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?

Don't you watch films?! Nothing good EVER comes from visiting your cabin in the woods. Us English folk know what's what.

@JMAngel1

Oooh who's the Instagrammer? Want to see!

It's triangle a-frame on Instagram. It's lovely.

@JMAngel1

Oooh who's the Instagrammer? Want to see!

If OP is talking about who I’m thinking of, it’s @steffy who just bought an A-frame in upstate New York.

Also patterns of population, physical geography and unreliable weather.

If you think about the rural hinterland of most large UK cities, the equivalent of 'upstate', most of it is heavily permanently populated, full of towns, suburbs and villages. Farms are smaller here, woods are smaller and there aren't lakes all over the place.

Even if your town's rural hinterland includes a National Park, like the Peak District or New Forest, those parks are heavily populated, working landscapes, full of small farms and villages. They are not wild land, wooded forest, or anything resembling that. Your 'hut' there would be a second home, that could have been somebody's first home.

You have to go further from your home to find anything like the forested and 'wild' looking landscapes.

Plus, we don't have reliable summer weather, so a cottage an hour or two away, that you could visit every weekend and spend a few weeks at, would not give you the same value.

Vandalism.

We have woodland and you can't erect any sort of cabin because it would be vandalised by feral people and teenagers. They set things alight as well.

The council is also very controlling about what goes on in the land as well.

I grew up in the US - summers spent at sleepaway camp (why isnt this a thing in the UK? It's amazing for kids), then with my godparents at their cabin (yes, on a lake, and yes, it was made of logs that he cut himself). It was pure heaven.

Like OP, I have for years looked into if I could do this in the UK. We recently stayed in a cabin-type dwelling in wales. However, it was on private land, and looking at how much land costs and very often you don't get permission from the council, I think it's a bit outside our price range. It's a massive shame this isn't more common and seen as something for regular folks. An A-frame cabin in the woods can be as little as 50k in the US, or build your own!

Yurts, shepherds huts etc are all likely to need planning permission.

Just because they are temporary, it doesn't negate the need.

Shepherds huts and yurts normally require PP for a change of use of the land on which they are sited. Sometimes a use can be carried out for up to 28 days a year as permitted development, but there are restrictions even on that.

Swedish friends in Gothenburg have an island with a cabin on it!
Apparently anyone can land and visit on any island (we picked cloudberries on another one) but the cabin is theirs and it was wonderful.

Space! There are eleven states in the USA which are bigger than the UK. The UK could fit into Texas nearly three times over.

This got me thinking....

In the US, if you have a cabin in the woods, what do you own? The land it’s on? How much around it? Bought from whom? Do you need permission to build? If anyone can do it, why aren’t developers building whole towns in the wood?

In other words, how does that all work then?

By law you're allowed to have a storage facility, but it's not worth getting one as they'd be destroyed. We talked about getting a secure shipping container and using that for storage of camping stuff, but they're damn ugly and deteriorate after a few years. Our neighbour has one, but it's going all rusty now.

The UK has so little forest cover, and what wildlife we have left desperately needs it! Please don’t all be carving it up for chalets and hot tubs and “oh, why don’t I just cut a few trees down for a carpark”. “What about a pool here and a bigger cabin”. Planning rules are needed!

However well meaning you are, unless you know how to be very quiet and leave no trace your very presence is harmful. Many people aren’t respectful either. Look at all the current issues with wild camping and litter in natural places! Humans have taken over every inch of this planet, it’s disgusting. Leave it alone. Go to Centerparcs or to well-sited campsites, plenty of choice.

Partly, the answer is the same as to the question 'why is eating out often cheaper in North America than here?' and 'why are normal American family homes so much bigger than ours?': land prices.

Most of the population of the U.K. is only a short drive away from some trees. A lot of cabins in the USA were for hunting shooting purposes I believe rather than a holiday. Not sure about the newer luxury ones though.

There are lots of forest cabins in UK; if you can't buy one, there are loads available for holiday rentals. Try Forestry Commission, or google shepherds hut/glamping pod. Or, beach hut.

There's not enough woodland.

Also, it wouldn't be safe for the occupants.
They'd be a target for attack.
The UK is not a safe country overall.

@Sparrowsong

The UK has so little forest cover, and what wildlife we have left desperately needs it! Please don’t all be carving it up for chalets and hot tubs and “oh, why don’t I just cut a few trees down for a carpark”. “What about a pool here and a bigger cabin”. Planning rules are needed!

However well meaning you are, unless you know how to be very quiet and leave no trace your very presence is harmful. Many people aren’t respectful either. Look at all the current issues with wild camping and litter in natural places! Humans have taken over every inch of this planet, it’s disgusting. Leave it alone. Go to Centerparcs or to well-sited campsites, plenty of choice.

I think we need to show people how to interact with the environment without doing harm, there are lots of foraging and bushcraft/wild camping events going on as interest in the natural world was really strengthened during the lockdowns.

After watching Hush last week it’s not something I’m keen on doing right now 😬

Wasn't the Grand Designs woodsmans cottage only permitted as it isn't permanent? And he knew how to take care of the forest.

That was my very favourite episode. Just amazing. And the update where he was married with children. Brilliant.

But yes, the home is only for him. He can't sell it, give it away or leave it to his children. It was allowed because he is the woodsman. Personally, I am very glad that our woods and forests are not filled with little cabins. They would very quickly become ruined for everyone: www.facebook.com/hopeblamireartist/posts/359644265526998

New Zealand has the "bach", usually constructed in scenic location by the gnarled hands of somebody's great grandfather and handed down:

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bach_(New_Zealand)

But yeah, population density, land costs and planning permission. New Zealand has 10% more land mass than the UK but only 5m people vs 60m in the UK. And even there land prices are rising and planning rules tightening.

My husband likes all that kind of thing and got this book, Home Work by Lloyd Kahn

www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/381862.Home_Work

People would want mod cons: as pp said, car parking, mains water, electricity, broadband - yes, a hot tub, kids’ play equipment...

Quiet woods would just become Centerpants.

Living with too many trees around is a mixed blessing. We once spent a lot of time in a house in Scotland that had lots of mature trees around it. In winter it was hard to get much natural light into some rooms and it felt gloomy and hemmed in.

That link is tragic @bridgetreilly

May a plague of the nastiest mosquitoes send them home!

Also, it wouldn't be safe for the occupants.
They'd be a target for attack.
The UK is not a safe country overall

WTF???

@Cupcakegirl13

It’s called Centre Parcs here 🤣

Genius