Spotlight on Glamping Structures - Tiny Homes

THE ‘TINY HOME’ MADE ITS FIRST APPEARANCE IN FRANCE BACK IN 1783, AND WAS A PLACE OF REFUGE FOR QUEEN MARIE ANTOINETTE. IT WAS A MERE 225 SQ FT, WHICH WAS VERY SMALL WHEN COMPARED TO THE REST OF THE BUILDINGS AT THE CHÂTEAU DE VERSAILLES.

TODAY, ENTIRE TINY HOME COMMUNITIES CAN BE FOUND ALL OVER THE UNITED STATES, AND THE GLAMPING WORLD HAS WELCOMED THEM WITH OPEN ARMS.

IN THIS ARTICLE, WE’LL DIVE INTO THE HISTORY OF THE TINY HOME, AND WE’LL ALSO HIGHLIGHT OUR BUCKET LIST OF AMAZING GLAMPTUARYS AROUND THE WORLD THAT OFFER A STAY IN THIS EMERGING GLAMPING STRUCTURE.

*Location -* *Zion Tiny Oasis* *- Virgin, UT*

If it’s good enough for the Queen, it’s good enough for me - right?

*Suspected first Tiny Home - The Boudoir as part of Queen’s Hamlet -* *Source - Wikipedia*

The story behind the Queen’s Hamlet (which the Boudoir was a part of) is a bit tumultuous and probably wasn’t exactly what Marie Antoinette envisioned when she married King Louis XVI.

If you’ve been to the Château De Versailles, then I imagine you’d agree that a 225 sq ft home is TINY compared to every other building on the property. And despite it’s size, this is where Marie Antoinette spent a majority of her time. Of course, this was not the only building that was part of the Queen’s Hamlet. There was also a farmhouse, a barn, a tower, a dairy, a warming room, a hen house, and a guardhouse (just in case).

I was lucky enough to see them all, including the actual palace that the Queen liked to avoid.

*The Wife and Me dwarfed by the Château De Versailles*

It would be another 200 years roughly before a tiny home concept resurfaced in the news. This time it would be in the United States and the artist behind the concepts was Allan Wexler.

Equal parts architect and artist…Allan Wexler explored the idea of living in compact spaces as art, and also a commentary possibly on living in excess.

Around the same time in the 1970’s, writers Lloyd Kahn and Bob Easton published a book called SHELTER. The book was a first-of-its kind that highlighted alternative approaches to a traditional home…which included the concept of the ‘Tiny Home.’

*Cover art for the book SHELTER -* *Source - Shelter Publications*

In 1997, another book was published by Sarah Susanka called The Not So Big House. It became a best seller, and helped to launch what’s now called “The Tiny House Movement.”

Since it started, the tiny house movement has been growing. It inspired the creation of entire communities based on tiny homes, and luckily for the hospitality industry it’s inspired an emergence of a new glamping structure for all of us to enjoy.

Aside from highlighting the benefits (and challenges) of living compactly, the ‘movement’ has helped to define the size of a tiny home as a living structure under 500 sq feet. Beyond that, tiny homes resemble their larger predecessors in many ways…just smaller.

In the glamping world, smaller is often better when it comes to the structures we use a shelter.

Tiny homes are more environmentally conscious than larger structures such as cabins. They leave more room for us to enjoy nature, and they offer the opportunity to get crafty which is always part of the fun we enjoy in the experiential outdoor hospitality world.

Below are some Glamptuarys on our bucket list that feature some of the most stylish tiny homes in the world: