TipToe Retreat
After a rather frantic week on the building site and a weekend of baby cuddles and toddler chasing with my niece & nephew, I was all primed and ready for a solo escape to a treetop cabin. Dave and Pinto were holding the fort in fife so I gleefully popped some very loud Greatest showman songs on and hit the road.
I had been booked in to visit Tiptoe last September, but we had to reschedule due to the pesky kidney stone which played havoc with my schedule last year. So the anticipation was high after Rosie kindly allowed me to reschedule my stay to April this year. Having seen the fantastic drone footage of the two treetops cabins at Tiptoe, I was so excited to see them in person, and they were even more impressive in person.
I love the drive through the Larriemuir Hills, the wild, meandering road, heather strewn hills and many free roaming sheep - it feels miles from Edinburgh yet is just outside. I crossed the border and headed into North Northumberland, an area I haven’t visited before. The sun was shining, the hedgerows bursting with life, the oilseed rape is in full bloom and glistening against the blue skies - it felt like Northumberland was putting on a show for my arrival. Tiptoe is a luxury retreat, offering a series of comfortable, high end accommodation options surrounded by farmland and on the bank of River Till. As well as the two eco-cabins there is the option of staying in a cottage nestled within a beautiful orchard or a quaint traditional farm cottage. All the accommodation options are dog friendly and have been thoughtfully furnished and curated to create the perfect, comfortable home from home.
I pulled up outside Brock, an ancient word for Bagder, one of the two eco cabins set in the fields overlooking the River Till surrounded by towering trees and with endless views across to the Cheviot Hills. Opening the door of the wooden clad cabin and walking into the kitchen/living room glowing with late afternoon sun streaming through the expansive glazing was a true treat. The cabins have been built with a focus on comfort, light and cosiness. There is an expansive balcony which sits amongst the treetops on the bank leading to the river below, so you really feel like you are floating in the forest both when outside on the balcony and from inside due to the generous sliding doors and windows on the side of the cabin facing the woods.
I immediately wanted to curl up on the superking bed, above which sits a stargazing window. There was a well equipped modern kitchen and a lovely bundle of delicious local provisions supplied by Rosie of Tiptoe, including some amazing bread baked on site by Pauline Beaumont.As part of your stay there is a range of activities you can do, from bread making lessons to a personal pilates session in your cabin, a calming reiki experience, a whip round the country lanes on an e-bike or a chance to try your hand at fly fishing on the River Till. You could easily spend a week here and wake your way through the many experiences on offer. Whilst I didn’t have time for any with a casting quota to fulfil, I was very thankful for my delicious bread, local honey and ground coffee. After unloading my pop up studio, I headed off into the fields around the cabin, following the farm tracks for an evening stroll on the hunt for botanicals to create my intaglios and pieces for the cabin.
There was plenty to work with, the path took me down the banks to the walking track that leads along the fishing spots on the River Till. The primroses were in abundance, as well as the bluebells, campion, dead nettle, flowering currant, rowan and lots of new plants I had to look up when I got back from my foraging trip.
After placing my finds in some water, I wasted no time in getting the amazing mirrored woodland sauna fired up. I love an OOD house and am a huge fan of their amazing mirrored cabins, but never been inside one before - let alone a sauna version and it was amazing. Mirrored on all sides, you truly feel like you are in the trees. A private, hot woodland cocoon – what a way to end my first night at Tiptoe. I emerged, cleansed and refreshed and headed back to the cabin for dinner on the balcony, accompanied by the sound of birds and the distant gentle, enchanting sound of the River Till rushing by beneath the cabin. I woke early after a refreshing sleep in the unbelievably comfy bed and headed straight out to get to work after a morning coffee on the deck in the sunrise. I set up a temporary casting studio on the edge of the field and spent a happy few hours in nature casting away.
By mid morning the breeze had picked up quite a bit and I headed inside to fry up a storm, with my breakfast hamper goodies from local butcher. It was quite chilly and the wind had whipped up a bit during my morning casting session, so I lit the wood burning stove and cosied down with a cup of coffee and a delicious breakfast of bacon, black pudding, mushrooms, roasted tomatoes, free range eggs and a slice of freshly baked bread in front of a roaring fire.
After I was nicely roasted and sated I headed down to the River bank with my casting tools to continue creating. Having grown up by the sea I am always comforted being near water and rolling clay in the sunshine on the river bank, with the water gurgling past and the gentle sound of a fly fisherman casting nearby I felt truly at peace and in the zone. I took myself for a wander along the river bank path whilst the plaster dried, and may have curled up in the sunshine for a quick outdoor siesta before returning to my intaglios to reveal the impressions made with river bank foliage.
So far, it was turning out to be a pretty great Tuesday and it was about to get better as I cranked up my favourite mirrored sauna for another evening sweat. This is an evening tradition I definitely need to carry forward in my life….I spent the rest of my evening googling how to build a home sauna curled up on the comfy sofa.
I woke up on my last morning sad that my time has passed so quickly, but also so thankful for such a relaxing and inspiring stay. As a big bath girlie I decided to end on a high and treat myself to a last Tiptoe luxury and have a morning soak in the outdoor jacuzzi bath. Filled to the brim with the lovely Laura Thomas bath bubbles and with a coffee in hand as the jacuzzi fizzed around me, listening to the sound of the morning bird call I knew this was a moment I would return to in my head in stressful times. After a last balcony feast of a breakfast roll using the remaining goodies from my breakfast hamper provisions I packed up the car. I took some pictures of my intaglios around the glorious Tiptoe interior, the glorious green panelled coat hanging area was the perfect backdrop.
I waved goodbye to Tiptoe knowing I will definitely be back after such a wonderful stay. I hit the road back to the building site and my boys feeling energised, squeaky clean and buoyant after a truly wonderful stay. Thank you for having me - I can’t recommend a stay at Tiptoe highly enough.
This was another special stop on my Botanical Grand Tour - a project inspired by the Grand Tour traditions of the 18th century, where travellers collected plaster intaglios as souvenirs of their journeys.
My version is rooted here in the UK, capturing the flora and seasonal landscapes of each place I visit through flower casting. It’s a quieter, more personal interpretation - one centred around place, seasonality, and a female perspective on this historic tradition.
If you’d like to follow along with the journey, you can explore other stops on the blog. And if you own a cabin (or know someone who does) and would like to be part of the Grand Tour, I’d love to hear from you - I create a bespoke artwork for each stay as part of the exchange.
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