Hipsters are flooding to Sheppey in their droves, seeking to escape the stress of their urban lives and find some peace and tranquility at a popular local destination.

Elmley Nature Reserve is reinventing London tourism to the Island as it attracts a new, affluent crowd from so-called trendy areas such Shoreditch and Hoxton, who are looking to swap cereal cafes and Starbucks for hares and harriers.

Earlier this year, the site, which is also a working farm, introduced glamping, or glamorous camping.

It has three mobile huts which have a wood burning stove and bed, and no connection to mains services, offering a chance to disconnect from the grid and get back to nature.

Gareth Fulton, who manages the reserve, is pleased with how the new approach has taken off and says they are already fully booked at weekends until March.

He said: “The word is definitely out. They can’t believe the wilderness and that they can get in a car and it’s only a 50, 55 minute drive from London.

“The reserve is a two-mile drive up a gravel road so it’s quite an entrance with cows walking around and birds flying about.

“A lot of them arrive at night and when they wake up in the morning they’re suddenly surrounded by nature.”

One thing the East London elite has in abundance – other than beards and horn-rimmed glasses – is disposable income and Mr Fulton says they are spending it as they explore other parts of Sheppey, Sittingbourne and Faversham.

Recent publicity in The Guardian and The Observer have definitely helped put Elmley on the London group’s radar but Mr Fulton said marketing on “niche” websites has also worked in their favour as arty couples try to discover the latest up-and-coming locations.

In the pipeline this year for Elmley is glamping weddings, with ceremonies to be held in an untouched Victorian barn on site.

It may also introduce a therapy space which would be housed in a structure created by a London design school for a recent architectural exhibition in Trafalgar Square.

Sheppey has been referred to as Burmondsey-on-Sea for the popularity of its holiday parks among East London families. Is it time to start calling Elmley, Shoreditch-on-Swale?