The brief
Original Hideaways is a quietly luxurious retreat and private stay venue set on family farmland in the heart of Mid Wales.
It’s run by Anna and Robin – a husband and wife who gave up their London careers to return to land Robin’s family has farmed since 1945 and restore a 260-year-old grain mill.
The venue is as much about the story as the setting. There are no TVs, the interiors are crafted by local artisans and the whole experience is inspired by the land it sits on.
Today, Original Hideaways welcomes everyone from couples to groups of 30, across three large properties, an event space (The Grain Loft) and a two-person apartment.
But when Social with Ryan came on board in May 2024, none of that existed. There were just crumbling old buildings.
Ryan was brought in to manage social media from the start. The brief was clear: build an audience from nothing while Anna and Robin built the estate, tell the story of Original Hideaways, and have a community ready and waiting by the time the doors opened.
Success at a glance
Our approach to social media management for Original Hideaways
With a venue still under construction and no product to sell, the challenge was building genuine demand for something that didn’t exist yet.
That meant getting the strategy right from day one.
Mid Wales is, as Robin puts it, “the best kept secret of Wales.” While the South and North draw the tourists, Mid Wales simply gets on with being beautiful.
That presented both a challenge and an opportunity. We were selling one of the most overlooked areas of the U.K. but we were also selling a location, feeling and family story that stretched back eight decades.
With this in mind, we landed on strategy with three clear pillars: story, place, and people.
Building demand on a building site
Most businesses wait until they’re ready before they start marketing. Original Hideaways didn’t have that option and it turned out to be one of the best decisions we made.
From the very first post in May 2024, we documented everything: drone shots of the land, progress on the build, the vision behind it. Over time, that content library grew to over 5,000 assets, stretching all the way back to November 2018, when the site looked nothing like it does today.
The approach worked. People were visiting the physical building site because they’d seen it on social media. Before a single guest had checked in, before The Grain Loft had hosted a single event, there was already an audience of thousands following along – already engaged, interested and invested in the outcome.
↳ The result: By the time Original Hideaways opened in July 2025, they had a following ready and waiting and site visits coming in from day one.
View this post on Instagram
View this post on Instagram
View this post on Instagram
Collaborations and proactive outreach
One of the most effective tools in the strategy has been proactive outreach, and it’s one of the most overlooked tactics in social media management.
Rather than waiting for the right people to find Original Hideaways, we went and found them.
When local craftspeople came to work on the venue – from the bespoke joiner who built the kitchens to the contractors who shaped the space – we created content and tagged their businesses, reaching entirely new audiences who had never heard of Original Hideaways.
Anyone who stepped foot on the site presented an opportunity. If someone came for a tour, we’d get a photo with Anna and Robin.
We also took a proactive approach to starting conversations. We identified ideal customers, such as retreat practitioners, yoga teachers and wellness hosts through Instagram, initiated conversations, and invited them to visit.
Two yoga practitioners found through proactive Instagram outreach came to see the venue and have booked to host retreats at the site.
↳ The result: A growing pipeline of B2B clients and a network of collaborators whose audiences have all been introduced to Original Hideaways, at minimal cost.
"Ryan is our trusted, go-to social media expert for everything we do. Having worked with Ryan across various companies including established businesses and start-ups, he has a proven track record of exceeding expectations and surpassing targets. Ryan invests time into understanding your business, the market sector, current trends and your target audience. He keeps up with the various platform changes and algorithms so the required results are achieved. He is truly dedicated to success and having fun along the way!"
Robin Breese-Davis
Founders
Original Hideaways
The lesson: don’t wait until you’re ready
You don’t need a finished product to start building demand. If you wait until everything is ready, you’ve already lost months of momentum you’ll never get back.
Original Hideaways started posting from a building site. By the time the doors opened, there was already an audience invested in the story. The demand had been built while the product was being built.
You’re always ready to market. You just need to know what you’re building towards, commit to showing up, and start now.
If you’re launching something new and want to build demand before you’re ready to open, get in touch with the Social with Ryan team.
