Check out my interview with campsite owners Sarah and John from Graig Wen, about living their dream in stunning Snowdonia.
Tell me a bit about how you came to start the business?
John and I took three months off from our office jobs one summer to travel Europe in our camper van. When we got home we thought – why don’t we try and get a campsite of our own – something we’d always dreamed about. Eventually we sold our house in Brighton and lived in our van while we travelled the country looking for the right place. We fell in love with Graig Wen because it’s a stunning place in an unspoilt landscape and an amazing base for outdoors activities. When you run this kind of business it very much becomes your world as you don’t have too much time away from the site and Graig Wen was the kind of place we could imagine enjoying spending time – which we do!
What are the best and worst things about running a holiday business like yours?
We are very lucky to live in such a beautiful place. Every day brings different pleasures and challenges. You meet an extraordinary range of people and sometimes sharing your home with them means you don’t get much time to call your own. Unless you can afford to pay quite a few staff then you find yourself running around all day, answering emails at midnight and cooking 10 breakfasts at 7am!
Does it allow you a better life/work balance to enjoy your outdoor interests?
Probably. During the summer months we hardly get time to leave the gates for an hour, but outside of the main season you might find us mountain-biking on a Monday morning when most people have gone back to work. We’ve learnt you have to book time off, otherwise there will always be a check-in to get back for etc. We’re lucky that we love our “jobs” and it only takes a few minutes for us to get to places that most people have to drive half a day to reach.
What advice would you give to anyone who wants to make a similar change and start a business?
Do it but plan obssessively and be realistic about your expectations – it took us about 4 years to get from the idea stage to moving into Graig Wen. We asked (and paid for) advice from everyone we could, got experience by working as volunteers in a similar business, visited loads of places for inspiration and spent mind-numbing hours doing cash-flow forecasts. Be prepared to be flexible and creative in your ideas and for working really hard. But do it right and you’ll never have that Monday morning feeling again!
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Hi and welcome. I'm a freelance travel and lifestyle copywriter and editor, with a passion for the great outdoors. This is my personal blog all about getting out in the fresh air and reconnecting with our green spaces and countryside.
