We took over Ekopod in June 2017. We (Matt and Rachael) are a brother and sister team who were working in hospitality in Bristol, but spending a most of our free time either travelling to and from the beaches of Devon and Cornwall or back packing.
Our move into glamping was inspired by 2014 backpacking travels that involved wild camping in Russia and staying in yurts in Mongolia. We were blown away by the sense of wonder and adventure that being so remote and living so close to nature can create. So we came back determined to create an experience in the UK that could try and capture that magic, for our guests. Having 20 years of hospitality experience between us, in hotels and restaurants respectively, setting up a glamping business seemed to be the perfect venture. Our love of the sea, water sports and outdoor activities made the border of Devon and Cornwall the perfect location
While looking for sites we found and fell in love with Ekopod, which was for sale at the time. Being Giffords ourselves the House’s connection with Thomas Hardy’s wife Emma Gifford seemed like a sign, giving us the confidence to take the plunge! Since taking over at Ekopod we have restored the two pods that were here when we bought the site and have now constructed 5 more . We now have 4 geodomes, 2 safari tents and 1 glamping pod. Our site is designed to try and be as environmentally friendly as possible. We are off grid so there is no wi-fi, no electricity in the pods, water is provided by our onsite spring and we have a bio digestor for waste. There is electricity in the main barn for charging items (all the electricity from our energy supplier is from renewable sources). Our lighting in the pods is by solar power and candle light, the heating in the pod is by wood burner and our hot water is heated by gas.
Building Ekopod was very much a family affair, we couldn’t have done it without a lot of help from our family and friends (especially our Mum and Dad, Sister and Brother – in -law). We’ve loved the whole experience of bringing Ekopod to life and providing the ‘Ekopod Experience’ for our guests. A recent crowning moment was winning Silver in the Best New Tourism business in the 2019 Cornwall Tourism awards.
Below you can see some pics of when we were doing more ‘building’ of the site and one from the Cornwall Toursim Awards ceremony at Turo Cathedral.
