From a garden tent to celebrity clients: Chorley glamping firm sees remarkable rise

A glamping firm based in Chorley has proven to be an unlikely star at this week’s Royal Cheshire County Show.

Having started life as a single tent in a Lancashire backgarden back in 2020, Horseshoe Glamping has grown exponentially over the past six years.

Founded by Eccleston man Simon Schofield, 51, the luxury glamping & events company now boasts three huge sites across Lancashire - in Chipping, Burscough and Eccleston- whilst they deliver bell tents all over the north.

Horseshoes Glamping can also list various celebrities amongst their customers- including Paddy McGuiness, Jill Scott and The Real Housewives of Cheshire cast- and this week, they were even invited to the Royal Cheshire County Show, in collaboration with Celebrity Big Brother and The Real Housewives of Cheshire star Lauren Simon.

Lauren, who boasts over 260,000 Instagram followers, was at the show with her perfume brand, Lauren Simon Collection, but it was her Horseshoe Glamping tent that seemed to get the most attention.

In a video posted to Instagram, one of the media volunteers for the Cheshire Show even began her interview with Lauren by saying: “We’re here with Lauren today who is in the incredible tipi tent which I'm not sure if I’ve seen something like this before at Cheshire Show.”

Speaking to the Post at the show, Lauren herself said: “I just want to say how great, professional, and wonderful Horseshoe Glamping is. This tipi is incredible. People have literally stopped me and said, 'Wow. This set, if I can dare say it, is the best stand at the whole of the Cheshire Show’. So, I can't recommend it enough and I'm really excited to maybe sleep under one with fairy lights. Service is amazing. Looks fantastic. Well done and thank you so much to Horseshoe Glamping"

Working with celebrities is a far cry away from Simon’s intention when he first set up Horseshoe Glamping six years ago.

Explaining how it all began, the father of two said: “During COVID, I put a tent up in the garden for my boys for when they came to stay. I decorated it all nice and put it on Facebook. Someone said 'Oh, that's a great idea. I'd like to hire it’ and I thought, right, okay. My boys set me up with an Instagram page, because I had no idea, and within three or four months, it literally just took off.

“It boomed really, really quickly. I think probably because we got a lot of celebrities involved, pretty much straight away, you know, we had the likes of Paddy McGuinness, all the Cheshire Housewives. Because of Covid, there was nothing else that people could do apart from have parties in the garden so it started from there. We've been in OK Magazine, we've been on ITV but I don't think a lot of people know about us. At our site in Eccleston, we've got 18 acres of land and we do like exclusive events for hen parties, birthdays, mini festivals, but we don't have any signs up because it is exclusive. We have celebrities, private events, and these people do not want anyone turning up so that's why we keep it quiet.”

Events like the Royal Cheshire Show, which this year ran between June 16-17, are one of the ways in which Horseshoe Glamping can advertise the work that they do.

As well as hiring out their bell tents to members of the public, they provide the event tents for Wild Boar Park in Chipping, Orrell Park in Burscough and are even in talks to cover Glastonbury next year too.

They then host their own events on their 18 acre land in Eccleston, from hen parties to private music festivals and bookings can all be made online.

Simon, a former tiler, has now stepped down from the active running of the company due to health problems, but he has a whole team of family members that have stepped in instead- including partner Jen, his brother Lee and his parents.

Encouraging the people of Lancashire to consider Horseshoe Glamping for their next event, Simon said: “We're a local, small, family-run business, and we started off with just one tent, but like I say, it's gone off.

“Our reviews are all five stars. I mean, I don't know anything similar in the local area that’s got as many good reports as what we have. From what I can see, I think we're the only one in Lancashire with so many good reviews, and obviously we do the top celebs and stuff, so I'm not going to blow my own trumpets and say ‘I'm the best in Lancashire’, but you know, we have grown quite quickly for a reason.”