A Norwich company is building luxury mobile bedrooms which offer boutique hotel standards – with the help of Europe's top trailer maker.

 

The English Shepherds Hut Company, which counts actress film star Elizabeth Hurley among its former customers, is taking the ‘glamping’ world by storm.

 

Their show-stopping mobile shepherd huts have double beds, log burners and stylish fixtures and fittings, bespoke made to suit the customers own style and taste. The en suite version also comes with luxury toilet and shower.

 

They are built on flat-bed trailers from Ifor Williams Trailers supplied by local distributor, Norwich-based Norfolk Trailers.

 

Starting at £25,000, they can be bought or hired out across the UK as an extra bedroom for guests at festivals, weddings and house parties.

 

Craig Nield, founder of The English Shepherds Hut Company, said: "The key selling point is that we can just pull up to a venue, wedding or private dwelling plug in the hut to a 13 amp socket, connect up a simple hose and that’s it, all ready to go.

 

"The log burner is all set, beds made up, it couldn’t be easier. We also have a very cunning design whereby all the toilet waste is taken away when we collect the hut, so there is no requirement for a drainage connection’.

 

“Our aim for the ‘Room for Hire’ service is to offer affordable luxury with our Wild Rover range which is built on the trailers from Ifor Williams.

 

"Featuring a boutique-style bedroom and luxury ensuite shower room facilities, if required, the mobile guest rooms offer couples and families a more comfortable and luxurious way of enjoying summer music festivals or a camping holiday."

 

The company have trialled their room-for-hire concept in Norfolk and are taking bookings well into 2018 for wedding and event organisers as well as private individuals for parties held at home.

 

Craig added; "The ‘Room for Hire’ was rented out over the Christmas period to a private residence and the owner was so pleased that it is now booked for the next three years for the same week saying that it was the perfect solution for the perennial problem of the need for an extra guest room every Christmas.

 

 

"With the demand for this new unique facility outstripping the current supply, we are keen to introduce the Wild Rover range of shepherds huts to all the major event and equipment hire companies across the UK.

 

"Since we launched this new product in January 2016 we have already taken bookings in our own region which have given us a 100% return on our investment.

 

"Having contacted a number of wedding and event organisers nationwide we know there is a demand for our product nationally.

 

"We can research each region and survey the local demand and then work with local hire companies to provide our product in their own area.

 

"This creates an opportunity for local businesses to generate more revenue from their own target wedding and events markets. This facility would make a very attractive and lucrative addition to any hire fleet.’

 

‘The beauty of wedding and festival events is that most goods and services are booked at least a year in advance, guests paying a 50 per cent deposit up front, which is great for cash flow."

 

According to Craig, he's keen to build on their growing business relationship with Ifor Williams Trailers and Norfolk Trailers, to sell the mobile bedrooms across the UK.

 

As well as building mobile hot rooms for sale and hire, the firm has also built a luxury mobile toilet and shower shepherd hut which it has named the Aquarius for those who miss the indulgence of a hot shower and proper flush toilets when glamping in the big outdoors.

 

 

Mike Berridge, 41, managing director of Norfolk Trailers, said: “There’s no question that it’s one of the more unusual uses for a trailer. It’s very impressive what The English Shepherd Hut Company does with them. The interior says it all.’

 

“They’re extremely well-built and finished to a very high standard. There’s a big market now with all this ‘glamping’ going on and people are constantly looking for quirkier ways of camping. These huts tap into that but there’s also the wedding market which is keen too.

 

“What is normally a commercial trailer is being totally transformed - it just shows you how versatile the Ifor Williams model is and its robustness – who knows what they will come up with next.”

 

“Norfolk Trailers is really excited to be working with such an innovative and forward-thinking company as The English Shepherds Hut Company,” said Mike, from Norwich.

 

Andrew Reece-Jones, the design engineering manager at Ifor Williams Trailers, said: "I must say, the luxury mobile guest rooms look absolutely stunning - giving you sumptuous accommodation in a location of your choosing. Now, that has to be the best of both worlds.

 

"Our trailers are nothing if not flexible in terms of the uses they are put to - one of the only restrictions being the imagination."

Craig Nield (left) from the English Shepherd Hut Company and Mike Berridge from Norfolk Trailers

Craig Nield (left) from the English Shepherd Hut Company and Mike Berridge from Norfolk Trailers

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Related Links:

For more information on the huts go to: www.englishshepherdshut.co.uk/the-wild-rover.html

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