Kent
This grassy 1O -acre plot fronting the
beach at St Mary’s Bay was once a
rough-and-ready children’s summer camp.
Now the scruffy huts have been replaced
with 13 stylish larch-timbered cabins,
sleeping up to six, and an outdoor heated
pool and barbecue area. As well as being
the south coast’s coolest glamping retreat,
it doubles as a showroom for the cabins,
which you can have made to order – but
unfortunately the Scandi chic furniture is
not included. Self-catering is no hardship
when the main CABÜ house stocks
farm-made pies, smoked salmon, Kentish
cheese and freshly baked bread. Doze
off to the sound of the waves, wake to
bunnies frolicking and be sure to visit
Dungeness to see late filmmaker Derek
Jarman’s haunting garden.Cabins
from £290 for two nights (minimum stay)Cornwall
Want to go rural but hankering after sea air, too? You don’t have to choose
with The Beach House Company’s Retreat Widemouth Bay, three miles south
of Bude in north Cornwall. This stylish, contemporary, four-bedroom house
has a divine sandy beach on one side and fields of cows and hay bales
on the other, both set against a backdrop of dramatic cliffs. Widemouth
Bay’s waves are wild enough to sustain a string of small surf schools
(the concierge can book lessons) and there’s a sleepy beachside café,
while a fishmonger and deli rounds out the local amenities. You have more
places to eat and drink in neighbouring Bude, but mostly you’ll be spending
your days surfing – or trying to – and evenings barbecuing freshly
caught mackerel.Sleeps up to eight, £900 for three nights (minimum stay)WIDEMOUTH BAYElle EXPLORE
ELLE.COM/UK April 2020 2O9Beach house
LEFT AND INSET:
THE RETREAT’S COASTAL-
INSPIRED INTERIORS.
BELOW: WIDEMOUTH BAYSPRING BRE AKS ARE ALL ABOUT MUDDY WALKS, WILD
BRITISH BE ACHES AND CURL ING UP BY THE FIREWhere to go for. ..
RUR A L RE T R E ATS
Cabin fever
R I G H T: C A BÜ’S
GRASSLAND SETTING.
BELOW RIGHT AND
INSET: THE HEATED
POOL AND HOT TUB