In 2019, my wife Caroline had a bright idea. We had a useless section of our 2.5-acre paddocks—boggy, overgrown with giant brambles, and dotted with scraggly hawthorns. But Caroline looked at the mess and asked, "What if we (meaning me) put a couple of glamping pods here?"

Having not long recovered from spinal surgery that had all but ended my lifelong performing career, I agreed wholeheartedly, I certainly needed a new focus, though I was a bit unsure how we’d pull it off.

We dove into the research, and after Caroline obsessed over every detail for months, we put in a planning application and applied for finance.

Then the world stopped......

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With our day jobs on hold, due to the nationwide Covid lockdowns we started hacking our way through the dead undergrowth. We knew it was a small, stunted section of our ancient woodland, but after weeks of clearing and burning, we realized this section had simply died off, and even showed little sign of animal life except for a few birds harvesting berries in the topmost layer.

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When COVID restrictions finally lifted, planning was granted, and with the help of the Welsh Government-backed Development Banc of Wales, we were ready to build what would become Emlyn's Coppice Woodland Glamping.

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Over the next four years, with the help of some great friends and neighbors, I worked to develop the site whilst creating and developing our website and social media. We’ve since welcomed hundreds of guests and added a hot tub for every pod, a sauna, sun decks and even a seating arbour. Today, Emlyn's Coppice is a thriving, award-winning business, and we couldn't be more proud of what we’ve created.

The next chapter of our story as the newly formed Windward Retreats is still being written, but we can't wait to see what comes next.