grant, Salisbury)

Toby says: "I took my mum shopping to Cotswold airport, as you do! We were shopping for a plane to recycle and I came across the Jetstar, which is the 1970s private jet, and we took one look around what was a very mouldy jet and my mother looked in disbelief when I said, 'yup, we'll have that!'

"It didn't rent at first, until you get someone staying and someone dipping their toe in the water for online reviews, it was a punt. But as more units came (to the site) and the popularity was quite clear, the general response was that it's crazy but it's clearly a good sort of crazy!"

Idea for a UFO came after a pint down the pub (Apple Camping / Fox Grant, Salisbury)
Toby poses with the UFO at night, that comes with lights and a smoke machine (Apple Camping / Fox Grant, Salisbury)
Inside the UFO (Apple Camping / Fox Grant, Salisbury)

The Jetstar was the first of the family of amazing spaces for visitors to rent at Toby's site, but now the whole site is up for sale, including the three-storey, five-bedroom period property that he calls home. The sale includes all the glamping pods as originally planned but these are joined by a fabulous collection of items Toby has sourced and repurposed.

Wander around the site and you will find a UFO, a mini-submarine, an igloo, a Pacman-inspired bright yellow unit and another plane, this time an Etihad Airways airbus.

Craning the airbus into position (Apple Camping / Fox Grant, Salisbury)
Airbus can now add a sunny deck to its features (Apple Camping / Fox Grant, Salisbury)
Lots of the original internal plane gear is still in place (Apple Camping / Fox Grant, Salisbury)

Fuelled by the success of the Jetstar plane, the UFO idea came to Toby over a pint at the pub, as so many wild and wacky ideas do for so many people, and once the flying saucer idea had landed he couldn't get it to leave.

Toby says: "The inspiration for the UFO came from my love of films, travel and retro. But once I'd come up with the madcap idea over a few pints, I needed to find someone to build it and a few people said there was a semi-retired boat builder called Steve Hicks in Tenby.

Inside the airbus (Apple Camping / Fox Grant, Salisbury)
Don't be nervous of taking a seat in this fantastic plane if you're not keen on flying (Apple Camping / Fox Grant, Salisbury)

"So, me and him went for a pint and I explained that I was thinking about building a UFO, and he could work on it from his work with fibreglass from his boat building experience - and it turns out he'd always wanted to build a UFO!"

Over the ten years since its birth, the site has grown not just in its media and television coverage but in its popularity with visitors and Toby thinks he knows why.

Welcome to the 1980s Pacman (Apple Camping / Fox Grant, Salisbury)
Inside the Pacman (Apple Camping / Fox Grant, Salisbury)

He says: "It's really touched a nerve with people not wanting the ordinary. People have really enjoyed coming and staying in things like the Pacman, which is an 80s retro unit, bringing back childhood memories, and something where you can have life experiences with your family rather than just staying in the area.

"Pembrokeshire is by far one of the best places in the UK to go, and you can enhance the experience further and stay somewhere fun! Every night you come back from your day out and have a smile put on your face by the accommodation that you're staying in."

Neon speedboat is a fairly new addition (Apple Camping / Fox Grant, Salisbury)
The luxury lifestyle on dry land in Pembrokeshire (Apple Camping / Fox Grant, Salisbury)

The media and television coverage has grown the profile of the site to a level now that people are offering Toby some weird items that maybe could find a home at Apple Camping, such as one of the newest additions, a sonar submarine.

Toby says: "Every unit has a wacky story that comes with it! I was on holiday in Cyprus and someone phoned me and said 'we've got a sonar hull, and we hear that you might be interested in it'. I said 'I have no idea what a sonar hull is!'

"We went to have a look at it and it's off the bottom of a navy HMS destroyer, it's the part of the ship that's underneath, that detects U-boats. So we thought, 'why don't we flip it up the other way to make it into accommodation and replicate some of the submarine?' It always gets a lot of smiles from people who turn up.

"I've been offered lots of things to repurpose but some of them have just been too big, like a giant galleon. Just getting half an airbus down the back lanes was one thing, there was no chance for the galleon, which is maybe a good thing, otherwise I would have had it!"

Submarine was a new addition that surfaced out of the blue (Apple Camping / Fox Grant, Salisbury)
Toby got a call while on holiday with the offer of the lower section of a Navy submarine (Apple Camping / Fox Grant, Salisbury)

Other newbies to the site include a power boat and a train carriage and a disco church, which is a new build structure that Toby wanted to look like an old Welsh church. But it has been painted to look like a stripy black and white humbug sweet, which might sound like a bonkers building but it is just a perfect addition to Toby's wacky world of wonders.

Toby thinks the church is a very versatile addition to the site, offering a central party hub that guests can enjoy to the maximum when they take over the whole site for a private party with sole use of the accommodation.

The inside has been given the love and care Toby has brought to all his wonderful and wacky units (Apple Camping / Fox Grant, Salisbury)
He's even built a periscope (Apple Camping / Fox Grant, Salisbury)

He says: "It was my 50th birthday this year and we just took the whole site off sale and had it for family and friends and it was just brilliant. And customers can do that, buy the whole place out and now it can do weddings as well, they can hire the whole place and party on!

"We have so many repeat customers who just want to go round and do them all, some people have been five or six times already, going round because they like the experience of staying somewhere unique."

There's a train carriage too (Apple Camping / Fox Grant, Salisbury)
You can stay in a Witch's Hat too (Apple Camping / Fox Grant, Salisbury)

But now Toby, originally from Tenby, thinks it's time to take his creativity and let it fly elsewhere in Pembrokeshire. So Apple Camping is on the market and comes with a pretty period property that shouldn't be overlooked as a huge selling point of this site, alongside the UFO, submarine and planes in the garden.

Toby says: "It's a period farmhouse with massive inglenook fires, full of features, for the new owners it could potentially be a great family home, it's huge with lovely big rooms, and it's a good house to come home to and turn off.

The stripy humbug inspired church is a relatively new addition (Apple Camping / Fox Grant, Salisbury)
Inside the 'disco church' (Apple Camping / Fox Grant, Salisbury)

"I'm outgrowing Apple Camping and it's at a point where it's ready for someone else, who may want to do weddings too because it's a really adaptable site and can be taken to another level by another person.

"While I was this creative to get it to where it is now I think someone else could have real fun adding to it, the timing is perfect to let someone else keep expanding it.

"It has had some serious media and TV attention as it is such a dynamic site and I think the next people will really benefit from it - I will enjoy watching it grow further, even more so than if I was still there."

Toby with friend Kath on Channel 4's Four in a Bed (Channel 4)
The sun sets over the UFO - not your every day view, but it is at Apple Camping (Apple Camping / Fox Grant, Salisbury)

But the Jetstar will always occupy a deep spot in Toby's heart because it was the first repurposed unit he did, the one that got the ball rolling, but the only way now is towards the next big adventure.

Toby says: "I really hope it goes to the right person and they have as much fun with it as I have, I've enjoyed my time doing it but it's time to look forwards - I've got plans and ideas for the future.

"Hopefully they will bring new ideas to the site but they will not be getting rid of any of the aeroplanes, because they are just too cool!"

The Jetstar will always be in Toby's heart but it's time to move on (Apple Camping / Fox Grant, Salisbury)
How could a new owner resist from staying in their onw cool planes in their garden? (Apple Camping / Fox Grant, Salisbury)

Apple Camping and its substantial, detached home, is on the market with a guide price of £1,250,000 with estate agents Fox Grant, Salisbury, give them a call on 01722 782727 to find out more. And don't miss the best dream homes in Wales, auction properties, renovation stories, and interiors - join the Amazing Welsh Homes newsletter , sent to your inbox twice a week.

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