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Shepherd's huts on your land: the sums

You have the field and the view. Here's how the money works, and a calculator to put your own numbers in.

Updated 23 October 2026

The short answer: a field corner, a view and a shepherd's hut with a stove and a hot tub is one of the few things a few acres can do that pays like a business rather than a hobby. One hut maker's rental calculator assumes £160 a night at 50% occupancy, which is about £29,000 a year before costs; it is the maker's own assumption, so test it against huts near you.¹ What decides whether that's a good return is what you pay to get the hut there. Build it from a kit and the numbers change.

A lit hot tub under a starry sky beside a lake — A hut, a stove, a tub and a sky. Guests pay for the fourth one.

Run your own numbers

Put in what huts near you charge and how full they are, and what you'd spend. Everything updates as you type. The defaults are our guide prices and the maker's assumptions above, not promises.

Income

Nightly rate (£)

Occupancy (%)

Number of huts

Cost to set up, per hut

Hut, finished and ready to let (£)

Our 5.4m kit, self-built with chassis, stove and shower room, is usually £14,000 to £18,000. A turnkey hut from a maker is £40,000 and up.

Site: groundworks, services, deck, tub (£)

Planning, licence, surveys (£)

Running costs

Booking site commission (%)

Hipcamp's help centre gives 15% for private landowners; Airbnb's host-only option is 15.5%; some sites charge a membership instead.²³

Cleaning and laundry per stay (£)

Average stay (nights)

Other yearly costs per hut (£)

Insurance, logs, utilities, consumables, maintenance. Business rates are often nil with small business rate relief, but check.⁴

Your numbers

Nights let a year, all huts
Gross income a year
Less commission, cleaning and running costs
Net income a year, before tax and your time
Set-up cost, all huts
Payback
Same hut bought turnkey at £45,000: payback

Before tax, and before the value of your own time. VAT registration becomes due once turnover passes the threshold; ask an accountant. Nothing here is a forecast of your site.

Why the kit changes the sums

Income is set by your area and your guests. Cost is set by you. A let hut earns the same whether it cost £16,000 or £45,000 to put there, so every pound you don't spend on the hut comes straight off the payback. At the maker's own assumptions above, a self-built kit hut pays for itself in well under two seasons; a turnkey hut takes several. See what it costs to finish a kit and the glamping kit.

A small timber cabin on wheels lit up at twilight in open country, with a campfire — Guests book the view and the fire. The hut is the excuse.

A woman sitting by a lit wood-burning stove — A stove turns a summer let into a year-round one.

What guests pay more for

A view and privacy. One hut in a field corner out-earns three in a row.
A wood-fired hot tub. Wood-fired tubs need no electrics and suit a field.
A stove, fitted by a HETAS installer, with the carbon monoxide alarm the fire guide expects.⁵
A shower room in the hut. The Romney (5.4m) has the space; a separate loo hut is the cheaper alternative.
Good photos. The listing photo does more for the rate than anything else on this list.

What the land needs

Letting huts almost always needs planning permission for the change of use, and a caravan site licence from your council.⁶⁷ Once you charge anyone to stay you must carry out and record a fire risk assessment in England.⁵ You'll need a holiday let policy with public liability.⁸ Our letting guide covers planning, licences, rates, fire safety and the booking sites in detail. Budget the planning fees and the time: a permission can take months, and the huts can be built while you wait.

A plan for the first season

This month: look at every hut within 20 miles on the booking sites. Note rates, how booked they are, and what they offer. Put those numbers in the calculator.
Talk to your planning department about change of use and a site licence, and to a neighbour or two.
Reserve the kit so the workshop slot is booked while planning runs. You pay nothing until you have a written quote, and the deposit is refunded if planning fails before the kit is cut.
Groundworks and services while the kit is being made: a level pad, water, a cable, waste.
Build it, fit the stove and the tub, photograph it on a good evening.
List on two sites and open for the spring.

Thinking about two or three huts? Ask for a quote for the set. The second kit shares the delivery, and the build gets quicker each time.

Questions people ask

How much can a shepherd's hut earn a year?

It depends on your area and what you offer. One hut maker's calculator assumes £160 a night at 50% occupancy, about £29,000 a year gross; that is the maker's assumption, so check huts near you.¹

Do I need planning permission to put glamping huts on my land?

Almost always, for the change of use, plus a caravan site licence. The 60-day temporary campsite right in England excludes caravans, which is how planners treat huts.⁹¹⁰

How many huts should I start with?

One, in the best spot, and let it a season. Then add the second where the first one's guests said they wished they could sit.