Welcome to the Woodman's Hut
a romantic retreat in the Cairngorms National Park
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A secluded, rustic hideaway just for 2.
Pristine and fully equipped, an eco-cabin with some quirky luxury
and a dreamy veranda looking to Cairngorm across heather moor and ancient forest.
Nethy Bridge, Cairngorms
National Park, Scotland
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Rainwater is collected in vintage oak whisky barrels from the roof and delivered to a small stone sink by an unbelievable brass tap. Candle lanterns supported by gentle battery
lighting, an efficient woodburning stove with plenty
of dry wood and a marble topped washstand with
enamel jug, basin and towels combine to help you
discover here a pace of life that feeds the soul.
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The galley kitchen, which offers a twin-ring gas cooker, oven, grill and simple food prep space is fashioned from a single 260 year old Caledonian pine tree felled in our own grounds after snow damage. A copper kettle from the fireside can be used to help provide hot water for the open-sky shower a couple of steps from the veranda. This is definitely not en-suite but it has the best mountain view of any shower you are likely to find. Drinking water brought from the house is pure 'Cairngorms Highland' and you may choose to cool your milk either in the Fhuarain Burn below the hut (flowing at around +5C all year round) or in a proper fridge (2 mins). There is a baronial, state-of-the-art composting loo nearby and a useful china night-potty inside the hut. And the bed has doors to close it off. |
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The king-size box-bed, with its wood panelling painted in traditional style and with windows opening to the forest and the mountain, has an expansive stargazer window above. It is filled with a natural down duvet and
blissfully soft ethically traded bedlinen. No lit
candles here, rather a soft glow single 12-volt
lantern under a canopy of stars. |
The veranda looks south to the mountains. Along with breakfast table, chairs and double bench seat you will find soft Knockando Woolmill blanket wraps for cool early mornings, - or for evenings spent beside the peat fire-pot, after skillet-cooking perhaps, warmed by the dram you have specially chosen to bring for the occasion, - all in the light of two well used barn lanterns. Hut slippers just inside the door . . . hear the silence. For an extra touch of luxury you could try the 2-person infra-red suana with music and chill room at the big woodshed (2 mins walk) |
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The Woodman's Hut was inspired by the 17th and 18th century woodcutters who lived in this area of Strathspeyand worked the ancient Caledonian forest for the timber that was used to make charcoal for local ironsmelting or floated out to be used to build ships at Spey Bay on the Moray Firth. The raised turf embankment running just below the Woodman's Hut was the route used certainly used in the early 20th Century and probably much earlier, created to haul the giant Caledonian pines down from the forests above us and along to the mills beyond our track end, using horses with simple bogeys running on timber rails. Now, having had to fell one of our oldest trees, we have partly fitted the interior of this hut with its finely grained timbers and brought in slab boards and poles of Scottish larch from Castle Leod to the north of us to clad the outside walls. We have made it 4-seasons warm, and furnished it with some family items. |