Come and grab a coffee in Bivouac’s cafe this Monday!  Opening April 2nd…

Bivouac is opening! April 2nd sees our first guests arriving for the kick start of our new business.  Alongside our accommodation, comprising of 6 bespoke woodland shacks, 8 luxury yurts and a modern bunk barn which sleeps 12 - we are also opening our brand new cafe/restaurant set in a refurbished barn.  We have lovingly put it all together, caring about the detail and feel of the space.  The cafe has been designed with recycled, reclaimed and refurbished items.

The main cafe area looks out on to the courtyard (which is a suntrap!) and out the other side there are amazing views of the Yorkshire hills with outside seating and a fire pit for those cold evenings.  Upstairs is an adults only mezzanine level with a cosy wood burning stove, perfect for snuggling up with a good book, or enjoying a coffee with friends.  Downstairs is our family room, child friendly, with room to play, an ideal place for bringing your small ones to - which leads on to another outside area with yet again, stunning views!

Maybe I am biased, but I for one cannot wait to frequent our cafe, sampling some of the great food I have been tempted with on the menu!

The cafe opens at 2pm this Monday…and will be open all week.  Come and check us out!

So with 10 days to go until our grand opening, things are steaming along on site.  In the last week, it has really been transformed, with all the finishing touches going in to place.

Fencing in the courtyard, paintings on the barns, the reception desk, the cafe counter, the kitchen and the gardens are all bringing together the finishing touches to the site.

It’s amazing how far we have come, from all those many months ago when the build began last summer.  The weather has been uncannily kind to us so far this year, meaning we have had very little hold ups to the schedule.  Amidst this marvellous weather, it has been easy to remind ourselves the beauty of this place when the sun shines upon it.

We’ve all been mucking in and getting involved in all areas of the build to get it ready for our first guests in just over a weeks’ time.  Take a look at a glimpse of what the courtyard area between the shop and cafe currently looks like…we can’t wait for you to see it for real!

For the last 7 days we have had 60 volunteers come along and totally transform the Bivouac site battling through snow, wind and rain and a few rainbows…we can’t thank them enough…

We would like to say a massive THANK YOU to all the volunteers who have been up to help us at Bivouac in the last 7 days. 

Together we achieved amazing things - to name a few…a great fence up in the woodland (built in the snow and very wet rain!), erected all the bunk beds, made shoe racks, painted and decorated the shacks, painted furniture, designed and made a hot tub area, kitted out the yurts, painted a wonderful tree mural in the cafe, painted the toilet block, painted the utility and staff area, tiled the showers in the shower block, organised storage areas and created some great wood stores (and lots more).

We couldn’t have done it without everyones’ help!  We are so grateful for the time and effort everyone gave us over the last 7 days.

We look forward to welcoming you through the doors of Bivouac next month!

Imagine having the luxury of a hot tub, with the adventure of heating it up naturally and the beautiful view of the Yorkshire Dales…by day or starlight…

Ever since the first idea that Bivouac was becoming a reality, we have always wanted to make sure that we provide a ‘rustic chic’ experience, including the luxuries that come along with that, including the hot tub!

Bivouac was born in New Zealand, when Sam and Beth were on their honeymoon, staying in a sheep shearers shack.  4 years on and the idea has evolved, and is now just 4 weeks from opening, with bookings coming in thick and fast.  It’s really very exciting, scary and all part of a massive adventure that we are on, and that we have now joined Sam and Beth in…

The hot tub that we have chosen to use is the ‘Kiwi Tub’, and was road tested by some Bivouac-ers during their travels in New Zealand.

It uses tap water or clean spring water and can fit up to six people. It’s very comfortable.

There is a company in Devon that has just started selling the Kiwi Tubs, which is where we got ours from, check it our for more info: www.kiwitubuk.com

Our hot tub is available for hire for any of our guests on site…just get in touch if you would like to book it!

Here at Bivouac we are passionate about creating items out of natural materials, recycling unused items and up-cycling previously loved items, giving them a new lease of life…

We love all things luxurious and rustic, sustainable and thoughtful.

At Bivouac, we love using our local materials to make furniture and a variety of items for around the site.  Our offering here in North Yorkshire creates a unique experience for our guests, with each one of our shacks and yurts having their own character and personality.  We have amongst our team some really experienced and creative joiners, making bespoke individual hand crafted items for all areas on site.

Tony, a local joiner, has been working with us for a few months now doing things ranging from restoring pieces of furniture to hand crafting some unique pieces to go in our barns and shacks.  When Tony is not working for us, he works at ‘Jenny Ruth’, a local productive workshop where adults with learning disabilities gain skills, confidence and happiness through joinery and various other skills.

Martin and his dog Cassie have recently joined our team here on site.  Martin is a bespoke joiner who makes some beautiful hand crafted pieces of furniture.  He is crafting beds, ladders, window sills and other unique items around the site, using materials he has sourced locally.  Our beds in the yurts have been specifically designed for the environment and space we have here at Bivouac

Come and visit us from April onwards and see some of the wonderful hand crafted items they have made!

Learn some new skills and meet some new people at our Tree Bog building workshop this Easter!

TREE BOG BUILDING WORKSHOP
7th & 8th April 2012, 9am - 4.30pm at Bivouac High Knowle, Knowle Lane, Ilton, Masham, North Yorkshire HG4 4JZ

Have you ever wondered about what to do with human waste?
Ever wondered about an alternative to using your flushing loo?
Want to know about composting toilets?

If so, come along to our Tree Bog building weekend!

You will:

- Learn the theory of composting toilets - how they work, different types, why we need them etc.
- Learn specifically about the Tree Bog (a type of outdoor, above ground composting toilet that is simple, cheap and effective).
- Join in practical sessions to build a Tree Bog in the woodland.
- Meet lots of new people.
- Get involved in team working.
- Stay in a newly converted modern bunk barn for 2 nights.
- Have 2 evening meals in our rustic cafe.

The cost of the Tree Bog workshop weekend is £95, which includes your accommodation on Friday 6th and Saturday the 7th in our bunk barn, 2 evening meals, as well as the exciting experience of learning and getting involved in building a Tree Bog in the woodland!

For more info and to book your place on the workshop email Hazel@thebivouac.co.uk or call 01765 535020

Snow, hail, ice, wild winds and rain…

Sat on a hill in Ilton, we have appreciated pretty much every form of weather (apart from the sun) this week!

We have had snow, hail, ice, wild winds and rain.  Today we have had both crazy winds and rain, so much so, various bits from site have been flying around the countryside and we have spent much of the afternoon fetching it back (I say ‘we’, when actually I was manning the office inside).

It has been a tough and challenging week as far as working on site goes. 

BUT, at the same time, it is amazing to see so many things coming together…

- Our first wood burners have arrived for the first shack and the first yurt
- Our main cafe and shop doors have arrived
- Our 4th and 5th shack frames are starting their journey up from Sussex
- The car park is nearing completion
- Our first yurt base is almost complete

We are so thankful for everyone who has been pushing on through, despite the horrendous conditions! 

We have been so busy I can’t even believe it is December already and Christmas is fast approaching.  2 weeks to go…eek!

In a matter of weeks our new booking system will go live, and you’ll see our new and improved website appear and our first yurt will arrive - holiday (makers) are coming!

Dan and his team are busy building our yurt bases ready for the yurts, these pictures show the round wood posts which will support the base.  Currently looking like we have had some space ships arrive on the field, soon this area will be transformed!

Also, with more members of the Bivouac team working in the office, we have now rejigged the office around and fitted it out with some desks and shelves to fit us all in and it is looking pretty smart, we are all enjoying our first day in it today!

The pointing on the front of the reception/shop barn has now been completed and is beginning to look very inviting…

This weekend the shack team moved back up from Sussex to begin building the next 5 shacks - it is all go up here!

Bivouac are organising a weekend of volunteer activity, with tasks such as building log stores and painting furniture - to helping with some finishing touches on the interiors of the shacks and yurts.  We’d love you to get involved!

As the Bivouac site progresses, we look to Spring next year when we will be getting ready to welcome our first visitors to the site!  Our team here are busy working away hard to get everything ready.

Some of the jobs we need to do to spruce the site up can’t happen until the Spring, and we’d like to open this opportunity up for anyone to get involved!

For people that would love the opportunity to be a part of getting the Bivouac off the ground, and would enjoy some team building in the Yorkshire Dales, we have some dates for your diary…

Dates - Thursday 1st March - Wednesday 7th March

All guests are welcome to camp in the field here, we’ll provide shower and toilet facilities and there will be a camping kitchen set up next to the house.

Feel free to come and get involved in a day or stay for the whole weekend, everyone is welcome!

Here are a list of the types of jobs we will be doing over this weekend…

- Building a log store
- Planting
- Clearing areas of the site
- Hanging signage
- Building some recycling bins around the site
- Starting to dig a veg patch
- Building a compost
- Setting up and finishing off the internals of the shacks and yurts
- Painting and restoring pieces of furniture
- General moving of items around the site
- Making food and drink for our volunteers
- Creating a coal stock shelter
- Fixing some dry stone walls
- Tidying up the gardens
- Fixing up some shelves
- Interior decorating throughout the barns and accommodation

If you’re interested in joining us and getting involved then please fill in the form below and e-mail to Hazel@thebivouac.co.uk

The Bivouac Cafe could be looking for you…

The Bivouac is looking for a Chef for our Cafe.  You would be involved in the design and set up of this area, from kitchen set up to opening to the public.

Our theme is hand-made, local, reclaimed, recycled, Rustic! Simple!

We love ‘Bills’ café down South for style, feel and food….. look it up on line.. there is one in Lewes down South and Brighton, Jimmy Doherty’s cook books and food, http://www.leonrestaurants.co.uk/nutrition/ their language, feel and food. Have a good look into these – and form your own reflections.

Check out the Job Description below if you would like to hear more, pass on to a friend or get in contact with us yourselves.

We look forward to hearing from you…