more : People more : People Love of the great outdoors really brought us together S haron: We met at Market Bosworth Country Show about 10 years ago. I’d gone with a friend because I like agricultural shows and John’s family run the show so he was working there. He was in charge of car parking and we got chatting when he guided me into a tight space! My first impression was yes, I can tell he’s a farmer – he was very friendly, very helpful, with a very calm disposition. On our first date we went to a country pub. We realised how many shared interests we had – we both loved wildlife and nature and we both enjoyed taking photos. That hobby has grown since we’ve been together. We now go to Africa once a year and that’s where we got the inspiration for the “English safari holidays’’ we offer on the farm. We stay in tented accommodation in Africa and go out photographing the animals. We enjoy being at one with nature. It’s a huge shared interest and it’s what drives us. When we’re working really hard on the farm, we keep thinking about going to Africa in November. We got married in Kenya. We went for a holiday, and married in a tree house at the Shimba Hills Lodge. We had the suit and the dress but it was very low-key. We got married in the morning and in the afternoon went out on safari. It was just what we wanted, it was very special. I moved to Osbaston after we got married. I’d been living in Ruddington, Nottinghamshire. Initially, it was quite overwhelming moving to a farm, especially a dairy farm, which is busy seven days a week. No matter how much you like animals, it’s very taxing, especially because you have to be up so early to do the milking. We’ve got 1,500 goats so it’s a lot of work. Initially, I thought I’d be able to maintain my office job but the two didn’t go together. It was so difficult to support John on the farm. That’s when we started to think about what else we could do on the farm. We got inspiration from Africa and we knew people would be interested in finding out more about the animals and about working life on the farm. It was in 2006 we first opened, with Feather Down Farms (a glamping franchise). We did a couple of years with them and then we had the confidence to purchase our own tents. We had lots of ideas for what we wanted to do to create a more luxuri- 12 more : SHARED INTERESTS: Sharon and John Earp, whose glamping site is in line for a national awardPICTURE WILL JOHNSTON Me and my other half John Earp, 53, and his wife Sharon, 48, are dairy farmers who live at Osbaston House Farm, near Market Bosworth. As well as looking after their animals, which include 1,500 goats, they operate The Dandelion Hideaway, a glamping site, which is a finalist in the Self Catering Holiday Provider of the Year category of the 2014 VisitEngland awards saturday, april 26, 2014 ous experience. Our first guests came in 2010. We started with five canvas cottages. Now we’ve got six and we’ll have seven by the end of the year. Where did we get the name from? We wanted to come up with something that took people back to traditional family holidays. We thought about Dandelion and Burdock, because that’s something you remember from when you’re young and we wanted an unusual name. Our canvas cottages are like little country cottages, with Farrow and Ball colours and English linen. We’re one of LMM-E01-S2 LMMO only two sites in the country that have rolltop baths and constant hot water in the kitchen and bathroom. We’ve worked with Lewis and Wood (creators of fabric and wallpaper) and put wallpaper in one of the cottages – we’re the first glamping site to do that. Also, the hosting John and I give makes us stand out. We dedicate ourselves to make sure we’re there for the guests. We do activities with them, such as hen keeping, goat milking, nature walks and pony grooming. We can be with them every day if they want us to be. We very much promote the LMM-E01-S2 LMMO area. We encourage people to go to Bradgate Park, local restaurants, Bosworth Battlefield. People are so surprised by how much Leicestershire has, so they often come back – which is great for us and for Leicestershire. About 80 per cent of our guests come from London and the south east. They’re very much city folk, most work in London and have very busy lives. They come on the farm and love the freedom and the independence the children have, which they can’t have in London. They’re able to wander round the farm, go to the little honesty shop, get close to the animals and learn about the countryside. Amanda Holden comes regularly. She says it’s her favourite site! She really gets stuck in. She comes to the shop in her pyjamas and gets her eggs. Amanda has sent us quite a lot of guests. We’ve been very fortunate. I enjoy working with John, but I think the difficulty when you work together is that you never switch off. Our office is at home, so we do tend to work very long hours, seven days a week. On the other hand, your partner understands more than anyone else what you do, and you give one another lots of support. We don’t go out very much. We’ve got so many animals, we tend to worry when we’re not here and, when you’re getting up at about 2am, you’re in bed by about 8pm. We tend to host meals here. We always have a traditional Sunday meal. We have so many shared interests. We love the outdoors, nature, animals. Whether it’s seeing the swallows arrive, or watching the hens with their first chicks, we both get a lot of pleasure from that. What do I like best about John? His natural ability with animals. He has a natural affinity with them, which is lovely. J ohn: It’s a few years since we met, at a local show. She came over as a very nice, genuine, happy person. We went out for a few dates and got on very well. We found out our interests were very similar and she enjoyed the country way of life, which, when you’re a farmer, is essential. I proposed at Ironbridge, about 18 months after we’d met, then we got married in Kenya. It was my first visit to Africa, but I didn’t take a lot of persuading. Once you’ve been to Africa, you’re hooked. It was absolutely gorgeous weather. I remember walking out across the walkway to the viewing platform and that was where we got married. It was a very beautiful spot and Sharon looked stunning. When Sharon moved to the farm she fitted in very well. I’ve lived on the farm almost all my life. I grew up here, then moved to another house about 100 yards away, then moved back. I’ve always been a dairy farmer. I milked cows until 10 years ago and I’ve been milking goats since then. I love my work. I’m very fortunate to be able to do farming, it’s a wonderful way of life. We looked into glamping and decided it would work with what we do on the farm. Goats are very friendly animals, so they are ideal for meeting people. Having people on the farm is a very good way of getting over to the public how farming really works. I get a great deal of pleasure from taking guests on nature walks and showing them how farming ticks. We get a lot of repeat business. You have to remember to treat people as you would want to be treated yourself, and we do that. We put a huge amount of effort into making them feel special. Working with Sharon is great. I have someone to bounce ideas off. Sharon looks after The Dandelion Hideaway and helps out on the farm and I look after the farm and help out with The Dandelion Hideaway. It works well. My favourite thing about her is her sense of humour. 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