Four years after opening, Old Church Cottages has expanded its business into Flatlands, New Brunswick. Owner Danny Lagacé says the business has officially opened its new, “one-of-a-kind” glamping domes to the public.

In 2019, Lagacé says that Old Church Cottages opened its first cottage in Boundary Creek after he had retired from 25 years in the military.

“I had to find something else to reinvent myself,” Lagacé tells Huddle. “So I started doing things that I enjoy”.

Having a large interest in repurposing antiques, Lagacé had come across an old church that was no longer in use. He instantly had a vision to transform it into an antique cottage for people to rent.

“The building had a lot of potential. Not just because of its history but the location and the setting around it. It was beautiful,” says Lagacé.

He says it’s a great place for weddings, gatherings, photos, and more. But over the past year, Lagacé has noticed that people have been looking for smaller, more private areas to get away.

After Covid-19 hit, Lagacé says he enjoyed going to visit “glamping” sites. This led to him notice a lack of it in the North of New Brunswick. So, he went to work to change that.

Lagacé noticed that there was significant interest and support for his design because it was unique from others in the industry.

“Most of the [glamping domes] that I’ve seen are all the same type, they’re all metal poles with a vinyl tarp over it. They’re essentially a tent,” he says. “These here are not a tent”.

The domes at Old Church Cottages are made with a wooden frame, rather than metal. Along with this, Lagacé’s design has lots of windows for viewing the night sky and the nearby river.

Although the frame was put together by an external company, Lagacé says that the interior was put together completely by them, with most of the interior designs being made and installed by hand.

“We spent two weeks per dome just to do [one feature]” Lagacé tells Huddle.

Currently, Lagacé says that there are three glamping domes built and available to rent, but they have been approved for construction of up to eleven.

Along with this, Old Church Cottages plans to convert a second church in Flatlands near the glamping domes. Rather than transforming this one into a cottage though, Lagacé envisions this one becoming a spa.

Although there is no set opening date for this yet, this development will go on to introduce a new business under Old Church Cottages: Appalaches Domes and Spa by Old Church Cottages.

Ryley Roach is a Huddle Today student intern, based in Fredericton, a content-sharing partner of Acadia Broadcasting