Built for Getaways, Made for Memories

Camping is great…

Until you're cold, your tent is leaking, you forgot the coffee, and you're suddenly questioning every life decision that brought you into the woods.

Glamp Camp has a different approach…

In Waterborough, a stay at Glamp Camp is about more than sleeping under the stars. For owner Shekhar Dhayagude, it's about creating a place people remember - and, hopefully, return to.

There is something about the drive into Waterborough that makes the pace of life feel a little slower.

The roads wind through the trees, the noise of the city fades away, and Arcadia begins to feel less like a destination and more like a backdrop to simply being still.

For Shekhar Dhayagude, that feeling started long before Glamp Camp existed.

As a former tractor-trailer driver, Dhayagude spent years travelling through the area. Every time he drove past a particular exit, something about it caught his attention.

“I don’t know, there was some feeling that I had about the land or the area that always drew me here,” he recalls.

Eventually, that feeling became something tangible.

Dhayagude and his wife purchased a property with the intention of building a small home in the woods. Then came the questions that often turn an idea into a business: Why not Airbnb it? What should they build? A square? A rectangle?

Then came a different idea.

Why not a dome?

That question ultimately became the foundation for Glamp Camp, a luxury glamping destination nestled on a private 90-acre wooded property in Waterborough. Today, the property features 10 fully equipped, uniquely themed domes, each designed to bring together the comforts of home with the experience of being immersed in nature.

The concept itself was simple: take everything people love about camping and leave behind some of the things they don't.

“Glamping” - a combination of glamour and camping - gives guests the chance to spend time in the woods without having to sacrifice a comfortable bed, a private bathroom, a hot shower or a morning coffee.

For Dhayagude, that balance is exactly the point.

“You’re still in the woods,” he says, “but in a bit of a style.”

And while the domes may have been what initially caught people's attention, Dhayagude believes the experience is what keeps bringing them back.

When a Place Starts to Grow on You

Ask Dhayagude what makes Glamp Camp different from other accommodations and his answer isn't simply the domes, the hot tubs or the location.

It's the relationships.

Guests aren't treated as a reservation number who arrives, receives a key and disappears into their accommodation. Dhayagude makes a point of welcoming guests personally, learning who they are and making sure they feel comfortable.

The goal, he says, is to make Glamp Camp feel like a “home away from home.”

That philosophy has resulted in something every business hopes to create: repeat customers who feel connected to the place.

One couple from Grand Falls recently returned after first visiting five years ago. When they originally stayed at Glamp Camp, they were a young couple - one was studying law and the other was pursuing medicine.

Five years later, they returned with two children.

Dhayagude remembered them.

The couple remembered him.

And suddenly, their return visit wasn't simply another booking. It was a continuation of a relationship that had started years earlier.

“They kept showing me photographs of their kids because I remember five years ago, they didn’t have kids,” Dhayagude says.

Stories like that are what he considers the real reward of running the business.

There are guests who return for a particular dome, couples who stay for a week, families who make Glamp Camp part of their summer traditions and groups who return to enjoy the lake together.

There are also the unexpected moments - like guests introducing Dhayagude to foods and traditions from their own cultures, or visitors sharing stories about the area's history.

In other words, the guests don't just experience Glamp Camp.

They become part of its story.

A Business Rooted in Community

That sense of connection extends beyond the property itself.

When Glamp Camp was being built, Dhayagude made a conscious effort to source locally wherever possible. Contractors, labour, housekeeping, electrical work, road construction, wells and other services were all sourced within the surrounding community.

The goal was simple: keep the investment circulating locally.

As more visitors began discovering Glamp Camp and Arcadia Dhayagude says he also saw the impact spread outward.

Local businesses benefited from increased traffic. Other property owners began exploring opportunities to rent their cottages. Local students found summer employment.

For Dhayagude, that's one of the most rewarding parts of building a tourism business in a rural community.

The goal isn't to bring people in and keep them on the property.

It's to give them a reason to discover the area.

A Place With a History

And if you spend enough time talking to Dhayagude, it becomes clear that the land itself is just as important as the business built on it.

One local woman, whose family once owned the property, has occasionally returned to share stories about the land and what once stood there. Her family history includes an old house, a well and an apple orchard.

Other guests - particularly longtime residents of the area - have shared stories about Grand Lake/ Arcadia and the roads and waterways that shaped the region long before today's highways existed.

Those conversations have given Dhayagude a deeper appreciation for the history surrounding Glamp Camp.

It's also another example of what happens when you take the time to talk to people.

“You find out a lot of things,” he says.

The Feeling of Coming Back

For all the amenities Glamp Camp offers - from the themed accommodations and wood-fired hot tubs to hiking trails and access to Grand Lake - Dhayagude doesn't believe the business is ultimately about any one of those things.

It's about the feeling people leave with.

When asked what he hopes someone reading this article will remember about Glamp Camp, his answer is surprisingly simple.

He wants them to come back.

Not necessarily because they have to book another stay. Maybe they'll return with their family. Maybe they'll bring friends. Maybe they'll simply stop in to say hello and have a coffee.

For Dhayagude, keeping that relationship alive matters.

“Come and say hi,” he says. “We’ll treat you to a cup of coffee.”

It's a fitting philosophy for a business that has grown from a simple idea into something much bigger.

Because while the domes may be what bring people to Waterborough, it's the experience - the quiet, the conversations, the memories and the feeling of being genuinely welcomed - that gives them a reason to return.

And perhaps that's the real luxury of Glamp Camp.

Not simply getting away from home, but finding a place that eventually feels a little like one.

Oh, by the way, it’s pet friendly.

Because your dog deserves a vacation too. Click here to book.