My hosting journey - 'Do the little things’
Hi everyone! I thought it would be nice to properly introduce myself and explain a little about my journey to hosting!
Before becoming a host I led a very different life! I've gone from sending 100's of emails a week on a Blackberry to now picking them and turning them into jam for guests! Ha! I used to work as a corporate lawyer in London - but the pull of the sea and a deeper connection to something was missing. 4 years ago we made a huge decision: it was time to just go for it!! Along with my parents we all sold up and bought an old farm together, with two cottages (our listings), in Pembrokeshire, Wales about 20 minutes away from St Davids - the smallest city in the UK!
Pembrokeshire has always had a special place in my heart - and we just knew this was where we were meant to be. In lots of ways I see my journey to hosting mirroring the process that many have gone through and are still going through in lockdown. Suddenly, our home, our community, the surrounding landscape and natural world have become so much more important. Lots of us are recognising the importance and the beauty in slowing down and reconnecting and really thinking about what it is we truly want out of life. Turns out that for me, it was connecting my family back to nature and sharing my love of Pembrokeshire with the world!
I had used Airbnb numerous times as a guest before we made the move and I just loved it - I loved the fact that Airbnb was all about belonging and that Airbnb homes have soul! We are all about the little personal touches and our love for our county is in every bit of the guest experience with us - my favourite guest stories are the ones that end with a love story - sometimes I feel like cupid! They fall in love with Pembrokeshire and keep coming back!
As well as starting on a new hosting journey I’ve also been on a bit of a 'rewilding' journey too! I always appreciated nature but I knew very little about trees or much else 4 years ago, but since living here I’ve met so many like minded people and learnt how to grow lots of our own fruit and vegetables (even melons successfully in Wales!). I keep chickens and they are my absolute favourite thing. I now know how to tell a blackthorn from a hawthorn even in winter, I even started our own bio fuel willow coppice last year, and I’m now a pretty good forager and usually have some sort of interesting concoction bubbling away on the stove!
Living so in harmony with the land, the seasons and the rhythm of sea, I became so much more aware of our impact on the environment and the responsibility to look after this incredible landscape, people and nature. And so we started our sustainable hosting journey! I am still learning something new everyday, and I am certainly not green perfect by any means, but as St David so famously said 'Gwnewch y pethau bychain' or 'Do the little things'. We try our best to do the small, considerate things that can make a big difference. It has now become my little mantra - when life can start to feel rather overwhelming, I always remind myself that it's the little things that matter.
From tossing out those single-use plastics, to supporting local environmental causes and to always thinking locally, sustainable hosting and tourism is something I am so passionate about; it was something I ended up helping other hosts with locally and as a member of the UK Community Board.
I have just loved sharing ideas and supporting one another on our host journeys - what an incredible global community this is!
Diolch! (Thank you in Welsh!)
Anna