A glamping - glamorous camping ­- site will open in Port Erin if planners give their permission.

The 10 glamping pods will go on an unused field - which is zoned for recreational use - by Rowany Golf Club house.

’We are ready to go,’ said Stuart Owens, who runs the pods, called Rowany Glamping with his relative James Fennell. ’Once planning is approved it will take three to four months.’

The pods are being built at James Fennell Micro Lodges in White Hoe industrial estate. They can be craned into position. So, apart from the creation of the infrastructure, there is little on site construction.

A path giving pedestrian access to the promenade forms part of the proposal.

The golf club has allocated 10 parking spaces for use by Rowany Glamping.

There are already pods and other garden structures in the island, but they are in the grounds’ private dwellings. This will be the first tourist use in a public setting.

Each pod sleeps four people and contain a mini kitchen and toilet facilities. Externally there will be timber walkways and a barbecue area making it all disabled friendly.

The whole site will be screened with hardy shrubbery and over 40 semi-mature trees, creating a small woodland. A ’welcome centre’ will also be built from which the site will be managed and visitor advice given and bookings taken.

The local authority selected the company from several that responded to an invitation to bid to run a glamping site; so they support the plan.

Rowany Golf Club fully supports the proposal, and said it could benefit the club by providing casual players. They also welcomed its potential to help reverse the trend in declining tourist numbers in Port Erin.

Stuart has experience in tourism as he ran a boutique guest house in Chiang Mi, Thailand for four years.

Altogether he travelled and worked in Asia for nine years before returning to live in the island in 2010.Since then he has worked at B&Q and Isle of Man Newspapers.

He said his research into the demand for glamping elsewhere in Britain showed demand is strong.

’Other glamping sites are full to capacity five months a year,’ he said. ’This is gold standard. It is effectively a hotel room in a field with the hotel environment with clean towels.’

Of course, the exposed location could throw up some climatic challenges, but there are still plans to make this available all year round and, as Stuart said: ’When it’s beautiful, there could not be a better place.’