Culbin Edge

Culbin Edge is a one-bedroom eco cabin at Bankhead near Brodie, between Forres and Nairn on the Moray coast. It's a place built for two, finished with oak floors and decorated in calm tones, with a king bed, an open-plan kitchen and living room, and a walk-in shower. If you're travelling as four, the living room partitions off and a sofa bed comes into play, which works for a couple with kids in tow. Up to two dogs can come as well. Outside, a south-facing deck holds the garden furniture, a firepit and a small BBQ, along with the wood-fired cedar hot tub.

Culbin Forest starts more or less at the gate. It covers 7,000-odd acres of Scots pine, planted from the 1920s onwards to pin down what was once the largest sand dune system in Britain, and there's a whole village under there somewhere, buried by the great sandstorm of 1694. These days it's all walking and cycling trails, and beyond the trees the coast runs east with beaches at Findhorn, Roseisle and Nairn a short drive from the door.