We catch up with Harvest Rose and Dave (aka Birch) Harris-Jones, the heart and soul behind Laverock Law Cottages & Glamping, to find out how their passion for green living has evolved into an award-winning holiday business
Harvest Rose and Birch, it’s lovely to meet you. Tell us a little bit about Laverock Law
HR: Welcome. We run several dog-friendly, self-catering holiday lets near the beautiful Northumberland coast, five miles from Lindisfarne. We have three farmworkers’ cottages – Skylark, Swallow and Woodpecker – as well the Harvest Hut and the North Star treehouse.
How did it all start?
HR: I’d been teaching in Cumbria, but after struggling with mental health issues, we decided to move to Northumberland – where I’d spent happy childhood holidays – to build a new life closer to nature. In 2011, Birch and I came across the unloved, derelict cottages set within two acres of land and knew it was the right place to start our business and raise our children, Rowan and Poppy. Laverock Law means ‘Hill of the Lark’ and is a total wildlife haven full of birdsong.
That sounds like a huge adventure
B: It was, especially as none of the cottages were habitable, so to begin with, we had to live in ‘Daisy’ our old Fiat Motorhome whilst working every hour on the cottages – and on top of that, I spent the first two years commuting back and forth to Cumbria for work four days a week. It was hard work, but a total labour of love. The exhilaration that we felt when we got our first booking for Skylark Cottage, knowing that someone had put their faith in our dream, was incredible. That family still visit us to this day.
And how did Laverock Law grow from there?
B: It took several years, but we slowly renovated the cottages to offer self-catering accommodation, and then we restored a beautiful 1930s threshing hut, named the Harvest Hut, which sits in its own wooded space with fantastic sunset views towards the Cheviot Hills. We’re passionate about working in harmony with nature, so four years ago we started work on a sustainable heart-shaped treehouse called North Star. I built it with the help of a local joiner and we even commissioned a local potter to make bespoke crockery for it. We were thrilled when it was featured on BBC’s Robson Green’s Weekend Escapes last year.
Incredible. What else do you offer your guests?
HR: We’ve always strived to live a simple, sustainable lifestyle and that’s echoed in the accommodation, with luxury organic bedding, biomass heating and plenty of space for the local wildlife to thrive. Our motto is ‘your holiday is as important to us as it is to you’, so there are plenty of treats, too, such as local foods, homemade organic bread and cakes, a tree platform from which to enjoy stargazing, space for campfires, plus Heartwood, our wood-fired sauna.
Running Laverock Law must be hugely satisfying, does anything in particular stand out?
B: A big highlight for us was winning the VisitEngland Sustainable Tourism Gold award in 2018, and we have since gone on to scoop many more eco accolades, including being awarded Green Tourism’s Gold Standard, which we’ve very proud of.
So, what’s next for Laverock Law?
HR: I recently trained in both Yoga and Reiki, so we now offer those on site in the Heartspace, alongside workshops such as Creative Felting and Fun Breadmaking. Birch, meanwhile, shares his
passion for the outdoors with guided walks and family adventures, including a unique opportunity to walk barefoot in the footsteps of Saints across the tidal sands to Holy Island. We make sure that all of our guests get the benefit of our local knowledge, ensuring they can relax, rewind and reconnect while creating fun-filled memories to take away.
For more information and to book, visit laverocklawcottages.com, or follow the couple
on Instagram at: @laverocklawholidaycottages
