BROOK COTTAGE SHEPHERD HUTS, LLYN PENINSULA ‘We’ve got to make this work, because there is no Plan B’
Mark Barrow and Jonathan Gooders went from making picture frames in Wimbledon to making shepherd’s huts in north-west Wales – spruced up by a team of designers on BBC1’s Interior Design Masters.
“We were visiting Portmeirion, which is the most magical place, and we absolutely fell in love with the area,” says Mark. “The more we explored, the more we realised just how dramatic and diverse the landscape was, particularly here on the Llyn Peninsula.
“That was the stimulus for making us think seriously about moving to this part of the world. We were working as picture framers in London but had decided we wanted a lifestyle change, and we were looking at glamping as a business. One weekend, on a visit from
London, we stumbled across this house and knew instantly that it was the right space for us.
“Moving to north-west Wales from southern England was a massive lifestyle change – we had to really throw ourselves in lock, stock and barrel. We said to ourselves, ‘We’ve got to make it work, because there is no Plan B.’
“And so we went from making picture frames in London to making shepherd’s huts in Pen Llyn. Jonathan and I built five huts ourselves by hand, in a meadow overlooking a lake which we dredged to bring back wildlife. Now we have quite a menagerie: four rescue ducks, some rescue hens, a family of moorhens, Canada geese, swifts which dance along the top of the water in the evenings, and bats at night.
“We finished building the huts last summer, and then BBC One’s Interior Design Masters – five designers, along with Alan Carr and Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen – came in to do their thing.
“We launched in November, and we’ve had guests from all over the country – mainly couples, from their 20s to their 60s, who just want to switch off. Some use their hut as a base so they can go off walking or cycling, exploring Snowdonia or the beaches – we have 90 miles of coast here. Others literally spend the whole weekend in the hut, which I guess is a sign that we have done something right.”
Brook Cottage Shepherd Huts, sleep two (adults only), from £115 a night; luxuryglampingwales.co.uk