You know when you just crave a log cabin in the woods for some quiet? We found the perfect mix of a city break and woodland getaway and what’s better is it was practically just down the road.
Log Cabin in Exeter
We’ve not done masses of travel this year for several reasons. Firstly I guess school limitations, crazy holiday price travel, and all that comes with that. Secondly, my anxiety about flying has stepped up a notch, team that with Mabli not being the easiest of travel ages has limited how far we’d be able to travel at the moment, and thirdly because we have been saving for the big house move has meant we are limiting big non-essentials spends. However, with the half-term upon us, the first couple of days of rain meant the kids were going a bit mad and we had run out of local things to do we hadn’t done a million times before. We decided to book a last-minute break with our only criteria being that it would be less than an hour away and less than £100 a night. We came across Nora the Nordic cabin which ticked both those boxes!
Nora the Nordic Cabin
The cabin is £85 a night with a cleaning fee of £10 per trip. Making the time we were there a total of £400 for the entire stay. What we loved about the location was that it is a ten-minute taxi ride from the train station and a fifteen-minute walk to some lovely local cafes but still feels like it’s in the middle of nowhere. The owner Andy built the cabin himself and all the little touches to make it feel authentically Nordic were just perfect. He also built his own house which is just up the track from the cabin and is amazing, a real dream home with massive windows and dark wood exterior. Very impressive!
Wilf reading Mabli her bedtime story its just adorable.
From the front porch you can follow a little path down to the university gardens, large areas of grass for the kids to play as well as amazingly well-kept bushes of flora, steams with stepping stones, duck ponds, and rabbits hopping along the path. It was perfect to have all this on our doorstep as we actually only passed one person the whole time we were out there. It felt like it was all part of the cabin which was really special and something I hadn’t even factored in upon booking.
Unfortunately for us, it did rain THE WHOLE TIME we were there but we mainly spent our time feeling cosy in the cabin. There is a log burner but we never felt cold enough to want to light it, as well as a fire on the porch. When it’s not raining you can also pop up the hammocks which come with the property too.
Holiday Log Cabin in the Woods
We mainly spent our time playing Scrabble and Dominos, eating takeout (a bonus of not actually being in the woods means you can get Deliveroo haha), and just hanging out. We did pop into Exeter one day and had lunch at The Exploding Bakery which I’d recommend.
Although the cabin in the woods is built and is part of the owner’s land it actually has its own entrance and gate meaning that we always felt super safe to let the kids run all around it knowing they wouldn’t be able to head up the path anywhere near the road.
Staying in this cozy little place reminded us we don’t need to go far or spend much to feel like we’ve had a real break. We’ll definitely be booking another log cabin break (when it hopefully won’t rain!) in the future. It also would be a brilliant base for some day trips to Totnes or Exmouth I think.
We booked Nora the cabin in the woods through Airbnb here. Do let me know if you end up booking!
If you liked this post on our log cabin holiday you might like:
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Dylan Coastal Resort