“This grant has taken a lot of pressure off our shoulders and we can now see a viable future for the business.”

Tree Tops and Train Tracks is an eco, treetop camping experience set in the heart of an ancient woodland in a valley of the Clwydian Range.

Seb and his wife Hannah bought the woodland back in 2018 and saw a gap in the market within tourism in Wales for high-end, bespoke glamping units.

But their small business needed a lot of capital investment. Not only did they have to buy the house and the land, but they also needed to ensure that there was sufficient infrastructure within the woodland – which proved to be difficult and very expensive.

Having the income then to develop the business as they had dreamed became very hard. They had to start small with treetop tents and camping pitches.

But the £17,300 grant from Cadwyn Clwyd has allowed them to develop the glamping side of the business and build their first cabin house, ensuring that it had proper installation, a living roof, solar lights around the cabin and a log-burner inside the cabin.

Seb said, “We wanted to give our customers a real immersive experience in nature but also quirky, exciting glamping ideas for people to be excited about.

“We wanted to use our own sustainable timber from the woodlands to build any new cabins, and bought our own mill to ensure that we could utilise our own timber.

“But we realised very quickly that everything is extremely expensive and that we had to start small – we feared that we wouldn’t be able to develop our business as we dreamed.

“That is why we are so grateful for the grant from Cadwyn Clwyd as it has enabled us to build our first cabin – which has had a massive impact upscaling our business. It’s opened our woodland all year round rather than just seasonal and brings higher end tourism to our portfolio.

“In the long term, it has moved our business forward enormously and without the grant we would be years and years behind where we are now.

“This grant, and opening our first cabin, has taken a lot of pressure off our shoulders and we can see a viable future for the business.

“It has also enabled us to offer community events, such as our ‘Working Wednesday’ – a monthy event when local people can come here and enjoy being in the woodlands learning new skills.”