HOW IT ALL BEGAN
Tom and Rozzi O’hare are the husband-and-wife team behind Off Grid Camp. The story of Off Grid Camp started during one of their first weekends away together. Shortly after meeting and having established a shared love of adventures, Tom arranged a weekend of camping, kite surfing, trail running and mountain biking in his Land Rover Defender 90 Td5. Rozzi thought this all sounded great until they arrived at the campsite and drove past a long line of static caravans to the campsite reception building where they queued for check-in. They then had to find a spot in a very busy, perfectly mown field past the toilet block and electrical hook-ups… Rozzi grew up in Scotland and was lucky to enjoy many fantastic childhood adventures on the West Coast and this campsite was very far from her idea of ‘camping’. Luckily for Tom it didn’t totally put Rozzi off, but an agreement was made that they would never stay at a campsite like that again…
Over the next year or so, Tom made it his mission to find some amazing wild places to camp with the Land Rover and their newly acquired Tentbox roof tent. He scoured various Facebook groups, searched satellite images, used various apps and they stayed in some pretty great places. Yet it was all a bit of a faff trying to find these wild and epic places to camp.
It was then on a trip to The Outer Hebrides where they realized that they could build a community that brings together overlanders seeking somewhere wilder to camp, who are willing to pay a small fee for the privilege, and landowners looking to diversify their income without the hassle of running a conventional campsite. The idea of Off Grid Camp was born.
Tom’s family runs a hill farm on Exmoor and Rozzi is a trained agronomist. Therefore, motivated by their passion for British agriculture and supporting the rural economy, they started to build the network of Off Grid Camp locations. Since then, they have worked tirelessly to build the network of over 150 locations around the UK.
The duo has recently upgraded to a 110 Td5, benefiting from a comprehensive pop-top conversion by AW4X4 (aw4x4.co.uk). This modification has provided them with ample space to embark on adventures, accompanied by their loyal canine companion Thistle, affectionately dubbed the ‘Chief Site Inspector’, as they further explore and develop the network of Off Grid Camp sites.