Why is having a cabin in the woods not a thing in the U.K.?

[OutComeTheWolves]

So often on movies set in the US, people head up to the cabin for a few days. And someone I follow on Instagram has recently bought an A-frame cabin 'upstate'.

I'm very envious, I'd love to just have a cheap property in the middle of nowhere that I could take the kids to at the weekend. I've googled various version of 'cabin in woods U.K.' 'cabin in forest for sale' and it seems to me that the British version is buying a static caravan on a caravan site. I don't really like other people so this isn't really what I what. Surely it could be more of a thing here, there must be some sort of market for it? Or is there just not enough forest for it to happen here?

@Iminaglasscaseofemotion

Why do people follow people on Instagram? Who could possibly be that interested in a random person's life?

Similar reason you're on Mumsnet I imagine!

We have some lovely woods near to us and right on the edge of the woods are some chalet type places. Each weekend we see people that go to stay there for the weekend. So yes they do exist and have for many years because when I started my Nurse training in 1985 one of my first patients owned one of these chalets.

Ok, so the collective answer is:

Land ownership and tenure
The planning system
Population densities
Zombies

The British isles has the lowest % of woodland of anywhere in Western Europe. Also lots of very petty regulations restricting access to wild spaces!

@SpindleWhorl

Ok, so the collective answer is:

Land ownership and tenure
The planning system
Population densities
Zombies

And spiders. Don't forget spiders. Apparently in the UK on MN they're more terrifying than bears, wolves and coyotes combined.

Tricky to get a mortgage on a wooden structure.

If I had the money, I’d buy a cabin in the woods in America, we’ve stayed in a couple, they were amazing, if creaky! There are wooden lodges for sale in the U.K., saw a brilliant lochside property last year, just not stunning weather in this country usually.

• Land ownership patterns (relatively few landowners each owning very large tracts of land), and very few suitable small plots coming up for sale.

• Planning laws, and very limited Permitted Development rights.

Most people aren't aware that you can not just buy a plot of land/woodland and camp on it as you feel like. There are different rights depending on the type of land, the area of land that you own, where it is in the country, and whether you wish to camp in a tent or a caravan/campervan/motorhome.

If you want to play within the Permitted Development rules, or if you want to take the risk on getting Planning Permission there are several small plots of land on Rightmove. Typically around £10k/acre. To maximise your Permitted Development rules you need 5 acres, although the more limited rules for smaller plots may be suitable. Work on the basis of around 12 permitted weekends per year for caravan/camper camping (but no longer than a weekend of consecutive nights), double that for tent camping with longer stays permitted.

God, I would have said it’s pretty much the opposite of being on Mn— Mn is anonymous, definitely not full of lavish photos of lifestyle stuff, and the vast majority of the dilemmas described on here are anything but aspirational.

because we are not serial killers or bombers ( most of us ) 😂

Land ownership, planning and where the population 'sits' in terms of the wild places that are left are the main problems. There's loads of land in the highlands, for example, but it's mostly all privately owned and a ballache to get to.

We looked at hutting but the whole point of it (for us) is to get away from other people so the community/communal aspect didn't suit us.

We have one in Sweden. It's lovely. It's right on a large lake, with no neighbours nearby. It's green, lush and soooo quiet. Not a car drives past, no aeroplanes in the sky. All you hear is nature. We're at the end of a dirt track and we have just had electricity installed, and fiber. No hot water though, but that's OK as we have the lake to swim in.

I wish it was a thing here too, but there's not enough lakes and woods which makes it difficult. Too built up.

@Cadburycup

It's called second holiday home here. Or Balmoral if you're the Queen.

They probably started out as cabins in woods, back in Henry VIII day, but gradually everyone wanted one, so more cabins got built and the woods got chopped down.

Erm… as an architectural historian, this made me weep a bit.

All untrue, but I won’t bore you with a history of ancient woodlands from early prehistory till now, nor of how the Tudors built, or used the natural environment.

Cabin in the woods vs shed in the garden .. same difference

You can certainly buy woodland here, some quite cheaply but you can’t necessarily put a permanent structure up. A yurt would work!

I lived in Canada for a bit and everyone had a 'cabin' upstate. I pictured them as a sort of glorified shed. We got invited to one for a weekend. It was a huge house on a lake. As it turned out we're most people's. So I don't think their definition of cabin is the same as ours...

@IEat

Cabin in the woods vs shed in the garden .. same difference

There's probably something in that though @IEat - the British are a nation of gardeners so escaping to the potting shed fills the same cultural need as escaping to the cabin in the wood.

My pal has a caravan that gets parked in a secure car park over winter - literally a car park for caravans, no amenities, electric hook ups or views. She went to hers quite a lot this winter as they were doing a bit of DIY on it and she reported that every Saturday, she saw men sitting in the doorway of their caravans in the car park drinking flasks of tea and reading the paper!

@21Flora

You’d be better off buying somewhere like this ( www.woodlands.co.uk/buying-a-wood/central-england/keiler-wood/) and getting a Shepard’s hut on wheels. If it is on wheels you wouldn’t need planning permission as it isn’t a permanent structure.

Coincidentally, there was a story in the news this week of a wealthy Londoner who outbid a shepherd by £8,000 to buy a run-down shepherd’s hut. From the article:

“The client was from central London and it can be assumed that they wanted it for a holiday home or an off-site office in a second home.

“The other bidder just bought a flock of sheep and surprisingly wanted to use it as a shepherd’s hut, which must be pretty unknown these days.”

Similar reason you're on Mumsnet I imagine!

Nope, I don't think it's quite the same.

Because serial killers.(may or may not have watched too many horror films)

I’m quite glad that it’s really difficult to have a cabin in the woods in the UK. Humans are already enroaching in places they shouldn’t be, causing issues for local wildlife populations. Can you imagine if it was a free for all? In about a decade woodlands would be pretty much decimated.

@thedevilinablackdress

If you look up 'hutting' in Scotland, it's been a thing here since the early/mid 20th century. Based on the Scandinavian tradition I believe.

There's a book called 'Huts', written by Lesley Riddoch on this very subject. I think the book was based on her PhD thesis.

@Shehasadiamondinthesky

You can't buy one in the UK, I looked into it for years. Even if you buy woodland you are not allowed to put a permanent structure on it.

I don't disagree with you, but how does Greg Clarke get away with building things all over the place then?

@PrtScn - I couldn’t agree more. If I go for a walk in the woods, I don’t want to come across building projects every few yards. People would want road access, plumbing and other services and the woods would soon be gone. Animals and birds (eg owls) don’t relish humans at close quarters.

I was reading a very miserable article about the mass felling of ancient woodlands post world war 1 in order to replenish wood stocks. In the wake of this The Woodland Trust was formed, but initially they just planted ugly gloomy fir plantations, not deciduous trees.

We just do not have enough room in the UK and too great a population for people to “go wild”.

Because anyone who has watched criminal minds, knows that’s the first place serial axe murderers head for.

I love the Scandinavian approach of doing this too - cabin in the woods/lake/beach completely isolated, often shared between a family so cousins, grandparents etc might go together. Some companies out there even own cabins that their employees can book. So lovely, but there’s just too many people here. If you can afford it you can definitely buy an isolated cottage in the middle of nowhere though. Particularly in Scotland - but then it’s probably too far to go for the weekend unless you live north.