Karie Jane was in her mid-30s when she visited a naturist beach with her then husband.
It was a trip that would change her life: the pair became naturists, and even bought a house in Fuerteventura where they could spend summer holidays relaxing in the nude.
But after Karie split from her ex, she made a big decision. She moved out to the Canary Islands permanently and turned her home into a naturist resort.
Now, Karie, 57, a former theatre producer, runs the BHH Naturist Resort in Costa Calma – a nudist retreat with five apartments and a pool.
‘Since running the naturist resort, I would say that I fell in love with myself through naturism, it’s very liberating,’ Karie says.
Day-to-day Karie is in the buff and ‘joins in with guests’ for barbecues or evening drinks.
While some guests are understandably a little shy at first, Karie says througout their stay, she sees their confidence grow.
She’s also hosts breast cancer survivors and is very proud to see them be comfortable showing their scars.
‘I have a lot of first-time naturists and so maybe on the first day or two, particularly the ladies, would just go topless,’ she explains.
‘Then by the end of the week, they’re fully embracing the whole lifestyle.
‘They feel safe and they trust the other guests to be able to remove all their clothes in front of them – naturists are the friendliest community on the planet, we’re very caring and supportive of one another.’
While many naturist venues in the UK don’t allow single men to attend, Karie does allow them to stay, but she vets them thoroughly first.
‘We have a telephone conversation at least, before they come for the first time.’
Despite this, she still finds there’s a lot of misconceptions about naturism and she often gets inappropriate comments or unwanted advances.
Karie, who is now single, says there’s some men who think you ‘only get naked to have a shower or to have sex’.
‘They immediately think that naturism is about sexual endeavours, rather than non-sexual social nudity which is what I’m offering.’
Karie would one day like to find a fellow naturist to share her life with – although her lifestyle has resulted in some hurdles. Karie met someone online, but shares that he then booked to come and stay at her resort, assuming they’d go ‘straight to fourth base’ because he paid to be there.
She says: ‘They think they can book a room with me and come and stay with me here and they’ll get a blow job every night and think that’s what happens here because everyone is naked which is totally wrong.
‘I immediately had to put him straight,’ Karie says. ‘It makes me have my boundaries even higher.
‘I don’t need anybody… I like to get to know people first, and I would never sleep with a guest.’
Despite these irritants, the 57-year-old says she’s had ‘lots of fantastic memories’ with guests since running her business and that people come back ‘time and time again’.
‘Now some of them are more like friends – a naturist is a friend without the wrapper! I’ve met up with them in the UK and we keep in touch,’ she says.
Karie’s parents even come to stay, despite being in their late seventies.
‘They love it,’ she adds. ‘They’re very impressed with the swimming pool and the facilities and how I’ve developed the business. It’s lovely that they come.’
Even her ex-husband is supportive of her naturist business venture, as the pair are still friends.
But it’s not just familial recognition her resort has received. In January 2024, Karie featured on Channel 5’s The Canary Islands with Jane Mcdonald, where Jane herself visited her resort to see guests taking part in a naked yoga retreat.
‘It came across so well and I was so happy,’ the resort owner says. ‘I practise yoga regularly anyway and it’s a lovely thing to do naked or not – but I get a bit hot so naked is ideal!
‘I was just so proud and so pleased to be on the show.’
She’s been running a ladies’ retreat too, where fellow female naturists can come and stay, make friends, and embrace the naturist lifestyle – she is running her next retreats next April and May and they’re already nearly sold out.
In August, she won the Best Marketing Award and was runner-up for the Best Naturist Venue Award at the Naturist Travel Awards 2024.
So, if this has you curious about the naturism lifestyle, Karie says: ‘Just dip your toe in and if you don’t like it, then at least you’ve had the experience.
‘Most people think that it’s the best kind of holiday ever because you don’t have wet bathing costumes!
‘Everybody is equal – they’re not wearing clothes where you can distinguish if someone’s wearing expensive brands, which is very very liberating.’
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