Melissa Ade
Occupation: runs Heart of the Glen holiday let
Location: Carsphairn
Buried deep within the rolling hills and valleys of the Glenkens is a peaceful hideaway set alongside the river Ken.
This hidden haven is home to Melissa Ade and her family, where they enjoy a life far from the hustle and bustle of the modern world. This stress-free lifestyle sparked the idea of creating a holiday getaway for people and Heart of the Glen glamping was born.
Melissa and her husband Ben live with their three children, two horses and two donkeys, off-grid in a peaceful and tranquil setting. We were lucky enough to meet up with them on a spectacularly beautiful spring day in late March to find out more about what life is like as a young family in one of the more remote parts of the area.
Melissa tells us how they came to be in the Glen:
“We’ve lived here for five years now. We chose to move here to get married and raise our family. This is the glen that Ben grew up in, and I grew up just over the hill. It was such a nice place to grow up... It's the best learning opportunity we can offer our children. It’s everything we could want... the rural surroundings, the small local school, the opportunities that families have in the Glenkens, the community that comes with living in a rural area. The people are wonderful, so helpful.”
Willing to turn their hands to a variety of occupations in order to support their lives, Melissa has at various times taken employment housekeeping, gardening, helping out local people and being a nursery practitioner. More recently she has trained as a Forest School practitioner and set up a ‘forest classroom’ in the woods near their home. Speaking of working in the Glenkens, Melissa says:
“It has helped us to be quite diverse in our thoughts of employment... There's so much opportunity out there, and there's so many entrepreneurial ideas; the Glenkens is your oyster! You can set up whatever you want to do here. You just have to be motivated, and find the incentives to do it.”
Melissa and Ben are a great example of entrepreneurial endeavours, with Melissa having created her forest school and Ben building their shepherd’s hut and glamping facilities. These have been constructed out of recycled materials, and the shepherd’s hut is warmed by a log burner, fueled on their homegrown willow, and uses rain water collection for the cabin’s shower and sink. The location is right beside the river, where the occupants can enjoy some wild swimming before retreating back to the fire pit to warm up.
Describing the experience of holidaying with them, Melissa enthusiastically explains:
“When guests come and stay in the shepherd's hut, they're off-grid, and there's none of the usual distractions that you would have in a modern house. You've not got the telly and the radio on...you can just stop and reconnect with nature. You can listen to the river and you can listen to the birds, and you can spend quality time together... and maybe get a real feel for what it's like living in a rural setting.”
She smiles when she says this, knowing how compelling this peaceful pace of life is; one weekend away could lead to a whole new perspective and new life plans!
For anyone considering moving to the Glenkens, Melissa has some great tips:
“You can work from home and then step outside and be in an amazing place... the positives really outweigh the negatives... amazing surroundings, direct access to the outdoors, right on your doorstep. The community is really friendly.”
When asked about how someone may find settling into the community in such a rural area, she is reassuring, explaining that integrating into the community is easy and very much worth it:
“People are happy to include you and get you involved... The door is open if you want to become part of something, you know?.... If you want to make a difference and want to enjoy your life, if you put yourself out there, people will welcome you.”
Melissa, Ben and their children might live deep in the hills but they are far from being cut off from friends, family and the local community.
Melissa has set up hugely popular a stay-and-play children's group in Carsphairn - Bairn Banter. She lights up when she talks about it:
“It's a children's group; parents come with their children and they stay and they socialise together as families. Families meeting families, children integrating... we have a really fun time! We play inside, we play outside. We provide healthy, nourishing snacks bought from the local shop, and we all sit around together and we talk and it's a really nice time - to sit together and develop bonds and friendships and relationships together.”
Speaking more on young families and what life can be like here, Melissa adds:
“We are very lucky here in the Glenkens. We've got such such amazing surroundings. Children can really grow and flourish to their highest potential, being outside and in the local community with lots of good people around, that are supportive of each other.”
But her passion for bringing people together and nurturing children doesn’t end there. When talking more about setting up a forest school, she explains:
“…the connection between children and the outdoors is so important, and children really, really need it... for their basic needs, their child development, their holistic needs… it's so important. Fresh air, Vitamin D, everything.... My idea is that I will bring children to the Heart of the Glen, and share this experience that my children are enjoying, with other people's children. So we can all get together and do some really fun, cool, hands-on stuff, with parents as well.”
It is easy to see the benefits of spending time out in this rural idyll, whether on holiday or attending a forest school session. As we talk, we are interrupted by Melissa’s daughter proudly presenting a beautiful round rock she has discovered by the river before running off to see what else she can find. Melissa's warm smile follows her as she skips happily away; she knows she is giving her children a very special start in life by being here:
“I have this idea that I can grow our entire vegetable needs. We like to be conscious of healthy eating for the children. I think it's good for them to learn how to grow food... and to know about sustainable living. We have chickens as well, and the children get the eggs in the morning and then we eat them for lunch... they can go out to the polytunnel, they can pick a meal's worth of food.”
She knows the children might leave for further education or travel one day, but she cannot imagine herself ever relocating:
“I don't see home anywhere else... This is home; it'll always be home... This is where our roots are... Perhaps the children will want to see different parts of the world. But this will always be home for them, and they'll always come home to the Glenkens.”
