Our check-in and check-out times are 3.30pm and 10.30am*. At the moment, early check in and late check- out is unfortunately not possible*. You are more than welcome to enjoy the Reserve and the facilities on your arrival day from 10am and on your departure day until 5pm. Please do let us know your plans so we know how many guests are onsite.

Arrival at your hut: At the entry gate please use the gate code 03521+Enter It is then a two mile drive through the Nature Reserve to the farm. Please drive slowly up the long drive, and straight into the large car park, past the cottage (on your right). Please turn left immediately into the smaller car park where Kingshill Barn is. You can park here, or in the large car park, whichever is closest to your hut.

On arrival, please do pop to the barn to say hello and we will talk you through arrival information, and hand over your keys. If you would rather opt for a contactless check- in, you are very welcome to go straight to your hut. Please let us know in advance as we will need to arrange the hut to be unlocked.

Please follow the map above and the instructions for each hut below.

Please follow the map above -there is a small gate by the information board at the bottom of the car park. Go through this gate and past the large mound on your left. You’ll pass four huts after the mound until you reach our Traditional Shepherd’s Huts, Little Owl is on the left and Samphire is on the right. Go through the small wooden gate and to your left. Please do bring a torch if you are arriving after dark.

If arriving past 5pm you may find that the predator gate, a little way along the track is closed. This is not a locked gate, but you will need to get out of your vehicle to open it and drive through, although please do remember to close it behind you as it keeps the foxes away from the birds

If you have lots of luggage, you are very welcome to drive through the large gate to the hut to drop off your bags. Please ensure your car is swiftly taken back to the car park. If you need anything at all please call 07930 847520 (9am- 5pm) or if arriving past 5pm, our emergency number is 07538592146

• Please collect homemade muesli & cold milk from the barn on arrival – For contactless check-ins this will be left in your hut.

• The camp kitchen is situated near your hut. You are welcome to use this, enabling you to have a bit more space for cooking. Please ensure this is used one at a time, and the space is respected, leaving it as you would hope it find it. We also ask that this is sanitised after your use.

• Please help yourself to more wood (£5 per bucket) from the wood store which is located at back of the office (little brick building with green windows at the end of the courtyard).

• To ensure your fellow guests relax in peace please avoid walking in front of the other huts.

• The nature reserve footpath is via the main car park. It is around 30mins walk to the first hides and 3 miles in total to the furthest hide, Spitend. As we are based in a National Nature Reserve, please keep to the footpaths, close any gates and please don’t go too close to the water in front of your hut to avoid disturbing the wildlife.

• The gate code for the entrance gate is on your keys so please use this to let yourselves in and out.

• On the morning of your departure, please lock your hut and check-out by 10:30am*. You will receive an email with your final bill. You can opt for contactless check out, please pop your key in the drop box on the barn front door, and we will take remaining payment using the card held on file. Alternatively, please pop to the barn and settle this with one of the team. You are more than welcome to enjoy the reserve until 5pm.

* There will be a fee for unarranged late check outs, to ensure we have enough time for our hard-working housekeepers to change over the hut for our next guests staying.

Your hut will be stocked with complimentary marshmallows, breakfast tea and freshly ground coffee.

We are happy to offer you other meals, in the form of a take-away, for your stay. Full options and prices are available the week before your stay on the menu posted on the website here

Breakfast and supper are available and can be delivered to your hut, hot in a hamper.

Tea, coffee and homemade cakes and snacks are also available to purchase in the barn Wednesdays, Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays, 9am – 3:30pm. Please note, this is take-away only.

If you are celebrating a special occasion, please let us know and we will try to accommodate any requests.

Half-sized child servings are available.

As we are a small team, please order at least 24 hours in advance as food may not always be available. If you have any dietary requirements, please do let us know in advance and we will be happy to alter the menu to suit. We have a 5 out of 5 standard Food & Hygiene rating. Our menus are designed with three things in mind: seasonality, local produce and running a zero-waste kitchen.

The wood burning stove is great fun to cook on as well as doing the essentials of boiling the kettle for a cup of tea or coffee. In Summer when it’s a bit too warm to have the wood burner on we have also supplied a small, effective

gas burner which is in your dresser and safe to use in your hut. Just place it on your dresser, push the lever down into lock position and then twist the dial and it will ignite. The fire pit in front of your hut is great for toasting marshmallows – wood is provided. Extra wood is stored next to the office. For more advanced cooking there is a shared camp kitchen with gas hobs and washing up facilities. Please do not use any other BBQ or fire other than the firepit outside your hut. We provide a few pots, pans and cooking utensils in a box for your hut, please only use these as they are sterilised for your use only. To save space we have limited the equipment in the huts, but you should have everything you need for a good BBQ or camping feast. As you’d expect we ask that you leave everything as you would hope to find it. And please wipe down everything you have used with the antibacterial spray provided.

You have a cool box in the camp kitchen. These can be replaced on request at the barn. Again please only use your cool box. If you have lots to cool please bring your own cool box as we have no shared fridge facilities at the moment.

The sink is in the outdoor kitchen. Washing-up liquid that will not harm the environment is provided, please make sure you use this.

The water in the huts and all around the site is safe for drinking.

There is a small bin in your bathroom for personal rubbish. Please dispose of food packaging and waste in the recycling and rubbish bins which are located by the kitchen.

The hut has a 75mm insulated cavity throughout. The insulation is Earthwool, a breathable carbon-neutral insulation made from 80% recycled bottles; it is low impact as well as being very effective. Along with the wood burning stove and Romney Marsh Wool blankets we’re sure you will be warm and cosy on the chilliest of nights. The stove is easy to light and use. There is a vent to control the burning rate – the more open it is the quicker your fuel will burn and the hotter the fire. It can get very toasty so you will just want it on low.

It uses very little fuel but extra supplies are available. Under no circumstances is wood to be taken from the reserve for use on any fire or barbeque. Extra wood is stored next to the office.

You will find gorgeous natural products by Bramley in full size bottles. Please enjoy these but leave the bottles! Your en-suite has a hot shower and flushing loo.

In wet weather please make sure you look after the huts. Please take muddy boots off before entering the hut. There are hooks to dry out wet clothes. Boot brushes are attached to your steps and they will stay dry under your hut.

The hut has electric lighting, but power is only 12v so there are no power sockets. In your hut you have an LED lantern for lighting your way in the evening. If you would like to charge your phone etc. We would advise bringing a battery pack.

The hut is rather bijou, so space is at a premium. There is plenty of storage space under the bed. There are also

hooks for clothing. If you have larger bags that you would like to store, please just ask and we can look after them for you.

Elmley is a great base for exploring the many well-known areas and attractions across : the historic town market town of , known for its antiques shops, markets and the creek with its historic barges and shipyard (25mins); Whitstable for its seafood and vintage shopping (35min); Leeds Castle (25mins) with its beautiful and family-friendly setting; Canterbury (30mins); and the Turner Contemporary in Margate with its fun and arty old town (45mins). Closer to home, Sheppey is an historic island and has some fascinating places to visit, including with its splendid Georgian Naval Terrace in , ’s fishing harbour, and water-sports at Barton’s Point Coastal Park. For more nature and walks you can watch raptors from Capel Fleet or visit the Swale National Nature Reserve to catch a glimpse seals basking on the sands in the Swale. There are plenty of local beaches to explore but our recommendations on the island are: o Minster Leas - walk along the shore and find a quiet spot underneath the cliffs

o - this beautiful, remote beach is made of tiny seashells! Access is through Leysdown and down a very bumpy track (not suitable for all cars). Please note Shellness is a naturist beach so probably not one to visit on busy Summer days! o Or go fossil hunting at Warden Point. o If you’re after vast sandy beaches take a longer drive to the Thanet coast with the gorgeous beaches at Broadstairs, Botany Bay and Joss Bay.

Elmley is a 3,300 acres estate which is both working family farm and a National Nature Reserve. With a population of five and being off the grid it is as remote as you can be in south-east yet has 4G (although we recommend you turn the phone off!). We have the unique status of being the only family farmers who own and manage a National Nature Reserve. Being an independent Nature Reserve, we have the opportunity to do things a bit differently. There is nowhere else in the UK that you can spend the night, or get married, within a Nature Reserve (let alone the middle of a National Nature Reserve). Georgina and Gareth, their young children, and our small team are your hosts. Georgina’s family has farmed on the grazing marsh for over 40 years - a herd of 800 suckler

cows and sheep graze the marsh - and are renowned for managing the land for nature conservation.

A stay at Elmley is a wildlife experience with hares, owls, marsh harriers, water voles, avocets and dragonflies being some of the other wildlife you might see. You should expect to hear and see wildlife everywhere. As well as the safari-esque sunrises and sunsets, the marsh at night is a really special place to take in the chorus of marsh frogs, calls of owls, ducks and wading birds, or to watch the moonlight glint of the pools and nearby Swale channel. Elmley is a National Nature Reserve and an internationally important site for the conservation of both habitat and plants, animals, insects and bird and so it is a SSSI, Special Protected Area for birds and Ramsar site (wetland of world importance). We have a huge number of rare and endangered species but Elmley is especially important for breeding wading birds and over-wintering birds – in fact in 2015 we have a had record as over 450 lapwing chicks fledged into adults (exactly the opposite to the rest of the country sadly). And, in the winter months the sky is filled with tens of thousands of wildfowl, which make an unforgettable sight of cloud-like murmurations and flocks in formation.

Elmley is also a great place to see hares, which are especially beautiful in the dawn mist, and four different owls: short-eared owls (winter only), long-eared owls (autumn only) little owls and barn owls. Our not-so-wild-life consists of Polly the farm dog, and over 800 cows with their calves (which graze March to December). We also have lots of sheep over the winter. We receive approximately 12,000 day visitors a year, most of whom come between December and March when the birds are most abundant.

Elmley also has a fascinating history, which is apparent in the old buildings around the farm and across the marsh – Victorian haylofts, cottages, and a traditional Kentish Barn, the remains of a Victorian brick-making village. And, King James II was locked up in the farmhouse in 1688 whilst fleeing William of Orange! The North Kent Marshes was also an inspirational place for Dickens, and the opening scenes of the BBC adaptation of Great Expectations was filmed at Elmley.

• Brambledown Farm Shop, ME12 3SU.

Brambledown is a great place to stock up on basics. A proper farm shop... giant sacks of potatoes, trays of eggs, plenty of great local fruit and veg and a bakery (not much in the way of posh delis!). (10 mins) • Macknade, ME13 8XF www.macknade.com A wonderful place to visit if you fancy a trip out, run by a farming family with Italian roots. Plenty of yummy Kentish produce, cheeses, wines, fruit and veg etc. Plus a fantastic butchers. It is just outside the lovely market town Faversham. (25mins) • Brogdale, ME13 8XZ https://www.brogdalecollections.org/ Brogdale is home to The National Fruit Collection and has over 4000 varieties of fruit. You will also find a tearoom, garden centre and a selection of shops where you can taste and buy seasonal fresh fruit, jams, chutneys, local ciders, wines and gifts. They also offer daily orchard tours, please call for more information on 01795 536250. Brogdale is situated just outside of the picturesque town of Faversham. (25 mins) • Supermarkets. Morrisons is very close to us and Sainsbury’s or Waitrose will deliver (please use Kingshill Farm, Elmley, Sheerness, ME12 3RW as the delivery address and please choose a delivery slot after your arrival).

Butchers: • MB Farms, Stockbury, ME9 7UJ www.mbfarms.co.uk It will be a short detour on your way to us, with quite a sharp turn off the A249 so best to have a look at a map before you set off. They are very good – most of the meat comes from their own farm. There is also a shop attached, selling basics and a small selection of local fruit and veg (10-15mins depending on the route). • O’Meara’s Butcher, 9/11 Trafalgar Parade, Broadway, Minster-on-sea, ME12 2RW. Good butchers on the island, with local meat (1o mins). • Fishmongers: Two Suns, Lime Kiln Wharf, West Street, Queenborough, ME11 5HB. Run by the very friendly Roy, this excellent fishmonger is placed near to the fishing harbour in the little fishing town of Queenborough, and so they have plenty of fresh fish in (10 mins)

We are open to visitors on Wednesdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. The opening hours vary depending on the time of year, so please let us know

before your stay when you expect to arrive. If the gate is ever closed just buzz the intercom and we can let you in. As the Reserve is protected for conservation guests are not permitted to roam freely across the marsh but must stick to the allocated footpaths, please just ask if you are not sure. There is a reserve map in the front of your information pack in your hut. Being a working farm and a marsh there are some risks on site, please be aware of the risks and ensure children are always supervised. The ditches and ponds are deep and very dangerous and so paddling is forbidden. Please do not enter fields with closed gates and livestock.

Your hut is fitted with a carbon monoxide detector and a fire blanket. If the flames are contained, place the fire blanket over the flames and turn off the heat source. In case of a fire or the carbon monoxide alert sounding, exit the hut straight away. If the doorway is blocked exit via the window. Raise the alarm. The fire meeting point is in the main car park.

In order to avoid any negative impact to the wildlife at Elmley we have a Code of Conduct that we ask guests to adhere to. Please ensure that you take a couple of minutes to read this and do ask if you have any questions.

We are available 24/7 in case of problems. Please call 07930847520 (9am-5pm) otherwise you have our out of hours emergency contact number on your keys. Please don’t hesitate to get in touch if there is.