01/09/2026
our story 🫶♥️ starts here....
Country Bumpkins Luxury Glamping 🌿✨
Laura and Ashley hadn’t known each other for long when Laura decided to whisk Ashley away on a surprise romantic weekend of glamping — booked, naturally, on a discounted Groupon deal! 💕⛺
Little did they know, that bargain weekend would spark something much bigger…
As they relaxed under the stars, enjoyed the great outdoors and discovered just how much fun glamping could be, Laura’s imagination went into overdrive. 💭✨
And so, the dream was born…
What if we opened our very own glamping site?
From one cheeky little Groupon getaway came a big dream — and the inspiration for Country Bumpkins Luxury Glamping. 🌳🏕️💫
Because sometimes, all it takes is a romantic weekend, a little bit of love and someone to believe in you !!! And one very good idea 🥰🫶.
🏡🌳🏕️🌿🌺🌻🌼🌺🌸🌼🌻🌼🌻
The Lincolnshire stone cottage that became a glamping site.
Country Bumpkins Luxury Glamping 🌿✨
Laura and Ashley hadn’t known each other for long when Laura decided to whisk Ashley away on a surprise romantic weekend of glamping — booked, naturally, on a discounted Groupon deal! 💕⛺
Little did they know, that bargain weekend would spark something much bigger…
As they relaxed under the stars, enjoyed the great outdoors and discovered just how much fun glamping could be, Laura’s imagination went into overdrive. 💭✨
And so, the dream was born…
What if we opened our very own glamping site?
From one cheeky little Groupon getaway came a big dream — and the inspiration for Country Bumpkins Luxury Glamping. 🌳🏕️💫
Because sometimes, all it takes is a romantic weekend, a little bit of love and someone to believe in you !!!
and one very good idea!
Our story starts here….
This little book is for all the lovely glampers we have experienced over the years.
A thank you for making our life’s so enriched and enjoyable along the way.
The Lincolnshire Cottage That Became a Glamping Site
The quirky, muddy, magical story of Country Bumpkins Luxury Glamping 🌿✨
Chapter One
It All Started With a GROUPON Deal
Every good story has a beginning.
Some begin with a grand adventure.
Some begin with a chance meeting.
Some begin with a mysterious letter, a forgotten treasure map or a handsome stranger riding into the sunset on a white horse.
Ours began with a Groupon deal.
Yes.
You read that correctly.
Groupon!
It was hardly the stuff of fairy tales.
There were no trumpets.
No dramatic orchestral music.
No wise old wizard appearing from behind a hedge to announce that destiny had arrived.
Just Laura, Ashley, a discounted romantic glamping weekend and a rather optimistic belief that this could all go according to plan.
Laura and Ashley hadn’t known each other for very long.
In fact, they were still in that exciting stage of getting to know each other — the stage where you try very hard to appear normal, interesting and reasonably house-trained.
Laura, however, had decided that it was time for a little romance.
A surprise.
Something different.
Something memorable.
And what could possibly be more romantic than disappearing into the countryside for a weekend of luxury under the stars?
Well…
Quite a lot, as it turned out.
But they didn’t know that yet.
So Laura booked the deal.
Glamping.
It sounded wonderfully glamorous.
The word itself was very reassuring.
Glam-ping.
Not camping.
Absolutely not.
Camping involved damp sleeping bags, questionable toilets, cold feet and waking up with a slug halfway up your tent.
Glamping, on the other hand, sounded like champagne, fluffy blankets, fairy lights and someone else dealing with the muddy bits.
Laura was sold.
Ashley was about to find out what Laura considered a romantic surprise.
And so they set off.
Two people.
One bargain.
And absolutely no idea that this little weekend away was about to change the course of their lives.
The countryside was beautiful.
Rolling fields stretched into the distance, the hedgerows were bursting with life and the Lincolnshire sky seemed to go on forever.
There was something about being away from the noise of everyday life that made everything feel different.
The air was fresher.
The evenings seemed longer.
The stars looked brighter.
And, most importantly, there was no washing machine demanding attention.
For a little while, Laura and Ashley simply relaxed.
They talked.
They laughed.
They explored.
They sat beneath the evening sky and watched the darkness slowly settle over the countryside.
And then came the fire.
There is something rather magical about sitting around a fire.
It makes people talk.
Properly talk.
The sort of conversations that begin with:
"What shall we have for dinner?"
And somehow end three hours later with:
"If you could own any animal, what would it be?"
And somewhere between the marshmallows, the laughter and the crackling flames, Laura had a thought.
At first, it was just a tiny thought.
A little idea.
A what if?
What if people could have this feeling all the time?
What if there was a place where people could escape the everyday?
A place where they could slow down.
Laugh.
Reconnect.
Make memories.
Sleep under the stars without having to wrestle with a tent.
A place that felt special.
A place that felt homely.
A place with a little bit of luxury, a little bit of countryside and, ideally, absolutely no chance of a slug joining you in bed.
And then Laura said the words that would eventually change everything.
“What if we opened our own glamping site?”
Ashley probably thought it was one of those ideas that people have on holiday.
You know the ones.
"We should move to Spain."
"We should buy a pub."
"We should get a campervan."
"We should open a restaurant."
"We should definitely never come back."
Wonderful ideas.
Usually forgotten by Tuesday.
But this one was different.
This one stuck.
Chapter Two
The Dream
Once an idea gets into Laura’s head, apparently it doesn’t like leaving.
It grows.
It gets comfortable.
It starts rearranging the furniture.
Soon, the little glamping idea had become a dream.
And dreams are dangerous things.
Because once you start imagining something, it becomes very difficult to stop.
Laura began picturing it.
Beautiful little retreats tucked away in the Lincolnshire countryside.
Fairy lights twinkling through the trees.
Cosy evenings around a fire.
People arriving tired from everyday life and leaving feeling relaxed.
Families laughing.
Couples reconnecting.
Friends escaping for the weekend.
Children running around in wellies.
Dogs charging through fields with absolutely no regard for personal dignity.
And somewhere in the middle of it all…
Country Bumpkins Luxury Glamping.
The name seemed to fit.
It was rustic.
It was fun.
It didn’t take itself too seriously.
And it sounded like the sort of place where you could arrive wearing nice clothes and leave covered in mud.
Which, as it turned out, was surprisingly accurate.
But there was one tiny problem.
They needed somewhere to put it.
A glamping site requires land.
And not just any land.
You need somewhere beautiful.
Somewhere peaceful.
Somewhere with space.
Somewhere that doesn’t have an irate neighbour immediately shouting,
“WHAT ON EARTH ARE YOU DOING?”
from over the fence.
The search began.
And eventually, their eyes turned towards a Lincolnshire cottage.
It was charming.
It had character.
It had possibilities.
And, most importantly, it had something else.
Potential.
Lots of potential.
Possibly too much potential.
Because when you look at an old cottage with a romantic dream in your head, you see fairy lights.
When you look at it with a builder’s eyes…
you see problems.
Lots and lots of problems.
Chapter Three
The Cottage
The cottage had stories of its own.
It had seen years come and go.
It had stood through seasons of rain, sunshine, snow and the occasional Lincolnshire wind that appeared to have personal issues with fences.
Its walls had character.
Its floors had character.
Its doors had character.
In fact, everything had so much character that Laura and Ashley began to suspect the cottage might simply be another word for “things that need fixing.”
But they could see it.
Somehow.
Beneath the tired bits.
Beneath the work.
Beneath the dust.
They could see the future.
They could see people arriving.
They could see the lights.
They could see the laughter.
They could see evenings spent outside.
They could see guests making memories.
And they could see themselves creating something they could be proud of.
So they did what any sensible couple would do.
They took on a massive project.
Because apparently the phrase:
“How hard can it be?”
has caused more trouble throughout history than almost any other sentence.
The transformation began.
And so did the chaos.
There were lists.
Then more lists.
Then lists of the lists.
There were plans.
Plans were changed.
Plans were changed again.
Someone would say:
"We’ll just do this little job first."
Three hours later, they were surrounded by tools, dust and questions.
"Why did we start this?"
There were deliveries.
There were builders.
There were unexpected expenses.
There were exciting discoveries.
There were less exciting discoveries.
There were moments of triumph.
There were moments when it would have been perfectly reasonable to sit down with a cup of tea and stare into the distance.
But slowly…
very slowly…
the cottage began to change.
The old began to meet the new.
The rustic met the luxurious.
The practical met the pretty.
And the dream started becoming real.
Chapter Four
Welcome to the World of Glamping
The first thing they discovered was that glamping is not simply camping with better cushions.
Oh no.
It is an entire world.
There are beds to choose.
Blankets to choose.
Lighting to choose.
Furniture.
Fire pits.
Hot tubs.
Saunas.
Kitchen equipment.
Crockery.
Cutlery.
Swimming pools to build.
Things they had never previously considered necessary suddenly became extremely important.
"Do we need this?"
"Yes."
"Why?"
"Because glampers will expect it."
"Will they?"
"I don't know, but I want it."
And so it went.
The cottage grounds slowly became more than a cottage with a paddock.
It became a destination.
A place designed not simply for people to sleep, but for people to experience.
Because that was what Laura and Ashley had felt on that first romantic weekend.
It wasn’t really about the bed.
It wasn’t really about the luxury.
It was about escaping.
It was about having time.
Time to talk.
Time to laugh.
Time to look at the stars.
To relax in a hot tub and daydream.
Time to sit around a fire and forget about tomorrow.
That feeling became the heart of Country Bumpkins.
And then came the next challenge.
Guests.
Chapter Five
The First Glampers
Opening the doors for the first guests was both incredibly exciting and utterly terrifying.
What if nobody came?
What if they hated it?
What if something broke?
What if they couldn’t find the place?
What if they arrived expecting the Ritz and discovered Laura and Ashley?
There was only one way to find out.
Open the gates.
And they did.
The first guests arrived.
And suddenly, the dream wasn’t a dream anymore.
It was real.
There were people.
Actual people.
People who had chosen to spend their precious time at Country Bumpkins.
People who had trusted them.
People who were now wandering around the site, looking at everything they had worked so hard to create.
There was nervousness.
There was excitement.
There was probably quite a lot of checking.
"Is everything okay?"
"Did we leave the lights on?"
"Have they found everything?"
"Do they like it?"
"Do they know where the loo is?"
But then something wonderful happened.
The guests smiled.
They relaxed.
They laughed.
And before long, Laura and Ashley realised something.
They hadn’t simply created somewhere for people to stay.
They had created somewhere where people could make memories.
And that was the beginning of the real adventure.
Ps we will never forget how grateful we are for our first ever guests 2 lovely couples.
We remember one bringing a guitar and singing to the other couple . We watched from afar and smiled 😊. That memory will always stick with me. Thank you. You all was so wonderful you must have known how nervous we was putting up the outdoor movie theatre screen for the first time so you all could watch a movie under the stars.
You was all so lovely ☺️ it’s people like you that have made our Glamping experience what it is today 🫶 thank you so much xx
Chapter Six
The Country Bumpkins Family
Over the years, the glampers came.
And came.
And came.
Couples celebrating anniversaries.
People celebrating birthdays.
Brides celebrating brides to be (hen dos)
Families spending precious time together.
Friends escaping for a weekend.
Proposals.
Engagements.
Honeymoons.
Girls’ weekends.
Boys’ weekends.
Quiet getaways.
Big celebrations.
Small celebrations.
And occasionally, people who simply wanted somewhere to hide from their children for forty-eight hours.
We understood.
No judgement here.
The wonderful thing about glamping is that everyone arrives for a different reason.
But they all leave with something.
A memory.
A story.
A photograph.
A laugh.
A moment they didn’t expect.
And sometimes, a slightly embarrassing incident involving a hot tub.
Those stories became part of Country Bumpkins.
Every guest added something.
Every visit became another little chapter.
And gradually, something happened that Laura and Ashley hadn’t expected.
The guests became familiar faces.
Then friends.
Then part of the Country Bumpkins family.
Some people came once.
Some came back.
Some came back again.
And again.
And again.
Some even began telling their friends.
"You HAVE to go."
And that was perhaps the biggest compliment of all.
Chapter Seven
Things You Don’t Learn in Glamping School
If there were such a thing as Glamping School, Laura and Ashley would probably have graduated with several questionable qualifications.
Advanced Hot Tub Management.
Diploma in bad weather.
Emergency Biscuit Procurement.
Advanced Fairy-Light Installation.
How to Smile While Carrying Sixteen Towels.
Identifying Strange Noises at 2am.
And perhaps the most important:
The Art of Saying “Don’t Worry, We’ll Sort It” When You Have Absolutely No Idea How You’re Going to Sort It.
Because running a glamping site isn't always fairy lights and sunsets.
Sometimes the weather has other ideas.
Sometimes the British summer lasts approximately fourteen minutes.
Sometimes the wind decides that a beautifully decorated outdoor area would look much better several fields away.
Sometimes something leaks.
Sometimes something breaks.
Sometimes a delivery arrives at the wrong place.
Sometimes a guest calls because they have forgotten how to operate something they have operated perfectly well for the last forty years.
And sometimes, despite your very best efforts…
a rabbit gets into somewhere it absolutely should not be. ( stuck in the cinema igloo chewing on the guest blankets )
But somehow, you deal with it.
You laugh.
You learn.
You carry on.
And then you look around and realise:
We actually built this.
We really made this happen!
Chapter Eight
Lincolnshire Magic
There is something special about Lincolnshire.
Perhaps it’s the big skies.
Perhaps it’s the endless countryside.
Perhaps it’s the quiet roads, the fields, the wildlife and the feeling that life moves just a little slower.
Or perhaps it’s the fact that you can look out across the landscape and see a sunset that makes everyone stop talking for a minute.
Country Bumpkins became part of that landscape.
Not just a business.
Not just a collection of buildings.
But a little corner of Lincolnshire where people could escape.
A place where shoes could get muddy.
Where hair could get blown about.
Where marshmallows could catch fire.
Where wine glasses could be raised beneath the stars.
Where children could run.
Where adults could remember how to play.
And sing loudly on a karaoke together.
Where couples could sit together without a list of jobs waiting for them.
And where everyone could, for a little while, simply breathe.
Chapter Nine
The Stories We Collected
If the walls of Country Bumpkins could talk, they would probably never stop.
They would tell stories of laughter.
Of surprises.
Of celebrations.
Of tears.
Of proposals.
Of anniversaries.
Of families reunited.
Of friendships strengthened.
Of people who arrived exhausted and left smiling.
They would remember the nervous fiancé hiding a ring.
The birthday surprise that almost went wrong.
The children who refused to go home.
The adults who behaved like children.
The guests who said:
"We don't want to leave."
And the ones who said:
"We'll be back."
They would remember rainy days when everyone huddled together in the wooden lodge.
Sunny afternoons when nobody wanted to go indoors.
Cold evenings made warm by a fire.
And those perfect summer nights when the sky seemed to belong entirely to the people sitting beneath it.
But most of all, they would remember people.
Because that is what made Country Bumpkins what it became.
People.
Chapter Ten
A Thank You
And so, this book is for you.
For every glamper who has ever walked through our gates.
For every person who has laughed with us.
For every family who has trusted us with their special occasions.
For every couple who has celebrated love here.
For every Hen that has danced and sang at the tops of there voices here.
For the same for anyone celebrated there special birthdays here.
For every child who has run around with muddy shoes.
For every dog who has enjoyed the countryside far more than their owners.
For every person who has left us a lovely message.
For every person who has recommended us.
For every person who has returned.
And for every person who simply arrived as a guest and somehow became part of our story.
You have enriched our lives in ways we could never have imagined when Laura first booked that little discounted groupon weekend.
That one weekend started something.
Something neither of us could have predicted.
A dream.
A stone cottage.
A glamping site.
A business.
A thousand memories.
And, most importantly…
a whole community of wonderful people.
Looking back, it seems almost unbelievable that something so big could have grown from such a small idea.
But perhaps that is how the best adventures begin.
Not with everything planned.
Not with everything perfect.
But with a little bit of courage.
A little bit of madness.
A lot of hard work.
Someone beside you who believes in the dream.
And one very good idea.
And so our story starts here…
This isn't simply the story of how a Lincolnshire cottage became a glamping site.
It's the story of the people who filled it with laughter.
The people who gave it life.
The people who made it more than bricks, wood, fields and fairy lights.
You did.
Country Bumpkins may have started with Laura and Ashley…
…but over the years, it became something much bigger than either of us ever imagined.
It became a place filled with memories.
And every person who has stayed with us has left a little piece of their story behind.
So grab yourself a cuppa.
Or perhaps something a little stronger.
Get comfortable.
Put your feet up.
And come with us on a journey through the muddy shoes, unexpected disasters, romantic surprises, crazy ideas, hard work, laughter, tears and wonderful people that turned one little Lincolnshire cottage into…
Country Bumpkins Luxury Glamping. 🌿✨
Because this…
is our story.
And honestly?
What a blooming adventure it has been. ❤️
Love to you always
Laura & Ashley 🫶
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