Eco Decorating Tips and Inspiration from Wild Wellingtons Eco-Glamping Adventures in West Wales

With online reviews like “The domes are immaculate and beautifully finished” from Emily A and “Tom and Sinead have created something very special at Wild Wellingtons, think luxury outdoor living as opposed to glamping and well worthy of its 5 star rating” by Tom G, we were simply bursting to find out more.

Tom and Sinead had been regularly purchasing various eco-decorating products from our shop in Cardigan in the run up to opening their eco-glamping site just 15 minutes or so north of us here in West Wales. We caught up with them just before the busy holiday season to see what they had been up to.

Set amidst wildflower meadows with views of the Preseli Mountains and 10 minutes from some of the best beaches in Wales, Wild Wellingtons is already off to a good start. Visitors interested in sustainability will notice the solar thermal hot water panels on the roof of the wet rooms and bee friendly planting near the parking area. Other eco choices will be almost impossible to spot though as the products perform just like their “mainstream” alternatives. Here we share just some of the greener decorating choices Tom and Sinead made while they designed and built their beautiful sustainable venture.

Read on to find out more about: Chic upcycling. Repurposing with purpose. Sustainable living inspiration.

Low-impact Glamping Kitchen Hub

Onsite catering opportunities include your very own fire pit for outdoor barbeques, a shared outdoor cob pizza oven and a cosy barbeque cabin for indoor cooking (very sweet – a must see). The low-impact glamping communal kitchen was the first of the eco camping facilities we stepped into. It became quickly apparent how creative and practical Tom and Sinead are. Mixing upcycled used pallets and cable reels to make kitchen furniture, clever repurposing of random (ebay) objects and stunning clever design, the Hub had it all.

1) Splashback - Repurposed Glass Decking Balustrade from local eBayer and the wood behind oiled in Osmo Polyx matt finish (3062).

2) Kitchen cabinets made from upcycled Pallets (the wooden pallets that the Geo-Domes arrived on!). 

3) Windows – Recovered from a skip from outside local window fitter (with permission of course). One of the many bonuses of creating your own timber frame building is that you can install windows of any size in any place you choose!

4) Walls and Ceiling - Insulated (not visible) with Thermafleece CosyWool and Breather Membrane.

5) Fire Surround - Painted with Auro 321, colour Loadstone.

6) Coffee Table - Upcycled Power Cable Reel decorated with Wall Paper sample and protected with an eco varnish. The kitchen hob is about the only thing on site that is powered by mains electricity (from an eco-supplier who supply 100% renewable energy). Delighted to see the cable arrive on a wooden cable drum, Sinead made sure that the installers kept it in prime “table creating” condition as they rolled the electricity cable into place.

7) Communal Kitchen – Built by local Roundwood Eco Timber Frame Builders Tŷ Pren. Tom and Sinead haven’t treated this wood yet. It will age and grey over time, an effect they are happy to watch evolve.

8) Window Breakfast Bar – Finished with Osmo Polyx matt finish (3062).

TIP: Help keep items out of landfill by upcycling them or repurposing them. Ebay, Freecycle, local “buy and sell” Facebook groups are great places to look for unwanted and yet very useful items for your next project. Don’t forget to talk to neighbours too – you never know what projects they are about to embark on and what preloved items could be heading your way.

Inside Cwt ar y Bryn (Hut on the Hill)

Converted from a storage shed, the Hut on the Hill is a 2 bedroom large shepherd’s hut style accommodation.

9) Bedroom Wall - Painted with Auro 321, colour Loadstone.

10) Wooden Floor – Finished with Osmo Polyx matt finish (3062).

11) Walls and Ceiling - Insulated (not visible) with Thermafleece CosyWool and Breather Membrane.

12) Feature Wall – Painted with Earthborn Claypaint (colour Button Tin) and bespoke wallpaper hung with Earthborn Wallpaper Paste.

13) Solar Box – An amazing portable charging point for phones and other devices with light too.

TIP: You will notice a repetition of the Auro and Polyx finishes here. Limiting your choice of decorative finishes across a project not only helps create a unique style with your perfect colour palette, it also helps the environment by ensuring you will always use up that tin of paint or wood oil. In the case of properties that are let, it helps with maintenance too as you don’t have to keep too many notes about what finish is used where or keep too many tins in storage.

Inside the Geo Domes

Each of the geo-dome accommodations are fixed directly to a large wooden deck. Rather ingeniously Tom has turned the decking over on the inside of the dome and planned the wood to a smooth surface. The eye is quickly drawn from the inside to the outdoors and gives the impression that the already generous space is even larger.

14) Cromen Ddôl (Meadow Dome) Floor– Finished with Osmo Polyx matt finish (3062).

15) Cromen Glan Môr (Seaside Dome) Floor – Finished with Osmo Polyx Oil raw finish (3044).

TIP: Combine orders wherever possible. By using the same decking timber inside and out, Tom has effectively saved C0₂ by ensuring all the wood was delivered in one go.

Inside the Tree Bog

It wouldn’t be a true eco-glamping experience without the opportunity to use a composting toilet (visitors might also want to know there are two spacious and luxurious solar powered wet rooms on site too). 

16) Back Wall - Wooden Wall finished with Auro Tester Pots. Sinead was lucky to visit our shop just as we had finished creating some demo squares in the shop. She has definitely put our partially used tester pots to great use here.

17) Window - Green Man Stained Glass hand-made by a very creative in-law.

18) Walls - Insulated (not visible) with Thermafleece CosyWool and Breather Membrane.

19) Hand Wash Bowl - Upcycled metal dairy churn lid with an environmentally friendly hand wash gel beside.

20) Toilet Roll – Who Gives A Crap toilet rolls from recycled paper with no plastic packaging.

TIP: Tester Pots and the ends of tins are perfect ways of adding stylish details to smaller projects. If you have finished with your paint tin and are sure you will not need it again, why not pay it forward and give it to a creative person you know for their next project or your local re-paint scheme. Before you give it away though, don’t forget to take a photo of the tin or make a “colour card brush out board” of the paint just in case you need to know exactly what the paint was at some point in the future.

After our brief tour, we certainly agree with the reviews. Wild Wellingtons is a beautifully creative place with so many eco-ideas executed so well holidaymakers will surely go home relaxed and perhaps even little bit greener.

Chic upcycling. Repurposing with purpose. Sustainable living inspiration. This place has it all!

It’s definitely somewhere that we will be recommending to family and friends when they visit us here in Wales.

To find out more about the off-grid infrastructure and eco-glamping projects Tom and Sinead have implemented on the site, be sure to visit their website www.wildwellingtons.co.uk and subscribe to their social media channels. If you do decide to holiday at their eco-glamping site, it’s great to know that to encourage car sharing Tom and Sinead offer a 5% discount to 4+ adults who arrive in one car and share that car throughout their stay! See the Wild Wellington’s Booking page for details.