The mind boggles when people yearn for the city life, the hustle and bustle of a busy town, the unlimited and endless things you can do. I however, am completely, 100% all about switching off and being away from it all. There’s something pretty special about being able to get out in nature and strip back everything and just get back to basics. I learnt a lot about myself when we visited the North Star Club in 2017 and how I think I’d be pretty happy in my own little hut in the middle of a forest. So, if you’re anything like me and crave the wilderness over anything else, here are 5 off the grid retreats in the UK you need to know about!
Ah, where the great love affair with the outdoors started. I’d always known I was more of a country bumpkin than a city dweller but this trip well and truly cemented everything I love about being at one with nature and found myself worrying less about everyday life.
Set in rural Yorkshire. Sancton, to be exact, which is a small village with a quaint pub (that gets rave reviews), cute cottages and farmers fields for days. I can’t say that there is anything extraordinary about the place, no major sights to see, quite similar to villages near where I live but as I drove up the long track to the North Star Club and the twinkly lights at the outdoor canopy met me I knew instantly that everything that was troubling me in my life at that exact moment just faded away.
Surrounded by tall, tall, tree’s – forest bathing was in order here. Yes, you heard that right – Forest Bathing. It’s a new craze which includes spending time in the forest or woods which can calm and soothe you and to be honest, it actually did. This magical woodland retreat seemed to have healing properties that even I wouldn’t have expected.
Accommodation on site is a mix between wooden clad huts with metal frames that have been hand-built. Whilst there is electric, you have a small sink and fridge area (no cooking facilities – you cook on the BBQ outside!) and you’ll find your heat source from the cosy log burners. It might seem “basic” and it is often marketed as just that but I have to say it definitely felt more like luxurious glamping.
The Woodshed is a great place to sit back and relax too, with board games, hot cocoa and another huge log burner to get wrapped up in front of it provides a nice communal base. When we visited it was very quiet so we had the whole place to ourselves (not that we minded at all.)
It truly was one of the best weekends I’d had in a long time and I know that so many of you have visited off the back of my review.
Firstly, the name is the cutest! The Den by the Stream is another wooden hut in the wild, designed to feel like you’re in a den you’ve built with friends. Dive in to the tree branch framed, four-poster bed with twinkling fairy lights as your light for the evening. How romantic?
Find yourself dipping your toes in the stream that runs along the Den and feel instantly soothed by the trickling water – a place where I feel most relaxed, water has healing properties for me. Grab a homemade cuppa from the hob, grab some blankets and potter down. You might even see a family of otters downstream.
This wouldn’t be an off the grid property without its quirks and charms, oh no. Charging points and solar lights are the only nod to the modern world here, you’ll find gravity-fed showers that are heated naturally by compost (good for the environment right?) and its warmth influenced by the outside temperature! Maybe make this a summer trip?
If you’re heading away on a big family break but need plenty of space to keep the peace, Fort Clonque might just be the place for you. This great mid-Victorian harbour works just off Alderney, steeped in history it was built to protect the Channel Islands from being captured by the French. You can only reach the Fort by a drawbridge!
Perched on a group of large rocks surrounded by the waves, this accommodation can sleep up to 13 people. But, to make you feel really off the grid, you’ll find that at high tide the Fort itself is cut off from the rest of the island. There’s nothing like feeling you are literally divided from civilisation! However, rewarded you shall be, with the glorious sea views that surround it – surely that makes up for it?
This one might not be for the faint hearted or claustrophobic, but if you’re happy to be cut off from society then this place would be for you!
Northumberland is somewhere I want to discover in 2019. It’s a UK destination that so many tell me about and yet, I still haven’t gone. Mad right?
The Hesleyside Huts could possibly change that this year though, and thank goodness, because to be honest if I could move in to one of their little shepherd huts I would be a happy woman.
If you book the Rowan Hut, you’ll have a mezzanine section complete with king sized bed where you can gaze at the stars through the dormer window. The site is set within the Northumberland Dark Sky reserve and they can even provide you with a complete star-gazing kit to make the most of the areas unpolluted skies above.
Is there anything more romantic than falling asleep under the stars?
The Sleepout in Wales looks the epitome of cosy vibes! You can only imagine that this is somewhere that the Hobbits live, suddenly you’re transported from rainy Wales to the dramatic landscape of New Zealand – okay, well, you’re not, but you could almost feel like you were.
This cute den-like home from home was built by botanist Rachel and tree surgeon Mike where they wanted guests to feel completely relaxed.
From the foot of your bed you can see the rolling hills of the Welsh Valleys and you’re neighbour less so there’s no need to draw the curtains and stop the view.
Despite the “away from it all” feel, there’s still plenty to do and you can swim in the nearby river or head on a bike ride, and for a post-exploration rinse off, you won’t find a shower in the Sleepout, but a mere 60 paces away you’ll find the on site, hot shower! Really getting to grips with nature.
Are you now craving a trip to somewhere where humanity hardly exists, leave the Wi-Fi behind and you can just be at one with nature? I know I certainly am!
Bee
Twitter | Instagram | BlogLovin | Pinterest | Facebook
Sign up to the QueenBeady Community Newsletter here!
