Ex-teacher celebrates multi-6 figure turnover, TV appearance and a purpose

An ex-teacher-turned-boutique glamping site owner is celebrating success after having achieved the goals she set herself five years ago after leaving her profession to 'help her husband on the farm'.

Five years later, having been featured in Channel 4’s Four in a Bed and building up a profitable business, she is happier than ever having found her purpose. 

Joanne Collinge, 53, a mum of three,  gave herself five years to build five pods, and make a profit, otherwise she’d ‘throw the towel in’ and she’s delighted to have this month hit her five year goal.

Little Oakhurst Boutique Glamping now has five different and unique glamping accommodations, and today Joanne turns over £200,000 with her daughter, Lucy, 25, now stepping up to take the reigns as Joanne continues to expand their offerings.

Her next ambitions are to build two more shepherd’s huts, develop some woodland and create a space for camper vans to stay so more people can enjoy the Ribble Valley and the view of Pendle Hill. 

Reflecting on her success over the last five years, Joanne said: “I could have very easily at this point thrown the towel in, but I made my site through blood, sweat and tears - out of a necessity to survive.

"At this point in my business now, I’m looking back and am proud of the fact that at 53, I’ve had to teach myself how to build a website, set up social media platforms, run house-keeping, manage accounts, book keeping, take on the roles as maintenance, grounds keeper and baker - non of which I had ever done in my life, it’s all self taught and doing it myself has saved me thousands.

"I want to share my experience to inspire others to believe that they too can do anything they put their mind to - and help people at my age see that they don’t have to stay stuck - there’s still time for new beginnings!” 

Joanne has been awarded winner for the Ribble Valley Business Awards in Small Business 2024 and finalist for Family Business award, Customer Friendly award and finalist in the esteemed BEACON Award (top 5 businesses in the Ribble Valley) 2024. Little Oakhurst Boutique Glamping has also won the Green Tourism Award.

Joanne donates to Water Aid to improve sanitary conditions in third world countries, as she believes “having a proper flushing toilet in the middle of the field is a luxury, whilst some countries struggle to provide this basic need.”

She also donates to local charities, through her public speaking to WI and lady farmer groups and donates a free stay once a year to families in need. 

Joanne left her career in teaching six years ago.

After 21 years in education and feeling burnt out with the ever increasing workload, it was a struggle to decide what to do with her life next. “The emotional turmoil of leaving teaching drove me to create my own destiny and prove to myself that nobody would ever dictate or define my future without my say so.” 

Living on a working dairy farm with her husband and children, she always knew there was work to do and thought further into how she could bring in more income to benefit the farm and help secure it for the next generation.

After persuading her husband ‘Farmer Andy’ to part with a bit of land - which “to a farmer, all land is precious” she found herself with two acres of poorly drained grass land, bordering a stretch of ancient woodland. “In hindsight this was the best bit of land for me to create a wildlife haven, a peaceful site to sit and watch the world go by.”

The starting point had at last been set, and the challenge to create a glamping business had been accepted. “I knew nothing about glamping - had never been, and the last time I went camping was in my teens and I hated it - so this was indeed a challenge - but I told myself it can’t be harder than teaching and off I went… I mean are you ever too old to reinvent yourself?”

With £1,000 to her name, Joanne borrowed her initial outgoings from Farmer Andy’s inheritance, bought 2 yurts made from wood, canvas and wool, and a retired neighbour was more than happy to build her two bespoke bathroom huts, fully equipped with toilets, hot water and one of them even has a roll-top bath!

“Right from the start I knew that I couldn’t afford luxuries or new things' so my journey began with salvaging and restoring materials right off the farm. Even today our shepherd’s huts are built on the farm by friends and family, using materials sourced straight from the farm and, which now offers us a unique story of sustainable eco-friendly tourism.” 

Today those salvaged materials are now settled into the glamping site. Cow matts are used for insulation, fallen trees from recent storms are sawn into usable wood.

Joanne has always wanted to share “a little piece of paradise with visitors to the Ribble Valley” with many people usually bypassing this unexplored section of wilderness for the more famous neighbouring National Landscapes of The Lake District or the Yorkshire Dales.

She added: “Most people don’t realise the beauty that the Ribble Valley has to offer” with first-time guests often saying they “didn’t know where the Ribble Valley was” and that they didn’t realise they had a piece of paradise closer to home - but that is just what Joanne is trying to get across - “the value in exploring closer to home.” 

Determined to hit her five year goal of five different and unique glamping accommodations, Joanne reinvested whatever she made back into the site - by the end of her first year she’d made £7K which was just enough to build her next shepherd’s hut. 

Since then she has featured on Channel 4’s ‘Four in a Bed’ where owners visit each other’s venues and rate them - something they scored really well on, despite being newcomers to the industry, and where still to this day, viewers from across the UK come to stay.

On their episode they had fellow competitors milking a cow, feeding the calves and bedding them down for the night, bringing the environment truly to life through sharing authentic farm life experiences. 

Family values are also at the heart of the site and Joanne added: "We don’t provide TVs or Wi-Fi, we wanted to be boutique but also back to basics, where you can appreciate the little things in life, where conversation is the stimulant as opposed to staring at the TV for hours on end and little interaction with your loved ones.

“I now have a beautiful haven, a peaceful site where visitors can sit back amongst the nature and watch the world go by, and where the wildlife can get as close as possible - we have deer, various owls, foxes, badgers, and of course the farm animals - don’t miss out on the resident and silent barn owl who loves to hunt in the glamping field and perch right next to some of our shepherds huts! We love sharing all of this with those who come to unwind.”