What’s in a name?

The Peak District National Park is divided into the Dark Peak and the White Peak; each with its own distinct and remarkable character. The Dark Peak offers rugged, heather covered moorland with outcrops of gnarled gritstone which are the delight of rock climbers the world over.

Dark Peak region of Peak Distriict — Looking out from Eyam Moor over Stanage Edge

The White Peak by contrast is a fertile farming landscape with a bedrock of cave riddled limestone at its heart and a network of deep dales strewn with wild flowers above.

*Tideswell is a pretty working village and the one that White Peak Shepherd Huts is lucky enough to call home and (yes, you’ve guessed it) it sits at the heart of the White Peak. We love everything that the landscape and community around us has to offer so we very proudly named our business after this wonderful part of Derbyshire.

*Update – White Peak Shepherd Huts have moved from their beloved Peak District to the wonderful Welsh Countryside, however, they have kept their name as a reminder of where it all began.

Why Shepherd huts?

We have a small field for our tiny flock of sheep overlooking a pretty dale which we wanted to spend more time enjoying regardless of the season. For us it was simple, the field was crying out for the traditional charm of a shepherd hut so we combined our skills and set about building one. As people saw the hut taking shape we began to get build requests. We enjoyed the experience of building ours so much, we thought why not… and White Peak Shepherd Huts was born.

Traditional-Hut-in-winter — Shepherds hut in the snow

*Update – All things can and do change and our first foray into land custodianship wet our appetite for the good life. Along came covid and the great life reassessment occurred and here we find ourselves, on an 8-acre Welsh small holding with an opportunity to set up our own glamping escape and spend more of time connecting with the great outdoors. Oh….and of course build a few more of our smaller, traditional shepherd Huts along the way.

Who are we?

Glenn

On leaving school Glenn decided to follow in his father’s footsteps and took up an apprenticeship to become a joiner. After pursuing this career path for several years he added to his stable of skills and qualified as an electrician.

For 6 years, Glenn took his skills overseas, working most notably in Hong Kong, Canada and Australia. After travelling much of the world Glenn realised that his heart belonged to the UK and he returned home.

On meeting Josephine, Glenn moved out to the beautiful Peak District. Once there, inspired by his surroundings Glenn, together with his father, built his first shepherd hut.

Glenn spends his spare time renovating the dilapidated stone cottage that he shares with Josephine.

Josephine

Josephine is passionate about design and having studied at art college she went on to become a garden designer.

When Josephine’s son was young she took on a part-time sales and marketing job to fit in around school. One thing led to another, as these things often do and Josephine’s life changed direction leading her into a corporate career. To fulfil her artistic inclinations during this time, Josephine wrote several well respected children’s books.

Now her son is grown Josephine has left the corporate world behind and she delights in designing the shepherd huts, especially the twiddly bits!

Josephine spends her spare time growing veggies and tending to their tiny flock of sheep.

Jack

Jack is a WPSH’s environmental champion. His passion for conservation has seen Jack study environmental management and biological science. He has taken his skills overseas where he lived and worked on a Honduran island researching the preservation of its endangered species. Jack also worked on a natural disaster relief program with the Philippine government where he learned first-hand how climate change is affecting their country.

Jack enjoys kayaking and walking his seriously cute yet notoriously grumpy Schnorkie, Louie. Jack is also Josephine’s son!