Business Profile: Jark the eco-camping and Glamping solution

The first in our profiles of small businesses in the Exe Valley is that of Jason Wise, The Ark Chicken Company. We'll come back to his free range chicken farm and the local meats and ready meals he sells at a later date. This profile is about an exciting side venture he's working on: Jark - the eco-camping and glamping solution.

Name: Jason Wise

Position: Founder of www.JarkLife.com and inventor of the Jark eco-camping and glamping solution.

Location: Babylon, Silverton

Background: Jason, a successful chicken farmer in his own right, has in recent years he's become disillusioned with the way chicken farmers have been pushed to produce larger and larger volumes for lower prices. He was worried that it would lead to taking short cuts, which would ultimately effect the level of care he was able to give to his stock. He bravely turned his back on those market forces to concentrate on the free range, slow growing, poultry he was happiest producing. He set up the Chicken Shack Farm Shop at Roosters of Babylon, Silverton, selling his own meat as well as local, sympathetically reared Beef, Lamb, Pork and game. 

Jark: However, Jason had a problem. Having reduced the number of birds he no longer needed the large modular, steel framed, mobile sheds he had designed and built. Some serious head scratching was needed. 

Jason says "In the movies, the star of the film would snap his fingers together and say "I've got it". Well it did't really happen like that". Jason will freely admit he found inspiration at the bottom of a glass of local cider. Having seen an article about Glamping (Glamorous Camping) he realised that the fully insulated sheds the chickens lived in would make fantastic eco-camping accommodation. Plus, he would be able to recycle his spare sections and possibly make a sideline business out of it. "Killing two birds with one stone, so to speak". 

The Ark Hut - The first version, built around the shed section carcass saw the construction of a spacious, wood clad and insulated building which could be placed on a trailer and delivered to site. The steel construction allowed it to be dragged in place and the stable door gave it an extra rustic edge. He received loads of interest and sold the first one quite quickly.

Jason was pleased but not all together happy with the design. With help from the Manufacturing Advisory Council and Oliver Blackwell, an award winning designer, he set about designing and building a new version specifically for the eco-camping and glamping market.

Jark - the first true eco-camping/glamping solution from JarkLife.com 

A number of changes had to be made, the design tweeked and more consideration paid to the look and feel of the product as well as it's eco credentials. Not only that, but a product name was needed and the Jark or "Jason's Ark" was born!

The Jark's new design features included a steel skid, to give the Jark mobility e.g. it can be dragged behind a 4x4 or tractor. There was lots of glass to provide more light and connection with the outside space. The roofing material had was Oberon 25% recycled tin. The insulation provided by local ewe's wool and barley straw, electricity supplied by hook-up or solar pack, plus all the timber FSC certified. 

Jark was now a credible eco friendly, high quality, eco-camping/glamping solution. However, Jason was still not completely happy.

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Jark 3 - Going beyond the competition

Jason wanted to take the Jark to the next step, improve on it's flexibility and increase it's return on investment. The building has increased in size to 12ft x 8ft and 16ft x 8ft for the basic and luxury version respectively. The timber has been upgraded to cedar and the roof now comes as cedar shingles, Oberon or faux grass. Not only that, he didn't want the customer to loose the feeling of camping, so he's added canvas extensions to the front. These can be a simple porch to a full 8ft canvas tent, fully enclosed for those lovely british evenings. 

Jark 3 is now ready to go to market as a family friendly, insulated multi-season, eco-camping/glamping solution. Built with quality and eco construction at the heart and fun as the goal.

Thanks Jason, all at theexevalley blog are wishing you success in this project and will be back to find out how it's all going.

For more information about Jark 3 the eco-camping/glamping solution please visit www.JarkLife.com

Profile: Adrian Gray runs his company Viewshed Ltd from his home in Silverton, Devon. He's a trainer, software and web developer specializing in Ordnance Survey maps, Pitney Bowes MapInfo and Open Source development for the web, desktop and mobile platforms. He can be contacted at www.viewshed.co.uk