Evolving the collection – bothies, barns and more stone spaces
Over the years and in line with consumer demand we have been evolving the collection, taking on more bothies, barns and stone places to meet the demand of guests. With the boom of staycations and change in travel habits, guests are snapping them up.
This means, of course, we are wanting to grow our collection of places that are different to traditional holiday lets. It’s important that they all sing to our values and scream ‘A Life More Wild’. To achieve this, think about making a place even more rural and remote than before.
Can you add an outside kitchen, alfresco dining area, and the always popular - outside bath? As well as this, it’s incredibly important to us and our guests that owners and places have an environmental and sustainability mission.
So why bothies, barns and stone places? Well, to put it simply, they perform extremely well. Demand for year-round places is consistently high and these places help to meet that demand. They have an average nightly rate of £160 per night across the collection.
In addition, these space types more often than not can cater for larger groups up to 6 people and with over 50% of our bookings being for special occasions, large spaces perform well, particularly in the peak seasons.
Haedd in Shropshire achieved more than £49,000 in bookings in 2023 with nightly rates from £135 per night. This two-person barn is a perfect example of a cosy space with an offering of a wood-fired hot tub and a fire pit, giving guests lots to do and helping them to live a life more wild.
Slightly more stripped back than The Bothy but still performing extremely well is Wrostler's Barn in Cumbria. This simple and unshowy barn sleeps 4-6 and offers off-grid living, and generated over £28,000 in bookings in 2023.
It’s important to stress, we aren’t losing our roots, just simply expanding and evolving to the needs of guests. We still celebrate all things huts, cabins and treehouses that offer guests the chance to connect with nature and live a life more wild.
Owners Caroline and Nick of The Linhay in Devon turned a crumbling ruin into a place that delights their guests while supporting their work on the land. Caroline said: “We think of ourselves as custodians of our little slice of Devon heaven, as Nick’s father and grandparents were before us.
“The old building had refused to fall down for years and reviving it was our way of preserving a bit of the past while helping to secure the future. We felt it deserved a chance to show us how beautiful it could be, but knew that it could also earn its keep and help inspire people at the same time.”
She added “We thought of every way we could minimise the impact the space had on the environment and maximise the impact it had on guests.
“We wanted to show people how great it was to get close to nature and how simply it was possible to live. That meant being completely off-grid, using solar power for lighting, our own timber for the wood burner & local charcoal, and even water from our spring-fed well, which makes the best cup of tea you’ll ever taste.
“We also offer pick ups from the local bus stop and a shopping service to encourage people not to drive to us.
“Our guests have embraced this ethos and delight in the fact that they are closer to nature and feel they can really disconnect from the busy and sometimes crazy world outside.”
Do you have a stone space which could be converted into something like this? Or a traditional holiday let which meets this criteria but with a bit of advice and consultancy could be turned around? Please get in touch for some free consultancy by emailing ideas@canopyandstars.co.uk or calling 0117 204 7830.
