Digital detox retreats are opening across the UK and Ireland this summer, offering architect-designed cabins that strip away connectivity for the chance to reconnect with nature.
Architects Holiday: A Studio Built Around Movement
Co-founders Will Gowland and Harry Kay wanted to invert the hospitality industry’s standard approach to wellness. They built their latest retreat, the Yogi’s Cabin, with yoga and movement as the primary motivation rather than an afterthought. The structure sits on an east-west axis, so early practices are bathed in morning sun and restorative sessions are lit by the warm evening light. Large sliding doors open onto a 40-metre-long lake fed directly from a nearby spring.
The build relies on the local surroundings. Larch cladding was felled from the adjacent woodland less than a mile away, while the Douglas fir lining the interiors came from woods less than two miles away. Heather and silver-birch tips salvaged from fallen trees were used for the thatch above the cladding. Inside, the personal touch is evident; Sarah Gowland made many of the ceramics, and Harry Kay’s family handmade the unglazed bathroom tiles. Even the curtains were block-printed by Kay with a pattern taken from the cabin’s floorplan. Expect Tekla bedding and top-quality yoga accessories to complete the stay.
Remote Scottish Locations
Amber and Charlie Teale, founders of Kabn, aimed to design cabins that encourage guests to pause and reconnect. Their latest build near Loch Fyne in the Cairngorms National Park avoids imposing architecture onto the land. Instead, the structures are meant to feel organic. Every detail inside is chosen for high quality, using high-quality organic linens and natural materials to create a sense of remoteness that still feels intimate.
Related: RH Estates Simplifies Custom Furniture for Homeowners
Forest Bathing and Dark Skies
In Dorset, Scott Lewis and Caroline Jenkinson of ReFrame Studio have created The Nest. The couple views their cabins as siblings to their earlier Bothy. Located in a woodland clearing, this new cabin features CNC-cut plywood shingles stained a deep blue, which contrasts with the greens of the trees. The design encourages shinrin-yoku, the Japanese practice of forest bathing, by drawing the eye outside through a large picture window. A deep outdoor bathtub sits next to a sunken hammock on the patio.
Unyoked takes a different approach to sustainability. Founded by brothers Cam and Chris Grant, the company has cabins across the UK, New Zealand, and Australia. Their latest designs, located in a former 20th-century quarry, are towed into place. This means there is no concrete and no excavation, and they operate without mains water or gas. The site is a Dark Sky Discovery Site within an 8,500-acre forest. On a clear night, the Milky Way is visible to the naked eye. The company also works with Forestry England to protect the UK’s public forests.
The Yogi’s Cabin showcases a design that merges modern living with the surrounding environment. Oxford wreck reborn in graceful restoration offers a similar vision of bringing historic structures back to life through careful craftsmanship. RH Estates Simplifies Custom Furniture for Homeowners, focusing on personalized touches that enhance a living space.
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