By Joe Jeffrey
Scotland’s Carr’s Hill looks to attract more clientele with glamping quarters
An award-winning Scots caravan park is expanding into the luxury holiday market on the back of the growth in ‘glamping’.
Carr’s Hill, near Falkirk in Scotland, has boosted its accommodation in time for the summer holiday season with the introduction of luxury safari tents.
Carr’s Hill owners and husband and wife team, Grant and Gillian Turnbull, invested in the move into the high-end camping market, developing its 12 acre rural estate and existing five pitch site. The couple have been receiving free advisory support from Business Gateway Falkirk to help develop their expansion strategy and marketing plan.
Since launching five years ago, the site has already earned prestigious Caravan Club Certificated Location (CL) status. Last year, Carr’s Hill also gained a UK-wide accolade at the Caravan Club CL awards held at Westminster. The award recognises small, privately-owned sites found across the UK, many in idyllic and remote locations, which can provide a valuable, additional income stream for local communities.
Two new, two-bedroom safari tents will be available at Carr’s Hill from next month (June) and are fitted out to the highest specification to offer all the comforts of home but with the excitement of the great outdoors. Aimed at attracting families with young children, they each feature a king-size bedroom, triple bunk bedroom, kitchen, dining area, private shower room and large outdoor space with BBQ area. Carr’s Hill is keen to encourage families to leave the technology at home whilst on holiday, to enjoy being a family and interact with each other. With these principles in mind, the wifi availability is kept outwith the tents and they will be kitted out with board games, magazines and outdoor play activities to encourage family time whilst on holiday.
Owner Grant Turnbull said: “Carr’s Hill has been attracting tourists from throughout the UK and Europe and even as far afield as Australia and New Zealand. In recent years we have seen more people using our pitches for longer breaks, so we wanted to expand our accommodation to provide something completely unique and something that would really attract people to Falkirk as a holiday destination.
“The support we have received through Business Gateway Falkirk has been instrumental in helping us develop our strategy for the site to bring even more international visitors to the area.”
Falkirk Council’s spokesperson for Culture, Leisure and Tourism, Cllr Adrian Mahoney added: “Falkirk continues to thrive as a destination and the popularity of iconic attractions such as The Kelpies and The Falkirk Wheel continues to rise, bringing visitors to the area and boosting the local economy.
“Carr’s Hill has been a valuable accommodation provider in the area for several years now, and the introduction of the safari tents supports the launch of our five-year tourism strategy, providing an exciting asset for future tourism development in the local area.”
