How we started our glamping business – the story behind Arran Crofter Huts

It all started as a fever dream in 2019. Like so many others, lockdown gave us the opportunity to take stock.

Sam and I were living in Edinburgh, in the flat we’d just renovated. But having grown up on Arran, it was always in my sights to move back one day.

Meanwhile Suzi was hunkered down at Hazelbank. Looking out over her fields that were rapidly being taken out by mountains of brambles.

Bringing life back to the farm

Our grandparents were crofters on this land. They had around 600 chickens and would supply local hotels with eggs. They also had goats, geese, ducks and sheep.

When my grandpa became ill, they gradually started closing down the farm. And it has been left abandoned ever since.

Over the years we’ve had so many conversations about how we could bring some life back to Hazelbank.

Our ideas came in this order:

• grow tea
• open a dog park
• build a yoga studio
• grow apples to make cider
• start a glamping business

It’s safe to say that glamping was our best idea. Cider would have been nice though!

Developing our idea for a glamping site

What’s a business idea without a wee bit of market research?

Over the coming years, we stayed in various glamping sites across the UK.

These included a:

• treehouse in Speyside
• shepherd’s hut with miniature donkeys in Dunblane
• camping pod in the Borders
• cabin in Cornwall
• tiny home in Aviemore
• pod in Davaar Island

We took the best of our stays, and incorporated them into our vision for Arran Crofter Huts.

Suzi has also managed holiday lettings on Arran for 15+ years. So we knew what worked well on the island and what people wanted.

How we got planning permission

We worked with Glampitect to do a feasibility study. We then went on to do our full planning application with them.

How we decided on shepherd huts

We wanted something that would be:

• an elevated version of your standard glamping pod
• sympathetic to the local environment
• made in Scotland – using local materials

A Scottish shepherd hut ticked all of these boxes.

We found a highly experienced craftsman, based in Perthshire. And were able to customise the interior to our spec.

Preparing the ground and landscaping

We worked with excellent local trades people to get our site up and running.

The groundworks were completed by Marc Campbell and his team (WKS Construction). We simply couldn’t have done this project without Marc and his powers of problem solving.

We enlisted with SSEN and Paul Nelson (Auchenhew Electrical) to set up our electricity.

Scott Reid helped us out with plumbing.

And the huts were moved onsite by Armitage Groundworks.

Design and completion

We decided on designs, colour schemes and furniture together.

We carried out of the interior work and fit-out ourselves. We couldn’t have done it without our market research and our old faithfuls – YouTube and Reddit.

We all work full-time on the island, so it’s was all-hands-on-deck every weekend for around 18 months.

During that time, I also spent time growing and having a baby.

There was plenty of problem solving. And plenty of mud and paint. But after ton of perseverance and determination (and many sleepless nights) – we got there!

Launch – yay

After we got our license from the council, we launched on Airbnb and started hosting guests in later summer 2025.

And then later, Sam and I designed and build our website.

It still doesn’t feel real. But the feedback we’ve had so far has made is so worthwhile.

Come and stay

We’re so proud of what we’ve created and are excited to share it with you. Find out more about our huts and book a stay.