Tiny houses are big news. Last weekend Colorado Springs hosted the first ever Tiny House Jamboree where speakers included builders, authors and outdoor enthusiasts who have downsized their lives by swapping a traditional home for a small dwelling. The event builds on the momentum among a community of cabin enthusiasts who have published books – including Cabin Porn (follow them on Instagram) and Taschen’s Cabins – blogs and websites offering advice on how to build your own.
For those of us who dream of cabin life but can’t permanently up sticks to the nearest wood or mountainside, there are a growing number of tiny dwellings to rent. Glamping websites are bulging with treehouses, shepherd’s huts, permanent tents, converted horse boxes, pods, gypsy caravans and of course, cabins. Next month sees the official launch of Cabinly, a new website dedicated to … you’ve guessed it … and set up by Garri Rayner, the man behind Go Glamping, which launched in 2007. At the moment Cabinly features 15 places to stay, mainly in the UK, but there are plans to add more. We picked out five from across the UK.
Cabin on the Lake, Powys
The Cabin on the Lake is a simple one-room cabin in an idyllic setting near Machynlleth in mid-Wales. With a double bed, woodburning stove, covered kitchen and shower you can live out your escapist fantasies in comfort. Swim in the lake, warm up in the hot tub. The cabin is on a working farm, which is home to an adults-only campsite with just five well-spaced pitches each with its own fire pit. The isolated, unspoilt setting means wildlife is plentiful, with badgers, wild hare and rabbits, birds of prey, woodpeckers, jays and all sorts of garden birds.
• Three-night weekend in low season £360, sleeps two, gwaliafarm.co.uk
Brockloch Bothy, Galloway
Bothies are basic huts common in remote parts of Scotland, or at least they were. A new generation of architects has taken the bothy concept and created their own modern-day version; so the Scottish landscape is now dotted with smart, eco-friendly, designer cabins. Brockloch is one such place, an off-grid, timber-framed micro-building on a 190-acre farm overlooking the Galloway Hills in south-west Scotland. Guests can visit Threave Castle, Logan Botanic Garden or explore the countryside on two wheels at one of the 7stanes mountain biking trails. Back at the bothy, sit on the deck admiring the views of the fields where black-faced sheep graze.
• £100 a night, sleeps two, brockloch.co.uk
North Star Club, Yorkshire Wolds
Set up in 2008, Jollydays was a pioneer of posh camping, offering tasteful, luxury tents in 15 acres of North Yorkshire woodland. Now Christian and Carolyn Van Outersterp, the husband-and-wife team behind Jollydays, has launched a second venture: the North Star Club. Inspired by American camps enjoyed by Christian in his childhood, it features eight “suites” set in 500 acres of native woodland. If your cabin fantasy tends towards ascetic, this is not the spot for you. Suites have king-size beds and woodburners, plus massage and spa treatments. All this comes at the price of a good hotel room but for the style-conscious city escapee who likes the outdoors to look like a fashion set (Carolyn used to work in fashion and the site is dotted with fur throws and wooden objets d’art), it’s hard to beat.
• From £175 for two nights (January) rising steeply in July/August, sleep up to six, northstarclub.co.uk
Grey Willow Yurts, Devon
It’s a sign of how quickly the glamping market is expanding that words are being invented to keep up with the different types of dwelling on offer. Enter the “yabin” – a cross between a yurt and a cabin. These octagonal wooden structures are found at Grey Willow Yurts, an eco-friendly site in the Blackdown Hills near Honiton in south Devon. The yabins were designed and built by owner Peter Selhurst, and feature a double bed, double and single futons, woodburning stove and furniture made from local spruce and ash, and a designated campfire area.
• Four nights from £149 in low season, sleep up to five, greywillowyurts.co.uk
Elmley national nature reserve, Kent
Elmley is a cattle farm and national nature reserve on the Isle of Sheppey encompassing a wildlife-rich grazing marsh. Visitors include wading birds, hare, watervoles, an array of lizards and even seals, who fish of the mudbanks. Three shepherd’s huts provide accommodation for wildlife watchers (there are four hides in the reserve) and photographers drawn to the big skies, or anyone after a nature escape. The huts have double beds, en suites, woodburners and cooking facilities (cook on the woodburner or on a gas ring in the Kentish barn).
• From £75 a night, sleeps two elmleynaturereserve.co.uk
