Wilderkin Cabin

The Wilderkin Cabin sits down a grass path in a private glade near Carlops in the Scottish Borders, a good half-hour drive from Edinburgh. Owner Lotte grew up here. Her parents rewilded the 18 acres over the years, planting more than 2,000 trees, and during the pandemic Lotte designed and built the cabin herself with the help of two friends, working from a scale cardboard model. They cast the foundations, hauled the cement down the hill by wheelbarrow, put up the frame and laid the floors. It's built entirely from local larch, Douglas fir and hemlock. That's the sort of place this is. You have to want to reach it.

Inside, a large picture window frames the gorse and heather slopes running up to the Pentland range. There's a kingsize bed sunk into a platform with down bedding, a woodburner, sheepskins and blankets, a record player with vinyl, and shelves of books, jigsaws and board games for the evenings. The kitchen has an induction hob, a fridge and a coffee press. No WiFi, though the phone signal holds up if you need it. Lights and sockets run off a private wind turbine on the hill.

The seasons do a lot of the talking. Cherry and apple blossom in spring, then long grass and the coconut scent of gorse through summer. Autumn brings red beeches and golden larches, and winter mornings often start with mist pooling in the valley like water before the sun burns it off. It featured in the Sunday Times list of the top 25 glamping stays in the UK, back when it went by Gorse Cabin under the Kip Hideaways name. Deer, owls, foxes and badgers all live nearby. Bring boots and waterproofs, and expect the path through the fields to get muddy.