When Derry Green first started building a glamping pod in his backyard in Lancashire, a county in northwest England, he was trying to keep his kids busy during the lockdown in 2020.
An overnight camping experience in their backyard gave Green the idea to build an outdoor deck in his garden. "People started messaging me through social media asking if they could book it for a holiday, which at the time seemed crazy to me. I thought, 'Why would you want to come and book something that I've built in the garden?'" Green said."Within days, it was fully booked for months in advance. The response was just unbelievable," he said."I then realized, obviously, there was a gap in the market for what I'd made and decided to then pursue it as a career.
The design of the glamping pods is inspired by the setting of the popular reality dating show,"Love Island."On the show, singles are brought to a private island villa. They are given a series of tasks to complete with a partner and keep swapping until they fall in love. "Each one's getting bigger and more elaborate, with more things in it, than the one before," Green said."And then obviously, since COVID-19, the price of everything has skyrocketed compared to what it was back then."
"For example, one that we just opened that's called 'The Oasis' has a huge outdoor cinema while 'The Tree Tops' has got an outdoor pool table," Green added.Rooms in the glamping pods are luxurious. This particular room is extremely spacious and comes with two beds as well as a television.While couples and families with young children do come to stay at his glamping pods, about half of Green's guests are groups of women.
Setting up the necessary electrical and water infrastructure was one of the most complex parts of building the glamping pods."So when I did the first one, it was pretty simple because it was near the house, so it was connected to the power supply and the water from the house," Green said.