“It went crazy, and that would not have happened if we hadn’t upgraded that cabin. It’s all tangible to the grant.”
- Grant support from Visitor Experience Fund – a capital grant scheme funded by the UK Rural England Prosperity Fund (REPF).
- Received £5,363.40 grant – 70% of the project costs.
- Impact on bookings was “huge”
- “Wonderful and supportive” advisor was key to success
About
The Rookery Woods is a luxury woodland retreat in the heart of rural Herefordshire. It is the passion project of Heather and Dale Badman, who have created three bespoke wood cabins, offering an oasis of calm in which to escape from the pressures of the world.
Heather and Dale have a small team of maintenance and cleaning help for changeover days, but otherwise have built and run the site on their own.
The three cabins – the Rook’s Nook, the Rook’s Tower and the Rook’s View – all offer luxury accommodation for couples with hot tubs, private gardens, outdoor dining areas, and essentials such as towels and toiletries included.
Heather said: “We love what we do. When you’re here it’s such an amazing place to be and we are so passionate about the cabins.”
How the Growth Hub helped
The luxury cabin market is ever changing, and Heather said she identified infra-red saunas as an upgrade which would attract guests.
She said: “Knowing our market audience, and knowing you’ve got to keep your finger on the pulse, if you don’t refresh and keep that interest alive, I’ve watched other cabins hit a really dead patch.
“Touch wood, we haven’t, but we’re always moving forwards and pushing for innovation to make us stand out.”
With help from Herefordshire Growth Hub’s Rachel Jones, the couple received a grant through the UK Rural England Prosperity Fund to install cutting-edge infra-red saunas into two of the cabins.
Heather, who first became aware of the Growth Hub through Bromyard Chamber of Commerce, said: “It was a fancy upgrade! I can’t credit Rachel enough, she was so wonderful and so supportive.
“The grant application isn’t something I’d ever done before – lifting data and getting that data on the screen so it says the right thing was something new to us. Rachel came over and helped with that, and I can’t thank her enough.
“I’m good at creating and building cabins and running my business, but when it comes to IT, that’s not my strong point. Without her we would not have completed that grant.”
In the Rook’s Tower, the sauna was added to the hot tub area under the cabin, but Heather and Dale built a bespoke extension to the Rook’s Nook to house the sauna, hot tub and a cinema area.
Impact
Heather said the impact of upgrading the cabins was huge. She said: “It’s made a huge difference – it’s very, very fancy.
“Most of our traffic is driven by social media – this is the way the world is working. They’re not looking in magazines, they’re not looking on Google, they are finding you on social media.
“I put an eight-second video on TikTok of the Rook’s Nook, and it went viral. I think, to date, 2.4 million people have seen it. That cabin is now virtually sold out until March – when people couldn’t get in that cabin, they booked the others.
“I watched the numbers rolling on my screen – it was like watching bingo, the numbers just went round and round! At one point there were 17,000 hits to the website, and the website crashed. We’ve upgraded it now!
“It was incredible. We processed six months of bookings in four weeks. The grant made a huge, tangible difference. It went crazy, and that would not have happened if we hadn’t upgraded that cabin. It’s all tangible to the grant.”
Future help
The couple now have plans to convert a workshop in the woods into a home so they can live on site, which Heather said would make running the business much easier.
They are also developing a bushcraft area, which should be up and running next year, which will allow guests to learn woodland skills and crafts like foraging and wood carving.
Long term, Heather said she would like to add a fourth, fully-accessible cabin, and would look at further grant funding before going ahead.
She said: “Rachel did come to visit to look at the saunas to see if there is anything else we could do via the grant schemes. She predicts that possibly next year there might be new funding available, so we need to settle ourselves into the house first then look at it.
“We are also looking to upgrade the third cabin with a different type of sauna.”