At the end of our second season

Second season was a blast , Wow, I would never have thought we would grow and get so busy in 2 short years! If we continue to grow at this pace then we will be hiring lots of staff and building more decks, furniture and bathrooms!

A lot can be learnt in 2 short seasons: our customer service is above and beyond what most businesses can offer! Being a family business we are all great in pleasing our customers and ensuring that there stay is a pleasant and enjoyable one. I feel we are right on track as we have been having many repeat customers and our guest book is full of happy guests.

We have decided to move one of our tents (#5 - Grace Bay) again , so next year there will be a new spot to enjoy. After having so many families stay with us and group bookings we do intend to put up a new "family" tent which we plan on sleeping 6.
This was never expected when we first came up with the concept of luxury camping, I never knew so many families would love the concept. But really it makes sense, and youll agree if you have ever packed for a family camping trip. We really do take the hard work away and leave the pleasure of camping to be fulfilled.

I'll be back as the season goes on with more updates, but for now I am on Facebook much more than here, like us and keep up to date on there please!
Happy Glamping
Thanks for reading
Sheri

Time for an update!

Wow it's been nearly 2 years since I wrote on here! You can tell we've been busy! 

I just had a quick read through my first few posts and laughed at myself! 

My first post about our family and how Oakwood Escape was my "baby girl" was the most amusing! 

A lot has happened in the almost 2 years since I blogged. We actually had a real baby girl! Yes our family grew! We are so happy, now our princess has just turned 1 and everyone who stayed with us last year got to meet her! 

We had a great season last year and our reviews were amazing! Have a look in trip advisor for them. 

Already we have repeat bookings from some if our guests and can't wait to welcome them back. 

Wes is busy at the moment updating our bathrooms to more luxurious toilets.

We have another 25 chicks added to our family also, so lots of fresh eggs coming soon! 

Well enough for now.!

Email me if you would like to know more about our family business 

sheri@oakwoodescape.ca 

Glamping .......our hard work ;)

Almost 3 months to the day since I last wrote on our blog, as you may of guessed we have been busy!
I thought that it was about time I updated you all, I have so many pictures , so I guess this blog will be more to see than read!
Since my last blog our website has been complete have a look ....www.oakwoodescape.ca

We had a first full week booking last week, our guests love staying with us and have promised to be back in the fall for another stay :)

The tents are looking great, if I do say so myself! 

 
Wes, Brian and our good friend Clayton have been working so hard to make this a beautiful place for our guests to come and stay.

Our furntiture is way above and beyond what I could have ever expected. Its Beautiful and I am so proud of the guys getting it all done and made themselves.






Wes got creative and made his own coat stands.













We have a new bathroom in place now too ; its a compostable bathroom, which is much better than I had pictured when we had first discussed using these. Wes likes to call it `the palace!`

It originally came with a tiny plastic step on the front, which none of us liked. So of course Brian got to work and created a nice sturdy step which is much more used friendly!
It's the most luxurious out house I have ever seen/used!

 This is one of the hutches, as we like to call it. They are all different designs. As you can see we have filled it with all the necessary items you would need on your stay with us at Oakwood Escape.

We have 5 tents up now all with tarps, decks, trim and furniture

This was tent 5 going up on a very hot day

Its taken me long enough to get these images up, I hope I will be back soon for more updates....thanks for reading ;)

Beds

Yesterday Wes went out the to buy the beds! We now have 3 mattresses and their box springs at Oakwood Escape, and 2 here at our home! My poor son says this morning; Mummy I think I need a wee, so off he goes into the bathroom.....comes back a few seconds later and says," Mummy, I cant get into the bathroom down here, there's too many beds in the way of the door."

Our lives are being taken over by glamping and all that goes with it!
We still have 3 tents in our hallway at home in their boxes, they are just waiting for the rope to be bought, the bases to be built, the poles to be cut oh and the man power to get them up!
We have done a lot of things and there's still lots to be done, each day there is progress and we are getting closer and closer to being a perfect glamp site and having customers enjoy our vision.

Today Wes is working on the last few side tables, the pieces are all cut, legs all shaven and drying out,  the holes all drilled and I believe today he is now on the drawers to go in them.

All this hard-work and time is going to be so rewarding.

The County are all for Glamping in Haldimand!

We have been waiting for this day for months, we had a hearing this morning for our minor variance, this was the proposal.......

PROPOSAL:
The applicants intend to use a portion of the subject lands for glamorous camping
(“glamping”) as a secondary use to an educational / experiential farm operation. The glamping
is intended to provide the accommodation for individuals attending the farm operation to gain
knowledge about various agricultural activities such as mushroom farming, crop growing, etc.
The Town of Dunnville Zoning By-Law 1-DU 80 does not specifically permit this type of use but
does allow for ‘farm vacations’ as a secondary use. The purpose of the variance is to provide
clarification to the term ‘farm vacations’ as follows:

Development Standards	Required / Permitted	Proposed	Deficiency
Sections 4.114 – Experiential Activities	Farm Vacation (as secondary use to a farm)	Camping	Definition to be expanded to include ‘camping’ as part of farm vacation

“Glamping” has been identified as luxury or glamorous camping, which includes canvas
prospector style tents erected on wooden platforms. The tents include queen-sized beds,
tables, rugs and dressers. Amenities, such as washroom and shower facilities will be provided
in proximity in a separate reception building.
It is noted that the farm must be operational prior to the proposed ‘farm vacation’ use being
established. The Official Plan allows for the use secondary to the farm and relief of this cannot
be granted through the minor variance process.

They approved the proposal and gave us a couple of conditions, which we knew about already.

So now Oakwood Escape can carry on as planned with full support of the county!

THANKS HALDIMAND COUNTY FOR YOUR SUPPORT AND ASSISTANCE :)

Have a look at our woodwork!

Its almost April, and we are getting a lot closer to the seasonal time of the year which we aim to be up and running.

We have run into a couple of problems along our way to get here, as we had expected , as nothing can go as smooth as you would have liked/hoped it to!

It will all be sorted out very soon!

So progress; all the furniture has been made with love and care by Brian and Wes. We have got the most beautiful headboards, side tables and of course picnic tables! See........

We have got one tent that is up and looking great so far, the other tents are still in the boxes in our entrance way at home!

Kids nap time is done, unusually early so back soon!

Let me introduce myself

I did try this before, but it was a personal blog.
This time I am hoping that more people will read it and will love watching our new venture grow.
Let me introduce myself, My name is Sheri Styles ( nee Vickers) I live in Ontario, Canada. I was born in London, England, but married a Canadian and moved here in January 2006.
My family and I are starting a new business; "Farm Vacations", "Glamping", "Luxury Camping", it has many names I like to call it my baby girl as I have 2 boys and this one is my girl that I never had!
Based just outside Dunnville Ontario, we are the first of its kind in the area. Its a very exciting time for us as we get set up for this change in our lives. Life will never be the same for us as we will be working together as a family and letting guests into our lives.
Let me introduce my family;. there's Wes, my husband, Brian, my father in law and Carole my mother in law. Brian and Carole live at Oakwood Escape and Wes I and our 2 sons live about a 20 minute drive away.
I will come back and write some more when I get the chance, its bath time in our house and I am going to go and help!