Preseli Glamping is the fledgling sister-company to neighbouring 5-star outdoor adventure centre and eco lodge, Preseli Venture which was founded over 30 years ago by Sophie and Nick Hurst on the premise of sustainable exploration of the wild and unspoilt North Pembrokeshire coast.
At the heart of Sophie and Nick’s operation at both Preseli Venture and Preseli Glamping is their commitment to environmental protection, low-carbon living, and the promotion of greener and more responsible travel.
They strongly believe in forming positive symbiotic relationships with local independent businesses and organisations such as the National Park and National Trust, being key players in the Pembrokeshire Outdoor Charter Group and the Marine Conservation Society for whom they organise quarterly beach cleans and surveys at Abermawr and Aberbach.
Rewilding the valley: an incredible transformation which continues to unfold year after year.
In 2020, the first year of opening, Sophie & Nick planted 2000 native trees including sessile oak, downy birch, wild cherry, goat willow, alder, hazel, field maple, crab apple, guelder rose – species which are all found in the neighbouring ancient woodland. Every year since they have planted 150 more trees, transforming the field which was once a barren “green desert” into an oasis, bursting with life. The sapling offer a food-abundant habitat for an incredible amount of wildlife, insects and birds. As do the swathes of wildflower meadow in between.
Every year as campers return to their favourite pitches, they’re astonished at how much the landscape has evolved with the growth of the saplings. Each year, the young trees offer even more shelter and privacy to campsite dwellers, and create a real “wild camping” feel to the experience.
As lifelong lovers of all things outside and natural, we as a family have always loved camping, so it was only natural that we would move on to creating our own beautiful campsite, again along the lines of environmental sustainability. We made the leap in 2019 and set about converting the undulating meadow adjacent to our home into Preseli Glamping and we are delighted to have been accepted into the Greener Camping family of Pembrokeshire campsites and are now up and ready to open in 2020.
We aim to provide our campers the opportunity to explore the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park in a very low impact manner which is why we’ve made every effort to make their camping experience greener and in harmony with nature. The meadow and woods are strictly a car-free area with all cars parked in the campsite car park, keeping our field safe for children, lush, green and abundant with wildlife!
Our bathroom facilities on the campsite are all powered by solar using our air source heat pump. Since we are in the countryside and off mains sewerage, considerable investment has been made in a modern bio-disc sewerage system preventing pollution in the local valley and stream.
We take a range of measures in our day to day operations to reduce our impact; we maintain paper-free administration where possible and use ecological cleaning products and toilet paper made from 100% recycled paper. We recycle everything possible and compost our food waste. We do not sell any plastic water bottles and instead sell our own aluminium refill water bottles. At our Green-Key accredited eco lodge, we source food from local providers, organic wherever possible, and choose Fair-trade teas and coffees to serve to our guests.
