ABOUT US
We are Becks and Bill Goddard. We are the designers, builders and creators of The Carn at Frith Meadow.
We were both born and brought up here on the border of Wales and England. We first met on the school playground over 20 years ago, having a passion for the arts (and surfing!) we decided to move to Falmouth in Cornwall where we spent a very happy few years developing our skills in Textile Design and Tree Surgery respectively.
We moved back to Herefordshire where we started Rustic Campers in 2008, living in and converting campervans with our signature rustic wooden style. We developed our tiny home expertise into glamping, starting our sister company Crown & Canopy with a close friend in 2013. We built two shepherds huts and yurts and started our first sites in woodland in South Herefordshire. We successfully ran this for 5 years before the rented land came to an end.
We then managed to find and purchase Frith meadow, just a mile or so from the England/ Wales border, which is around 4 acres of meadow and woodland.
We started our little family in 2018 and managed to jump some hoops and gain full planning permission for the site in 2020. Ash, our son has been very much part of the whole process as a babe in arms at the Parish Council meetings whilst trying to obtaining the permission, to helping on-site during the build over the last year. We are very happy to be welcoming our second child into our world later this year.
We hand-built the site, sourcing wood locally from sustainable sources, and the exterior timber came from the woodland in South Herefordshire in which we got married.
Whenever possible, we have built using materials which are environmentally friendly including sheep's wool insulation, recycled paper insulation, wood fibre board and eco clay based paints. And we've used reclaimed and second hand locally sourced and handmade items, so you'll find treasures lovingly collected over years.
A Carn (a Celtic and Gaelic version of the modern English "cairn") is a mound of stones built as a memorial, burial site, waymarker or landmark, usually on a hilltop. Our work in creating the site has uncovered many things, and the presence of rock and stone has been a major factor. We have used, moved (and tried to crack through!) a lot of the stone around the site so we decided to build a cairn to recognise the hard work that has gone in to the creative process.
The site is off grid, so has no mains electricity. We use a solar PV array to power the lights, sockets, hot water and to pump up the water. There is a backup generator for occasional greyer days, so you may hear a gentle hum coming from the sheds in the field.
Our drainage system relies on a delicate eco balance, so we provide environmentally friendly cleaning materials, toiletries, and recycled loo roll.
Our fresh water supply is from a bore hole which is 90mtrs down into an aquifer. This is tested regularly and is even purer than bottled water- it provides the drinking, washing up, bath and shower water.
We also have a rainwater collection tank which we use to collect water for flushing the toilet and watering the garden - it seems crazy to use 15 litres of fresh water to flush the loo when you can collect it from the skies!
We are passionate about sustainable building, creating off-grid retreats for everyone to enjoy. It has become an been an absolute pleasure to share our site with our happy guests, hearing the amazing feedback means such a lot to us.
We are very excited to for you to visit our little piece of sanctuary, hoping you can switch off from the everyday stresses, soak up the views and relax.
