January…. went so fast. Although the yurt camp is closed the work carries on. 

This year we opened for New Years Eve so straight after Christmas we were out getting the site ready to welcome our new year yurters. Our new compost loo and shower room was finished just in time too. Its really spacious with a huge walk-in shower which we thought will hopefully make it easier for families with little kids. The compost loo has a new style of urine separator which we help design - I've spent more hours than I care to mention researching compost loos, their design and function. Probably the part most of our guests will appreciate though, especially in the winter months is the fact that the loo is heated. Here's a picture, of the loo and sink, it just needs it last few finishing touches, loo roll holder, mirror hanging etc. 

As well as the loo we've also been building new steps up to Oak and Willow yurt. Here's Jinx testing the steps to Oak. 

On the farm side we had some bad news and good news. The bad news is actually more very sad news as we had to have one of our pregnant ewes put down by the vet. I'm pleased to say though that the remaining 9 are all very happy and healthy, we've never had ewes eat so much hay before so fingers crossed they are all eating for two or ever three. The good news is that one of our little chicks which was born in the summer laid its first egg. It was titchy, as they quite ofter are, less than half the size of a normal egg. But she has laid one nearly every day since and they're getting bigger. 

How we got here.

 So I thought I would start this blog by explaining who we are, how we got here and how Strawberry Skys Yurts was born.

It all started many moons ago in a bar in New Orleans, not quite as rock n roll as it sounds, I was on a sales conference for a legal publishing firm. But it was where I met Eric a born and bred London who was also at the conference. 

Fast forward about four years, me and Eric are married with two cats living in East Dulwich, London. Eric had just been made redundant which wasn't such a bad thing, he never really was a company man and in fact it was just the push we needed to get us to follow our dream of being our own bosses - even though we had no idea what we wanted to do! We had spent years before he was made redundant trying to think of business ideas, whatever it was it needed to be connected to the things we love and enjoy the most. 

Then one day at a tiny music festival in Kent, we found ourselves discussing the things we love in life - the countryside, being outdoors and near nature, our love of food and the where it comes from. A whirlwind of thoughts of leaving London and living "the good life" rushed though our heads. We could grow our own veg, have some pigs and some chickens, maybe sheep or even a couple of cows. And best of all we could get a dog. 

Back from the festival and back to my 9 to 5, I was doing the typical day dreaming of our next city getaway to get me though the day. We'd just bought a new tent for the festival so a camping trip seemed like the obvious choice, although I really didn't like the thought of a large campsite attached to a caravan park with a shower/toilet block that looked like something from my school days. So I started surfing the web for smaller boutique style campsites (remember this was before word "Glamping" had been invented!) and eventually I came across some yurts in the South of France.  A yurt campsite - what an amazing idea! No putting your tent up in the pouring rain, no sleeping on hard lumpy ground or an air bed that deflates in the night. And with a wood burner inside theres no fumbling around at 3am putting on every item of clothing you brought because your so cold you can't sleep. These yurt things were amazing! 

And so the research began. At the time you could count the number of yurt campsites in the UK on one hand but to stay in a couple was a must. So off we went on holiday travelling around Wales, staying in yurts and looking for the perfect setting for our yurt campsite. Just a month after the festival in Kent and our house was on the market and just three months later we had packed our backs and said goodbye to London. 

Five and a half years on and here we are; living in the most beautiful setting with our three yurts, two sons, two dogs, chickens, sheep, pigs (although not right now) and not forgetting our two city cats Jack and Marlowe.