In 2025, we took a look at the K-Tent from Great Britain's Kudhva Kanvas, a unique piece of semi-permanent light architecture that struck us as a cross between heavy-duty safari tents and hard-walled A-frames, with a touch of treehouse mixed in for good measure. The tent was a spinoff from Kudhvas' original business renting out permanently installed, glass-and-timber dwellings of that same shape and style at its off-grid resort on the North Cornish Coast. Now, those K-Tent portable canvas structures are traveling across the Atlantic to serve as the basis of a planned series of American glamping resorts.
When we looked at the K-Tent last year, it was being positioned as a retail "take-away" product. But with a 705-lb (320-kg) weight and £12,500 (US$16,800) price tag (which has since risen rapidly to £20K), the heavy-duty two-person tent's appeal for basic everyday campers seemed absolutely razor thin. It seemed from the start a much more attractive solution for resorts and hospitality companies, particularly those looking for a shelter solution both sturdy and portable.
The K-Tent's tubular aluminum frame and heavy canvas construction is designed to hold up to 80-mph (129-km/h) winds, but the tent can also be broken down, transported and rebuilt in a short time. Estimates put build time for two people at inside an hour.
Kudhva has added the tent to the Kudhva Landscape Hotel that houses the original hard-walled design, offering another alternative to the cabins and tipis that make up the resort. It now expands its footprint out internationally by teaming up with American startup British American Camping (BAC) to bring the experience westward.
BAC was founded by Murphy Talmadge after a trip to Great Britain left a lasting impression. Talmadge, a government relations specialist by trade, found the combination of authentically thoughtful hospitality and stunningly raw landscapes he and his family experienced there difficult to replicate in the States.
“I built British American Camping because I wanted somewhere to take my family that did not yet exist. BAC is the answer to that gap," Talmadge said in introducing the brand this month.
Well, that, plus the fact that his other enterprise, Lovejoy Capital, is an investment firm allocating tens of millions of dollars into public-private land development projects at parks and beaches. Glamping in various forms has been at the heart of several of the firm's proposals.
But the murmur of a "kettle warming quietly in the corner" and neatly stacked shelves of bunny-eared books "someone genuinely chose" are certainly nice, too.
BAC is working with Kudhva and New British Design, the firm that penned the original Kudhva cabins and K-Tent to life, in bringing British-style glamping to select sites around Talmadge's home state of Georgia. Instead of K-Tent, it calls the structure simply the "K1," but it appears to be the very same heavily framed, raised-floor canvas dwelling born on the shores of Cornwall. The trio of legs can adjust to level out the incongruities of soft coastal sands or duff-and-root-littered forest floor.
The cross-Atlantic collaboration set up a temporary test site on Jekyll Island, one of the southernmost in the Sea Islands string of barrier islands that stretch up and down the coast of South Carolina, Georgia and Florida. Accessible from the mainland via causeway, the island is known for its rich history, hard-weathered leafless trees and driftwood, and unspoiled white sand beaches, maritime forests and marshlands. The skeletal appearance of the undressed K1 frame matches the look of the island's famed trees rather brilliantly.
BAC plans to launch the K1 tents at three rental sites in the future, all in Georgia. Yellow River will deliver a tranquil stay where river intersects dense woodland; West Point Lake will sit between pine lands and lakeshore; and Oculmogee will deliver a setting in ancient wetlands.
The K1 tents are making their way to the US during a time of market growth for new outdoor and glamping experiences. Once a niche concept barely on the radar of most outdoorsy folks, glamping has shown staying power and grown into a booming market and an attractive way of experiencing the great outdoors.
In 2022, Kampgrounds of Americas' North American Glamping Report noted that glamping had exploded by 300% during the course of the preceding decade. Growth continued from there, and the American glamping market flirted with $1 billion in 2025, raking in a total of $993.2 million, according to numbers from Grand View Research. The industry should officially surpass the $1 billion mark this year and double it within the next five years, if projections prove accurate.
That's a big pie, and according to the American Glamping Association, unique accommodations will prove a key driver of which glamping destinations feast on it. Opening the first Kudhva tent accommodations in the US certainly seems like an answer to the call for distinctive glamping that stands out in a crowding marketplace.
BAC made its official premiere at the International Contemporary Furniture Fair (ICFF) in New York City earlier this month. The K1 tent created serious buzz at the show, culminating in BAC taking home the ICFF Award in the Outdoor category.
The reservation books for BAC's first K1 tent sites will open in the near future.
Source: British American Camping
