A log cabin escape is great — but an ultra-luxury cabin escape is even better

Pamela Goodman falls in love with the rustic charm of Glen Glack Cabins in Perthshire.

Am I the only one who feels a little challenged by the widespread use of the word “porn” on social media or in book titles? “Porn” seems to have become a general, catch-all suffix for something intended to arouse or stimulate, generally in an aesthetically pleasing way, hence food porn, property porn, bicycle porn, and chocolate porn. Add the word porn and more realistic topics should instantly become desirable.

When a friend gave me a book called Cabin pornThere was a moment of hesitation as my imagination briefly fluttered over the possible contents. Not to worry, of course, because the book was as delicious as can be, offering a variety of wonderful rural escapes around the world, as well as tips on how to build your own. I’ve since figured it out Cabin porn he The New York Times Bestseller – translated into eight languages.

Taking the porn out of it, let’s talk about cabins. I, personally, have always been obsessed with cabins. Treehouses too, and shepherd’s huts, although I tend to draw the line at a yurt. It’s clear that complete immersion in nature is what we all long for, yet I can’t imagine anyone expected this trend to take off quite like it has over recent years. The cart of dusting off the slum countryside—woods, hills, riverbanks, and fields—with the retreats of the fugitives is fully rolling. Even small, enterprising sauna companies are starting to offer mobile sauna units in converted vans or mobile cabins on beaches along the UK coast.

However, our thirst for escape is not quite what it seems. Although we can clearly relate to the natural aspect of cabin life, we are more reluctant to give up the creature comforts. Perhaps, when it comes down to it, there’s no escape quite as wonderful as an ultra-luxury escape, where you can feel as if you’re embracing the wilderness, but from the comfort of a king-sized bed with 13 beds. Siberian goose down comforter and pillows.

Although I may sound cynical, I’m all for a bit of luxurious escapism. In fact, I recently had the good fortune to visit Glen Glack Cabins, five exquisitely designed new resorts overlooking Cally Loch in the woods above Dunkeld, all part of the great Atholl Estates in Perthshire, Scotland.

What sets these cabins apart, apart from the fact that most of them are larger than the average two-bedroom apartment, is the creative input of a prominent London design duo (Turner Pocock, if you want to know), who were called upon to fashion Interior. Yes, I had a king-sized bed, a 13-piece comforter, and Siberian goose-down pillows, but my bedroom also had wallpaper — not just any old wallpaper, but wallpaper by Robert Kim, the interior designer for The-King. How far cabin life has come.

Furthermore, outside Juniper, the smallest of the cabins and clearly designed for the romantics among us, was a wood-burning bathhouse with a new chimney at one end and enough space for two people. Although it doesn’t exactly look like an auto-bath bowl (I assume the water takes a while to heat up), there was something rather mystifying, and aesthetically pleasing, about everything this bath promised.

Cabin porn, I guess you might call it.

Credit: AM Baxter and Company Ltd