For most of us, success in lockdown has simply meant surviving homeschooling or making a decent loaf of sourdough.
However, Derry Green turned a way to entertain his kids in the backyard during the balmy days of 2020 into a glamping business that now turns over more than £1.4 million a year and makes an annual profit of £800,000.
When Covid struck, the 41-year-old entrepreneur saw his successful trucking company collapse overnight and his income dry up.
"I was mainly helping people move to Spain, so suddenly all my bookings were canceled because our clients couldn't travel," says Green. "I had no income, but I couldn't have a pity party all day. I needed a distraction."
So he used his last £6,000 of savings to build a pod called The Hideout, in the garden of his former turf cottage in Skelmersdale, near Wigan, in Lancashire, where he lives with his two children, Sophie, now 11, and Noah, nine.
In the capsule he installed a double bedroom and a sofa bed, where he could camp with the children.
"We glued ten arches to a 3.5 by 2.5 meter shed to create a skeleton that resembles the ribs of a whale," he says, "then we added heating and a wet room with a shower applied. We kept building a little more every day."
Most of the material comes from Facebook Marketplace.
"I tried to get everything for free or as close to it," he says. And much of Green's practical skills come from YouTube videos and friends.
"I had to pay people to take care of things like power, water and waste, but I learned plumbing and construction. Someone showed me how to lay the foundation for laying water pipes that connect to the septic tank."
He also quickly learned the marketing power of social media.
"I always saw Facebook as a place where I could share photos of what the kids and I did every day, but by the end of lockdown my story had gone viral. People said the pods reminded them of the Love Island villa, and thousands of people emailed me asking if they could come here on holiday," he says.
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"I was surprised that people wanted to stay in my garden. I never thought of it as starting a business. I started a project. The kids were five and seven, it was early lockdown and I had lost everything. But then I quickly had to learn how to run a catering business."
However, Green's home was ripe for scaling up the business, as at the back of his garden is a four-acre wooded area that belonged to the house when he bought it nine years ago.
He used it as a dumping ground for old mattresses, cleared the site, submitted a planning application for his Secret Garden Glamping business in early 2021 and is now building his 13 e - and final - pod on the site.
"Each model is more elaborate than the last," he says, with the latest models taking 10 to 12 weeks to build and costing up to £100,000 each.
The Wildernesse Spa, for example, has underfloor heating, an ice plunge pool, a wood-fired sauna and an outdoor bar. The Wonderland, which builds on his original souped-up barn design, is a seven-metre high igloo-like dome, and The Luxe will soon have an open-air cinema.
When he launched The Luxe, it was fully booked for 18 months in 47 minutes - and it hasn't even been built yet.
"We generated £170,000 in bookings, which meant £65,000 in cash deposits. It cost £50,000 to build, so we'll be making a profit before it even opens. We can scale the business without needing external financing," says Green.
His appearance on the BBC's Dragon's Den in January this year - which prompted Deborah Meaden to invest £100,000 in the company for a 5% stake - also saw demand for his backyard glamping soar.
"Before the fair, we had to reject 1,000 applications per week. Now we're turning away 6,000 a week," says Green.
He is also sifting through hundreds of inquiries from people who want to work with him to open Secret Gardens abroad.
So what's the secret to his success? The highly Instagrammable design plays a big role, and Green's girlfriend Chelsea Roberts, 24 - who he met when she came to stay in one of his pods as an early customer - powers the company's social media, which has a reach of 10.2 million people per year. month.
Enough to make people want to holiday in rural North West England even on a wet Wednesday in winter. "We create content that resonates with different groups," says Green.
"We target couples and families, but also school mothers who want to escape from the family for a night or two, or fathers who come with their friends."
However, he has learned that looks aren't everything.
"At first I thought customers would come because the units are nice, but I realized it's about the experience you provide," he says.
"It's all about being outside, on the lighted forest trails, watching the deer, sitting in a hot tub and roasting marshmallows. I see us as an experience company that also offers accommodation."
He also charges a flat rate all year round (€265-€310, depending on the capsule), so as not to penalize parents who can only come during school holidays.
"People in the travel industry are taking advantage of that feast or famine mentality and I can prove it doesn't have to be that way," he says. "People want to spend their money somewhere that aligns with their morals," he adds, noting that he tries to source all building materials and equipment within 15 miles of home whenever possible.
"We can't do that with the hot tubs, but the guy who makes them in Lithuania is now selling thousands of them around the world because he tapped into our audience," Green adds.
"We have done this with many smaller suppliers to boost their turnover. A lighting company we used just did it [the former Brazilian footballer] Ronaldo's house in Barcelona after he saw us on social media."
Now that Green's backyard has its full pod quotient, he's branching out to even bigger things. With a £1.6 million bridging loan from the property lender, he has jointly bought a huge and neglected stately pile called La Mancha Hall in Halsall, where he plans to have the first part of the business: glamping pods set amid 10 acres of formal landscaping. and forests - in use by summer.
Over the next three years, the £5 million project will see him restore the almost 300-year-old Grade II listed house to its original grandeur and convert the outbuildings into boutique hotel accommodation and a wedding and film shooting venue.
"Inside, the eight-bedroom main house hasn't been touched since the 1970s - it's all shagpile carpets and avocado bathrooms - and the public has never been able to visit this house and its gardens before," says Green.
"But by chance I found a rare book from the early 20th century, when the house with 1,400 hectares was for sale at the time, which shows the original layout of every room. It is a phenomenal piece of history and I am sure we will learn a lot from it."
This is undoubtedly just the beginning for Groen.
"It's like my 12-year-old self has found my perfect job: designing dens in the woods," he says. And at the same time he helps many others to rediscover their inner child.
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