Helen & James
Penhein Glampsite is run by Helen and James Hearn, who upped sticks in 2011 after 20 years in London and moved to the countryside to live in Penhein house and take on management of the farm from Helen’s parents.
When she was a girl, Helen’s father would create a makeshift campsite in the woods for her and her brother. It was this same sense of adventure, authenticity and rural abandon that inspired Helen and James to set up Penhein Glamping in the summer of 2014.
Today, Helen and James welcome happy glampers and intrepid explorers to Penhein from March through to November every year – many of whom return the following season with friends and family members in tow. They have two boys, Archie and Sebastian, and a black labrador, Zande, who can often be spotted playing outside the farmhouse or lolloping across the fields.
The glampsite owes its Persian influence to James’ Iranian mother: the alachigh tents are inspired by those of the nomadic Shahsavan tribe in Northern Iran and decorated beautifully, combine exotic colours and patterns of the middle east with a rustic country charm.