Rest and Wild Cabins: Couples Cabin Retreat Review
Throughout lockdown and COVID, a wave of “cabin retreats” popped up all over social media. With everyone locked up for 2 years, many professionals have desired to escape the city and noise for a long weekend in a secluded cabin. That’s precisely what we did in May 2022, when we spent 3 nights at a Rest + Wild Cabin.
This blog will review this couple’s cabins retreat at Rest + Wild and take you through exactly what we got up to!
Before we get stuck in, we’d like to thank the Rest + Wild Team (particularly Tara and James), who managed to find us a slot to stay at one of their cabins. We originally booked to go before Christmas but had to cancel due to getting COVID. Thankfully, the team managed to get us a slot despite COVID not being in their cancellation policy and being booked out for 5+ months!
Introduction: What are Rest + Wild Cabins
Rest + Wild cabins are completely remote cabins located in the beautiful Shropshire countryside, built on the fundamental belief that spending time surrounded by nothing but nature is good for the soul.
Their cabins have an engrained luxury that makes you feel at home as soon as you get there (below). The team claim that “just a few days here and we hope you’ll leave feeling rested, re-energised and reconnected with the things that matter to you” - after spending 4 days in one, we agree entirely with this and couldn’t wait to share our experience!
The Rest + Wild cabin location is on the stunning Downton Hall Estate - an estate which dates back to 1738 with a colossal Grade 11* Stately Home. The estate has over 5,000 acres, rolling hills, a private cricket pitch, private gardens, well-kept forests, and various animals, including sheep, cows, and horses.
One thing we noticed about the estate is that we would say it was the best kept and most stunningly maintained country estate we have ever seen. You can tell the estate team has meticulous attention to detail, leading to an even better experience for the Rest + Wild cabin guests.
The cabins themselves are made using natural and reclaimed materials designed to fit in with the natural surroundings. They also come with an outdoor bathtub - so despite being “off-grid”, they offer everything you need (and more) to escape to the countryside.
Rest and Wild Downton, Shropshire Review
Below we have shared our experience from each day at the Rest and Wild Cabin we stayed.
Day One, Friday
We (Robyn, Midge and Henry) arrived after spending a long weekend in London, so we were ready to completely unwind, relax and explore what the Rest and Wild cabins offer.
Midge was also particularly shattered, as you can see in our dog tube guide, but you could tell she was excited when we rolled up on the estate grounds!
As we drove onto the estate to the cabin, we were presented with a stunning view of the Downton Hall and its’ cricket pitch. The Rest and Wild cabins are about a 5-minute drive (primarily due to bumpy roads) away from the estate home.
We stayed at the Robin (below), where we parked about 100m from before picking up our suitcase and entering the cabin.
Robyn in The Robin!
When we entered, we were immediately taken aback by three main things:
The view: As you can see below, the two windows surrounding the bed have the most stunning panoramic views of Clee Hill and the Shropshire countryside. For about 30 minutes, when we got into the cabin, we just lay down and absorbed the atmosphere while Midge ran around like a lunatic outside.
The quality: Maybe it’s just a weird preconception, but we had in our head that because the cabins were remote, there just wouldn’t be the quality that you would typically get with a more luxury getaway at a hotel - oh boy, we were wrong. The Rest and Wild cabin was as high quality as you can get while in the countryside and still has an eco-friendly approach to things.
The practicality: Most things in the cabin have been thought through exceptionally well. Little details like the storage being hidden out the way, a convenient fold-up table, everything labelled, utensils being provided, and torches to walk between the cabin and your car at night made the experience a lot more practical.
Once we had settled into the cabin, we got ready to go out to Mortimers - a Michelin star restaurant in the heart of Ludlow. Check out our previous blog to learn about our experience there and the other restaurants in the Michelin Guide.
Day Two, Saturday at Rest and Wild Cabins
With a little bit of a head bang, we woke up relatively early to a stunning view of the Shropshire countryside as the sun rose.
Saturday was a bit of a weird day, as we had to plan to get a taxi into Ludlow to watch the Champions League Final (Henry is a massive Liverpool fan) - in an ideal world, we wouldn’t have left the cabin again, but we “couldn’t miss it for anything”…
Between waking up and going to the football, Henry went on a run through the country estate while Robyn read her book. We then both took Midge for a walk and we cooked a filling breakfast on the stove inside the cabin. Check out the selection of images below, which show our adventure!
Henry looks rough…
We're not shy of finding romantic getaways, as you can see in our previous blog where we shared the top 10 romantic places in the UK, and the Rest + Wild cabin was already ticking all the boxes we look for in a romantic break or couples retreat.
Day Three, Sunday
We did an early morning workout followed by a bath to forget the result from the night before and then picked a route to go on a dog walk.
One thing that really struck us about the whole cabin experience is how peaceful the Downton Estate was. With it being so well maintained, there was a weird lack of animals like pheasants, squirrels, foxes etc. It was almost as if they were all culled to have minimal impact on the farm animals that live on the estate.
Downton hall is also home to famous horse racing trainer Henry Daly. Described as “racing heaven”, we saw several horses being trained while we were at our stay - which probably explains why there were so few animals that could disturb the horses or even impact the plentiful horse riding routes.
While this stillness on the estate was somewhat eerie, it created a near meditative feeling while going on walks as you weren’t disturbed. You could think deeply about thoughts that would usually cloud your brain.
After our walk, we set up the fire for a BBQ and kick-started the log burner (as it had dropped cold). The BBQ was not only good fun, but the view made it 10x better as we sat back to enjoy the food we cooked up - this was all while Midge explored the field where the cabin is situated.
As well as the BBQ, we also explored some aspects of the cabin we hadn’t yet found, such as the storage shed at the back. It was full of wood, tinder and fire lighters needed to keep the fire going.
Sunday evening was slightly disturbed, as Henry “had” to attend an AMA session for an NFT he was buying on Monday evening, which gave us plenty of time to enjoy a glass of wine, cook a salmon dinner (below) and enjoy the sunset.
The Final Day, Monday at Rest and Wild Cabins
On our final day, we were woken up bright and early by Midge needing a walk, which gave us plenty of time to enjoy a cooked breakfast and pack our stuff.
Once packed up, we spent the final half an hour watching sheep outside - quite often, they would come up to the cabin and eat the grass around it. The more curious baby lambs would jump up onto the decking and sniff around the bath and cabin entrance, making an entertaining watch for us and Midge, who wondered what the weird white things outside were.
After taking everything in for one last time, we packed our car and drove back to Cardiff, feeling fully refreshed and ready to hit the two-day work week before the Platinum Jubilee!
Things to be aware of during your stay
As with any stay, there were a couple of things we would change about the Rest and Wild cabins that you probably need to be aware of if you’re staying at one of the venues! Again, these aren’t really negatives, as the positives outweigh them by 100x, but they did bug us a tiny bit during our stay:
The fire alarm: With the cabin having a pretty compact kitchen and a log burner, you can understand why a sensitive fire alarm is needed to reduce the risk of people being literally cooked alive in the cabins… It did get a little bit annoying as the fire alarm went off pretty much every time we cooked - which wasn’t an ideal wake-up when cooking breakfast!
The toilet: The cabin has a camping toilet, which is more environmentally friendly but a completely new experience for us! Make sure you read the guide on using these, as you can easily go wrong.
Fridge space: The fridge was slightly small and didn’t have a freezer. In an off-grid cabin, you probably don’t expect to have a big 4-person fridge. However, we probably would have expected enough space to fit food in for the weekend without leaving for a shop run.
Rest and Wild Shropshire Review - Would we go back?
As you can tell by this write-up, we absolutely loved our stay at the Rest and Wild Cabin and will undoubtedly go back. In fact, we said that due to the benefits we felt from being in a remote cabin, we’d probably like to do a similar getaway every six months to escape from the mad rush of the city.
Not only do these cabins make you feel refreshed, but they’re also the perfect escape to nature with stunning views combined with a wholesome feel that is so good for the soul.
Again, a big thanks to the Rest and Wild team, who will soon reveal a new site in the south of the UK that we are hoping to visit when it opens!
