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Glamping: the Glam Camp

Glamping: the Glam Camp

Say goodbye to that humble 2-man tent and sleeping bag, Arabian rugs, personal chefs, timber flooring and cedar hot tubs are raising the game. Yes, camping just got glamorous.

Ok, so the inevitable has happened. You've put up your tent (of course minus instructions- it’s a tent, how hard can it be?) and then a frustrating half an hour later the heavens open and the Great British weather reminds us why camping is generally not a preferred option in the UK.

I know there's the 'alleged' fun in ‘roughing’ it for a few days and living more like a pig in the sloppy, knee-deep mud but surely given the choice most of us would opt for the slightly more glamorous option that is ‘glamping’.

Glamorous camping, luxury camping, comfortable camping, call it what you will, Glamping is becoming increasingly popular as life’s little luxuries become too much for some people to sacrifice. Just look back to Glastonbury last year. The festival that is synonymous with rain, mud and unsightly toilets all submerged in a sea of tin cans, offered a form of luxury camping complete with Maharaja-style tents for those not wishing to ‘slum’ it with the rest.

The Camp Kerala campsite, complete with on-site restaurant, bar, hair salon and even helicopter service provided stable, weatherproof tents with King-sized beds, linen sheets and hot showers. Ok, so at £7000 it’s not exactly what some of us might define as the true ‘festival experience’, but for a holiday option Glamping is fast-becoming a new trend in eco-luxury.

It’s not all about an unwilling desire to sacrifice our personal luxuries. Glamping can offer a cheaper alternative to most luxury hotels or holiday resorts with the added bonus of a less corporate and more nature-friendly experience that satisfies out desire to get ‘back to nature’. Lying under the stars, eating around a campfire or finding ourselves in remote, unspoilt locations all appeal to our inner, more primitive state of being that is being awakened more in the current height of financial anxiety.

Escaping to hand-woven wooden beds, sheepskin cushions, air conditioning, seawater baths and chef-prepared gourmet meals do somewhat seem to go beyond what most would consider as ‘nomadic’ living.

Yet this top-of-the-range experience offered by a number of leading campsites sums up the true meaning of ‘glamping’- a new form of camping that can be enjoyed rather than endured.