Everyone has dreamt of spending time in or owning their own secluded cabin or retreat tucked away from all the distractions of modern life. All great cabins start with a dream.
In 2017 Martin and Ness Turner decided to shake their lives up a little. They sold their busy Cafe in the centre of Totnes, Devon and having already bought a piece of their own woodland they decided to build a small foresters cabin there. A place where their family could escape to away from the everyday stresses of life and reconnect with each other and nature.
The woods are a mix of douglas fir, sweet chestnut with some huge specimens of oak and beech trees on the perimeter. The 4 acres of woodland was purchased via Woodlands.co.uk.
A Stripped Back Family Space
This woodland cabin envelopes the rustic charm and local craftsmanship of a traditionally made foresters cabin of old.
The family designed a 5×5 m2 space, with a 5×2 covered veranda where they could read, whittle, chat, and dangle their feet over the edge whilst taking in the view over the fields afar and listening to the flowing stream below and the wind in the trees above..
Essentially the family wanted to keep it simple, after all it is in the middle of a wood and they have two dogs and two children. This is not Egyptian cotton sheets, it’s muddy boots and bonfires!
The cabin was built by carpentry geniuses Robin Milne and Duncan Passmore. They used locally sourced horizontal larch cladding, the cabin is fully insulated with double glazed windows and doors. There is also have a wood burner for those cold winter days. The uprights that support the roof on the front veranda are sweet chestnut from the wood that Martin felled himself and stripped back with his son.
You can read more about their story in our two other posts ‘We Bought a Wood and Built a Cabin part 1 & 2’
