7 ways to make money from your garden
Looking for a way to generate an extra income? The answer may not be that far out of your view…just take a peek through your back window.
Here are seven ways to make some extra money using your garden.
- Rent your guesthouse on Airbnb.
If you have a separate accommodation space in your garden, perhaps that you normally put family up in when they visit, you can rent it out to travellers on a per-night basis when it’s unoccupied. It’s free for property owners to place a listing on Airbnb; you’ll only pay 3% of the service charge once you secure a booking.
- Use your garden as a glamping site.
Glamping (a glamourous form of camping) holiday companies such as Lantern & Larks, are often looking for pretty, secluded, and flat land sites of around six acres to pitch tents. You can either rent it to them for about £5,000 per year and they’ll take care of all the finer arrangements, including drainage digging, building, furnishing, and bookings, or you can self-manage and maintain the site in return for 25% of the booking fees.
- Hire your garden out for film shoots and weddings.
Film and television companies will pay around £1,000 to hire a garden location, whilst weddings can bring in up to £10,000 if your garden is large enough to house a marquee to seat 150 guests. The only thing to bear in mind is that you’ll need planning permission if you plan to host for more than 28 days per year.
- Set up a paintballing or quad-biking course in your garden, or even a pony club!
If you’re inundated with outdoor space, you can set up your own business. Do some market research to determine the type of local attraction that would add value to the area; for instance, if you are surrounded by schools and there isn’t a quad-biking facility within a 5 mile radius, set one up!
- Build a holiday home.
If you’ve got the space and cash to invest, building a holiday home can be a fantastic income generator. Sarah Eastman, owner of The Larches in Church Stretton, spent £20,0001 upgrading a log cabin on her property’s land with new flooring, roof installation, and a gravel access path to a guest parking area. She now receives an average of 50 bookings per year, was awarded the TripAdvisor Certificate of Excellence in 2014, and makes £9,000 per annum via her holiday let – so in just over two years, she’ll have paid off the money she invested and be turning a pure profit.
- Become a tourist attraction.
If you’ve got particularly beautiful grounds, you could simply open them up for public tours. This is what the owners of Dassels Bury, a historic five-bedroom house in Hertfordshire, do for £2 per visitor (they give their collections directly to charity).
- Rent out your garden studio to a small business owner.
Even if you only have space for a shed in your back yard, you can still make money by fitting it with plumbing and electricity before renting it out to a local entrepreneur or small business owner to work from. Unlike with a holiday let, you’ll likely still have your weekends to yourself with this option too!
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1 The Telegraph, 2015. How to make money from your garden. [Online] Available at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/property/11816715/How-to-make-money-from-your-garden.html. [Accessed 28th August 2015].