By Beckie Wilson
With summer holidays comes camping, and with camping comes car loads of gear to fulfil Kiwis holiday period traditions.
The Kuratawhiti Street Campground in Greytown is offering something new this summer for those families without car loads of gear – a Lotus Belle tent.
It’s not the average family tent, it comes fully furnished with a queen bed with bedding and optional stretchers for children, as well as crockery and cutlery. It’s a home away from home allowing families to enjoy the camping experience but not having to own it all.
Ken Ryan and his wife, Nina, have run the campground for three years, and this is the first summer with the ‘glamping’ tent. The owners of the popular tent will leave it up for three months over summer.
“We thought it would be a nice way for families camping for the first time without buying all the gear,” Mr Ryan said.
“[It’s] a cheaper camping option.”
Bookings this year for the tent have been families with smaller children, as they were harder to take camping, he said.
Another accommodation option they will be offering is a Gypsy Caravan. It is now being refurbished by Mr Ryan and will be ready in about a month and includes a queen -sized bed.
“We saw it out the back of Martinborough and we thought, why not,” he said.
“It’s something different from the typical cabins that we have…it’s pretty cool.”
Both the glamping tent and Gypsy Caravan carry a charge of $100 a night.
Gee Whizz. I grew up in Greytown and couldn’t wait to get out of what was a sleepy hollow. Left town in 1979 for greener pasture’s and thought I would never look back! Camping ground was clean with a few caravans over summer. What a huge transformation this town has seen over the last few years! Well done Greytown.