[00:00:00] I am Mark the New Brunswick Traveler, and here we talk about New Brunswick stuff.
[00:00:13] New Brunswick's often referred to as a drive-through province going to Prince Edward
[00:00:18] Island or Nova Scotia, but more and more were becoming a destination province, where people
[00:00:24] are coming to spend the night, spend a week, or spend the rest of their life.
[00:00:32] There's so many great wonderful treasures and natural resources here that we can experience
[00:00:38] from the Bay of Funday to Mount Carlton to all of the various things that are in between.
[00:00:45] On this podcast I'll be talking about some of those natural wonders.
[00:00:50] We're talking about some of the people that live in New Brunswick, past visitors that
[00:00:54] have come to New Brunswick, and maybe even some ghosts that I find along the way.
[00:01:00] So for now let's get started.
[00:01:11] Spatial thanks to Linda J from New Brunswick for getting me three cups of coffee.
[00:01:16] I am enjoying another cup of coffee from Java Moose, and if you would like to purchase
[00:01:22] a cup of coffee for me you can go to my website at nbetraveler.com and purchase a cup
[00:01:30] of coffee there.
[00:01:32] Today we're going to be featuring one of the small businesses from the regional Chamber
[00:01:38] of Commerce here in St. John.
[00:01:41] I interviewed him about a very interesting topic here in New Brunswick, the topic of living
[00:01:51] in a dome in the woods and here the interview comes.
[00:02:04] Today I have Kevin Emsley with me who's with Forest Lane, Dones and Experiences.
[00:02:11] Kevin welcome to NB Traveler.
[00:02:14] Thank you Mark and I think you've had me on.
[00:02:16] I noticed that there's a lot in tourism literature today about a term called glamping GLA
[00:02:25] MPI and G.
[00:02:27] My interest in doing this podcast is simply to find out more about that concept itself,
[00:02:35] how you got interested in it and really just what you're doing out there in the forest.
[00:02:42] Thank you.
[00:02:43] Well glamping is like a nice medium between camping and luxury hotels.
[00:02:53] We found that many families will have one member or family that likes to either camp
[00:02:58] or rough it and enjoy the outdoors.
[00:03:01] Well another member of the family would prefer to go to a luxury hotel and have things like
[00:03:07] Flushing Toilet, Glamping and the G.L.
[00:03:10] Desik Dones is able to provide both of those.
[00:03:13] My wife and I we enjoy camping but we also enjoy going to a hotel for the ease and
[00:03:20] a little bit of luxury.
[00:03:22] Since having a son who is now five we found that camping required us to take a lot of
[00:03:29] items with us, especially when he was a baby so packing and planning for a vacation camping
[00:03:37] became very stressful.
[00:03:38] So our plan is to make vacations easy.
[00:03:43] We are trying to make an easy family friendly vacation that's in nature and provides luxury.
[00:03:50] So why did you pick this particular location?
[00:03:54] Basically it was the gut feeling that it felt right.
[00:03:58] We looked at property everywhere from Thunder Bay to Cape Breton and when we found Hampton
[00:04:05] and Northern Area we started to like it, it felt right.
[00:04:09] It was what was needed.
[00:04:11] We looked at a number of properties before finding the one that we chose.
[00:04:15] The one that we chose was chosen for many reasons including the res easy access.
[00:04:22] The road is plowed and maintained during the winter.
[00:04:25] There is electricity there so we were able to hook up to the grid and I actually spoke
[00:04:29] with all of the neighbours in the immediate area and explained what we wanted to do.
[00:04:36] Everybody around us was very happy to see what we were doing which is it's key.
[00:04:41] So we knew there was going to be no fallouts with the neighbours because there was going
[00:04:44] to be commercial in the area.
[00:04:47] We were also able to start doing business with some of the neighbours who have their own
[00:04:51] small businesses to up in the Northern Area.
[00:04:55] It is very picturesque, there is nice scenery.
[00:04:58] We are right next to Smith Falls.
[00:05:01] We are only eight minutes from Hampton and eight minutes from the ice caves.
[00:05:08] This is the opportunity to go golfing.
[00:05:10] There are restaurants around there, there is a distillery, there is a cider not too far
[00:05:15] away so there is plenty for people to do.
[00:05:18] Now do you just have the one dome?
[00:05:21] At the moment we do.
[00:05:22] Our plan is to grow.
[00:05:25] We are currently looking for funding but at the moment it doesn't seem like we are qualifying
[00:05:29] for much.
[00:05:30] So how complicated was it to get it down and get it put up?
[00:05:37] There was a lot of trial and error, there was a lot of exploration and a lot of research
[00:05:41] that needed to be done.
[00:05:42] I have worked in the customer service industry in the past but I have never built something
[00:05:46] this big.
[00:05:47] I have not come from a construction background.
[00:05:51] We chose domes because they are popular.
[00:05:54] It also provides us with an easy shell with a lot of interior space to be creative.
[00:06:02] In talking about that interior space, did you have some kind of a designer or individuals
[00:06:08] that are connected with the company that manufactured the dome that gave you all the suggestions
[00:06:14] for the interior space?
[00:06:16] Or was it more something you were doing yourself?
[00:06:19] No this was all something I had done myself.
[00:06:22] I have a bit of an artistic background like the design and build things in the past
[00:06:28] I built smaller but I have always wanted to build these intricate bunk bed style things
[00:06:35] for families with multiple kids.
[00:06:37] It was never worth doing for us as we only have the one but this gave me the opportunity
[00:06:42] to do that.
[00:06:44] So I experimented with it, I experimented with different layouts and we came out with
[00:06:50] a kind of bunk bed style layout with a queen bed underneath.
[00:06:54] If you go up a small flight to Sturs there are two single beds which are, but they were
[00:06:59] designed for kids in mind but they will occupy fully grown adults comfortably as well.
[00:07:08] Now the dome I assume is some kind of heating system for the winter time.
[00:07:12] What do you use?
[00:07:13] Oh yes we have heating and cooling.
[00:07:16] We have a heat pump that also has air conditioning for summer and we have a wood burning stove
[00:07:22] in there which keeps things nice and comfortable now as well as those items.
[00:07:27] We have other luxuries in there, we have a hot shower, we have a sink in the washroom
[00:07:33] and a fully plumbed house style toilet.
[00:07:36] We have a kitchen which is fully stocked with pans, pots, cups plates, knives, bogs, glasses
[00:07:45] there's a fridge freezer and a cooktop so as the weather gets better we're also going
[00:07:50] to be providing a grill so people can cook outside.
[00:07:54] So what are the main benefits then of being there in the woods if I wanted to come and
[00:07:59] spend a couple of nights?
[00:08:01] Well that little natural health benefits to spend time in the forest, there's been many
[00:08:06] studies on it.
[00:08:08] For example it boosts immune system, it's calming, it reduces stress, stimulates creative
[00:08:14] thinking, lowers heart rate, lowers cholesterol and is proven to reduce the stress.
[00:08:20] But we took a little step further as well, we've introduced grounding mats into our beds.
[00:08:27] There's other studies that show there are many benefits to grounding mats or to grounding
[00:08:32] and it's not always easy to make connection with the ground since about the 1950s when
[00:08:39] shoes started to be made with rubber soles we've lost that ground connection.
[00:08:44] So we did some research on that and found that there are many benefits to grounding for
[00:08:49] example some of these benefits are it reduces pain and inflammation, it can improve sleep,
[00:08:55] increase energy, accelerate recovery and healing and normalises biological rhythms.
[00:09:01] So if my listeners wanted to find out more information about how they could spend time
[00:09:08] there in the forest in your dome what should they do?
[00:09:12] They can visit our website at forestlanedombs.com where they'll find all our bar contacts and
[00:09:19] reachable by email at helloatforestlanedombs.com or they can give me a phone call 519-216-9803
[00:09:30] So is there a minimum number of nights or can they just stay one night?
[00:09:36] We do have a two night minimum however on occasion we do get one night that comes up
[00:09:41] available in between bookings so if that happens we are happy to take a one night booking
[00:09:47] for people who would want.
[00:09:49] So I know you're not originally from New Brunswick what's your background to begin with?
[00:09:55] Originally from Liverpool England.
[00:09:58] So tell me at least one thing about New Brunswick makes it special to you.
[00:10:03] Oh just one thing.
[00:10:04] I have to cut some of this down then.
[00:10:08] There's many things that we do like.
[00:10:10] Everything from if I'm allowed to say more than one thing, I can't get it into one.
[00:10:15] It's everything from the slower pace that allows us to make connections and relationships.
[00:10:19] There's more of a sense of community here.
[00:10:22] People are friendly.
[00:10:23] Other business owners want to work with you help you succeed.
[00:10:27] And from being from the UK I've seen how Canada promotes Canada to people from other
[00:10:33] countries and out of all the other places that I've looked at and lived in around Canada.
[00:10:39] St. John is how Canada promotes itself.
[00:10:43] Well thank you so much Kevin for spending time with me here on NB Traveler.
[00:10:49] I look forward to visiting your dome at some point in time and I'm very excited that
[00:10:56] you decided to establish your business here in this area.
[00:11:02] All business people are really the core of what New Brunswick is all about.
[00:11:07] So thank you so much for your time.
[00:11:09] Thank you for the interview with you as well.
[00:11:11] It's been a pleasure.
[00:11:18] It's been a real joy being with you today.
[00:11:20] I appreciate you taking the time to listen to the podcast.
[00:11:24] If you go to my website mbTraveler.com, you can leave a comment.
[00:11:29] You're going to do a rating.
[00:11:30] And I look forward to seeing you back here again next week.
[00:11:34] And oh by the way, you can also buy me a copy there on that website if you care to.
[00:11:41] Have a great day and a wonderful week.