PEOPLE TO WATCH, PLACES TO BE, PRODUCTS TO BUY
In 2022, the call of the wild comes with all (or most) mod cons
Somewhere in the wilds of Cumbria there is a bus, and on top of that bus there sits another, slightly smaller bus. This unholy splicing — the gentle hump of a VW campervan fused onto the hulking cuboid of an American community coach — is characteristic of the off-grid “Skoolie” movement in the US, which sees people swapping bricks and mortar for life on the road in a converted municipal vehicle. But that must be where the similarity ends, because there can’t be many Skoolies with an Aga.
You can rent this mega-bus via Hinterlandes, a company established in the Lake District by Hannah and John Graham. They have a portfolio of remote abodes dotted across the Lakes — including a hut, a cabin and a Jetstream caravan — all of which are in semi-secret locations that change on a regular basis. You only find out exactly where they are when you book.
The Hinterlandes portfolio is indicative of a new wave of exceptionally well-appointed offgrid lodgings that are available in the UK. The company’s “Hidden Hut”, currently located somewhere near Crummock Water, has a marbleclad shower, Egyptian-cotton linens and a pizza oven. The phrase “off-grid cabin” might conjure images of a damp, flea-bitten shack in the Adirondacks, but that’s way off the mark.
“Really, it’s just like a hotel room,” says John Graham. “It’s everything you need and nothing else. No TV or anything like that, but the things that are there are a bit more curated and there for a purpose. Things can become quite luxurious when you’re at the top of a mountain… but not luxurious luxurious.
“The difference with our accommodation is that you are off-grid and you’re completely in the middle of nowhere,” he continues. “I think people have latched on to that a bit — getting away from civilisation or the daily grind, especially with the last year.”
Around 70 per cent of Hinterlandes clients are from London and below. Southerners, it would seem, are the keenest to reset, which is why entrepreneurs Ben Elliott and Hector Hughes launched Unplugged in 2021. The company targets those looking to escape “endless Zoom calls” and the like, and insists that guests who stay at one of its 11 secluded cabins (all within an hour’s drive of London) must lock their phones and devices away when they check in.
“We’re not just a cabin company,” Elliott tells me. “We really see ourselves as an offline experience that happens to be in a cool cabin in the countryside.” Unplugged cabins are designed for people who don’t just want to get out of the city, but actively want to detach from the w
