A Severnside organic farm which offers celebrated camping facilities is looking to expand its business with the addition of a shop and café.

West End Farm and Campsite at Arlingham, near Frampton-on-Severn, has asked Stroud District Council to agree on changing the use of an existing building under the rules of permitted development Class R (agricultural to flexible commercial use).

And with the proposed area of the cafe and shop being under 150 square metres, the applicant has told planners that it believes it can begin trading without further agreement on April 1.

Tom Jones, who runs the farm and campsite, said: "the building is under 150 square metres, it is 137 square metres. It has been solely in agricultural use as a farm workshop and storage for more than the last 10 years. The building is not listed, not a scheduled monument, does not form part of a (or be located within) a safety hazard area and does not form part of an explosive storage area."

West End campsite provides modest camping facilities for visitors and receives a score of 9/10 from the national campsite index Pitchup.

The reviews and booking site said: "Set in a perry pear orchard on an organic cattle farm: that sounds almost poetic. As are the views from the spectacularly scenic little place of West End Farm Campsite, set in the horseshoe bend of the River Severn on the edge of the peaceful Gloucestershire village of Arlingham, and adjacent to the river with easy access to the footpaths of the Severn Way."

The site added: "A rather smashing pub is within easy walking distance too: the Red Lion freehouse (owned by the village, hurrah) with tiptop locally sourced food, real ale and regular events like quiz nights and folk nights – all just the ticket after a peaceful pedal or serene stroll along the river paths or region's quiet flat roads."

Speaking for the Red Lion pub, admin manager Sally Pearce told Punchline-Gloucester.com that the shop would be great news for the village: "We took over the pub in April 2020, which was either brave of stupid! But business is good and we are seeing more walkers and cyclists drawn to this wonderful secret part of the county. Anything that adds to the reasons to come here, like a farm shop, is welcome news."

In a 2022 analysis of post-pandemic tourism trends, Mintel said that 29% of adults indicated that they are now more likely to consider taking a camping/caravanning holiday than they were before the COVID-19 pandemic. And with just 33% of campers/caravanners revealing they had only taken one trip in the past three years, there was an obvious opportunity to grow the market by increasing trip frequency.

Campers also are showing an increasing preference for extra facilities: 69% of those questioned told Mintel that they would pay more to stay on a campsite with private bathroom facilities.

However, the BBC warned in March 2023 that caravan parks are woefully equiped to deal with the rising trend in visitors looking to charge their electric cars. At Brean Sands in Somerset, a holiday park with 1,000 static caravans revealed it could provide only three charging units.