The ‘Secret’ Glastonbury Glamping Retreat Offering The Ultimate Festival Experience
“Everybody that goes to Glastonbury feels like a part of Glastonbury,” says Rosie Wrighton. “You don’t visit the festival – you are the festival.” Wrighton and her business partner Veera Savage know Glastonbury. Wrighton has lived and breathed the festival since she was little (both her parents worked there – her dad in site crew catering and her mother providing green room hospitality for the Theatre and Circus area), so being on site was a big part of her childhood summers. She recalls how co-founder “Jean Eavis would dry everyone’s sleeping bags in her kitchen when it rained”. When Wrighton grew up, she too worked at the event, as a business advisor at Glastonbury Festival head office.
While she admits it’s changed a lot since her first memories, “it still is the same warm welcoming place that I remember as a child. It is the ultimate experience that will change you for the better. I don’t know if it is the ley lines or the blind spring under the Pyramid [stage] but, energetically, it stays with you. Nothing else comes close.”
So, when an opportunity arose to develop a glamping space near the festival site in 2024, she jumped at it. She immediately thought of Savage, as “as events is her area of specialty and this was too big a project to embark on alone”. Savage had also been part of Glastonbury Festival for many years at the Glade Area – which first launched as an experimental sounds stage in 1992 and is now one of the festival’s biggest draws. With Savage’s events expertise and Wrighton’s business background, they made ideal partners. “We had a ton of ideas that just flowed out of us,” recalls Wrighton. And while that initial opportunity didn’t come off, “the vision we had curated was so beautifully clear in our minds … we absolutely had to see the project through.”
Luckily, Wrighton had an old school friend with “seven acres of the most beautiful apple orchard.” He and his wife loved the idea of using the space for a glamping site, and this year, The Secret Orchard was born.
The site is now ready to act as a beautiful base for 200–250 glampers. “We will always keep it intentionally small so we can make sure everyone feels looked after and at home here,” explains Wrighton. “The site has a much larger capacity, but it’s so beautiful we want our guests to be able to enjoy the space and breathe.”
Their mission is to stay as true to the ethos of the festival as possible, with a “space where everyone feels they are a part of the event, not just an attendee. [There are] no special VIP areas, no special treatment or exclusive packages; everyone gets everything. We love the festival and totally get why our guests love it too. Anything we can do to enhance that experience is exactly what we will do. Being boutique and exclusive should not mean that only certain people can come.”
Up next for these festival entrepreneurs: extending their accommodation offering to include converted American school buses – and they’re even installing a submarine. “We have such a talented team on board; the sub will look like it bobbed up out of the Isle of Avalon in no time,” smiles Wrighton.
Ultimately, it’s about good vibes and making the most of this special point on the calendar. “We’ve created our own little festival family of like-minded souls. [It’s] a little taster of Glastonbury, without the stressful camping bit.”
The Secret Orchard Co-Founder Rosie Wrighton’s Top Tips For A Great Glastonbury
- Explore beyond the railway line. It’s beautiful up there – the hidden dragon, the green/healing fields, permaculture… you’ll find amazing people doing incredible things.
- Spend time at The Stone Circle. It’s so peaceful up there, especially when everyone is at the main stages.
- Get walkie talkies if you want to find your mates. Forget about charging your phone, no amount of 5G masts will make those bad boys work with that crowd at capacity.
- Get lost and wander aimlessly with no agenda. It is the best way to spend the day and night.
- Book the Monday and Tuesday off work. At least! No one is leaving site on a Monday [as it’s so busy] so don’t even try. If you must, leave late on Sunday, but never Monday. Get comfy and relax till Tuesday.
- Hot showers. Make sure you have at least one.
- Inspirational people and moments are all around you – so talk, mingle and get involved.
- Embrace the queue. Be the one that makes it fun: share your tissues, hold the bags, bring the bants.
- Respect, rave, rinse, repeat – for five days straight!
To book your stay at The Secret Orchard, contact [email protected] and for more information visit the website, Facebook and Instagram
