Welcome To My Garden

What is Welcome To My Garden (WTMG)?
WTMG is a network of citizens offering free camping spots in their gardens to slow travellers. ‘Slow travel’ means you are travelling on foot, by bike, by kayak, on donkey - anything goes, as long as you’re not travelling by motorized vehicle. There are currently 8,700+ hospitable gardens on the map across Europe and beyond. WTMG is proud to be 100% member-supported, independent, and ad-free.

Who is Welcome To My Garden for?
WTMG is made for slow travellers who need a camping spot on their trail at the end of the day. It isn’t meant to replace fully-fledged campsites; just a safe spot for the night! WTMG is non-commercial: no money should exchange hands. This means that as a host, you cannot ask your guests to pay for their stay. WTMG is all about hospitality: thanks to thousands of warm-hearted hosts, WTMG is making slow travel more accessible, while creating new social connections.

How does Welcome To My Garden work?
As a slow traveller, you can explore all 8,700+ gardens on the WTMG map, and see hiking and cycling routes! If you want to contact hosts to request a stay, we’re asking you to become a member for €36 per year. As a member, you can also upload your route, save gardens and see the train network.

Of course you can also become a host! Without the heartwarming hospitality of thousands of hosts, WTMG would not exist. As a host, you can put your garden on the map. Members can then request a stay through the chat. You decide when you’re available and which facilities you want to share. You don’t need to become a member to be a host.

How to get started?
1) Sign up and become a member to find camping spots in people’s gardens and contact hosts, or add your own garden to the map!
2) Make arrangements with your host, and plan your hiking or cycling route to your host’s garden.
3) Meet your host, pitch your tent and enjoy your stay - whether that means a quiet night or hanging out with your host!

Why does Welcome To My Garden need members?
WTMG is on a mission to make slow travel more accessible for everyone. Like any garden, WTMG needs nurturing in order to grow and stay healthy. Staying with a WTMG host is free, but to maintain and develop the platform, we rely on a yearly membership to split costs fairly among all slow travellers. As a host, you don’t have to pay this contribution, unless you want to travel as well; then you need to become a member too.

Basic rules
To make sure WTMG works for everyone, we’ve set up some basic rules:
1) WTMG is for slow travellers only (no motorized vehicles)
2) Always contact your host in advance
3) Don’t stay for more than 48 hours
4) Respect your hosts and surroundings: be kind & leave no trace
5) Have fun & spread the word!

Who’s behind WTMG?
Back in 2019, Dries & Manon - WTMG’s parents - cycled all the way from Brussels to Tokyo, and experienced amazing slow travel hospitality along the way. When they came back, they asked themselves: “How can we make slow travel easier and more fun in our own country?” And so WTMG was born in 2020, during the first lockdown. Within two hours, there were 50 gardens on the map. After two weeks, there were 500; and now, there are 8,700+ gardens on the map across Europe & beyond! Today, WTMG is run by a small core team of three (Dries, Manon and Thor), supported by a fantastic community of volunteers.

Ready?
Join WTMG today and become part of the slow travel movement! Enjoy amazing slow travel adventures as well as unforgettable encounters. WTMG is not just about travelling; together we are creating thousands of meaningful connections and contributing to a warmer world!

Links
FAQ: https://welcometomygarden.org/info/faq
Rules: https://welcometomygarden.org/info/rules
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Welcome2mygarden/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/welcometomygarden_org/

Recent changes:
In the last months, we’ve improved the app:
- Archive chats: to keep a clean overview, you can now archive chats
- Automatic relisting: if you unlist your garden, you can now ask for it to be returned to the map at a later time.
- Connection info: WTMG needs internet to work, the app will now warn you if you lost connection.
- Quicker navigation: you can now swipe down to close garden details on the map.
We’re glad you’re using the app! Let us know if you have more suggestions.