Entrepreneurs with the goal of living sustainably

A soft blanket of snow has enveloped the High Coast and the thermometer is showing minus degrees in the double digits when we are welcomed to Glamping Höga Kusten by Marco and Nicole. They have built this wilderness accommodation from scratch on a beautiful piece of land in Undrom, located in Sollefteå municipality in northern Sweden. And finding our way here was not easy – the turn off from the main road is not signposted. Something that we found out later is a conscious decision.

Once we have arrived, however, it is easy to feel welcome. The couple lead us into a warm and cosy tepee-style tent where a homemade lunch has been laid out on the table, and they start to tell their story.

– We love nature and outdoor life, and have always preferred a tent to a hotel room when we travel, says Marco.

The first time the Dutch couple visited the High Coast was in 2013. They loved it but as business owners with busy lives at home in the Netherlands, living in a little red house in northern Sweden felt like an impossible dream.

– Then a few things happened in our lives and we started asking ourselves: Do we want to live like this? And we both answered no, says Nicole.

In 2017 they had the chance to live for a while in Sollefteå, and that is where they made their decision. The High Coast had everything they had dreamed of – beautiful nature, close proximity to services and sizable cities, and house and land prices that were affordable.

They sold everything they owned in the Netherlands and bought a house in Undrom with some land bordering a river. When they wrote about their adventure on social media, a number of Dutch people wanted to visit – so the idea was born to build unique wilderness "glamping” accommodation offering comfortable beds in large canvas tents with all meals catered.

The couple have spent countless hours creating the ideal place for nature lovers who love a bit of comfort to spend some time. In addition to the large tent we are in, there is also a pavilion with room for other diners and a wood-fired sauna in the forest located between the glamping tents, of which there are currently three.

The glamping concept quickly became popular and they have had up to five large tents on their own grounds. But the couple’s approach to sustainable living goes a little further than that of many others – they don’t want to expand too much here in Undrom.

– We want to keep things on a level that lets us maintain the unique experience we can offer and that we can run ourselves. We want to inspire others to follow their dreams, and share this place with us, says Nicole.

In order to be able to meet demand – and to work together with other local businesses – they have started a project with nearby High Coast Whisky. The distillery needed accommodation for their visitors, and together with Glamping Höga Kusten they can now offer this special accommodation to their guests, housed in as many as eight large tents.

In recent years, Glamping Höga Kusten has become a member of STF and received their Nature’s Best award – Nature Tourism’s stamp of excellence for eco tourism experiences in Sweden.

– Our goal is to be able to live entirely on our glamping accommodation, without needing other jobs. No more, and no less. We are a bit different like that, says Marco.

And that’s how we found out about the lack of a signpost at the turnoff.

– When we had a signpost there, tourists with caravans and campervans would show up looking for a place to park, camping services, etc. And that was something entirely different from our dream, says Marco.

 

Produktion: Devocy Communication.

Artikeln är en del av Talangattraktion för kompetensförsörjning i Höga Kusten som finansieras av Europeiska regionala utvecklingsfonden, Region Västernorrland och de fyra Höga Kusten-kommunerna, Härnösand, Kramfors, Sollefteå och Örnsköldsvik.