Welcome to The Warren Forest Garden and Eco Cabins, Clive and Julie’s ecological household, garden and woodland on the beautiful Black Isle, 13km north of Inverness in the Highlands of Scotland. As well as being our home, we offer eco friendly accommodation and creative residencies. Our focus is Permaculture, gardening with nature, arts, crafts, creativity and living lightly on the planet..
The household and gardens here are being nurtured using design and techniques to create a balanced ecosystem for people, plants and animals while also adapting to the unfolding climate and ecological crisis. We have a mosaic of meadows, forest gardens, mixed woodland, wildlife ponds and bog garden, a kitchen garden growing vegetables, salads, herbs, fruit, polycultures of wild flowers for insects and pollinators, all on 2.5 acres (1 hectare). Organic and no dig methods create healthy soil and closed loop systems ensure nothing is wasted, for example composting, wormeries, mulching, reusing/upcycling materials, and wood processing for firewood and construction.
We’ve been a part of the network of Permaculture LAND (Learning Action Network Demonstration) Centre, under the name Black Isle Permaculture & Arts, since 2018. A LAND centre is a place where guests and visitors can see how the ethics, principles, nature connection and design processes which make up ‘Permaculture’ have been applied to the physical site and how we try to live more lightly on the planet here.
OUR ACCOMMODATION
We invite you to stay in one of our cosy and comfortable woodland eco cabins, which we self built as we wanted to make them unique, sustainable and somewhere that we would love to stay ourselves! Combining environmentally friendly features, artistic touches and rustic charm, the Green Tourism Gold rated cabins are ideal for eco conscious travellers who want to experience simple living! We have two self contained cabins sited in our small woodland, called Siskin and Coll Cabin. The names are derived from the place and nature around them. Siskin is a small bird which is common around the woods. Coll is Hazel in the Ogham ancient medieval tree alphabet, and in Celtic mythology Hazel is associated with wisdom, creativity and knowledge.
SISKIN CABIN
Siskin Cabin sleeps two in a double bed, and is a compact, cosy space with a woodburner, dining/seating area, cooking facilties in a small kitchenette, a bathroom with bucket shower and compost toilet, and a tranquil outdoor deck looking over the woods and fields. Siskin cabin opened in August 2020.
Coll Cabin is our slightly larger space, and was completed in March 2022. It also sleeps two in a comfortable double bed, with a bucket shower and compost toilet in the bathroom. This cabin has a larger living space and kitchen with fridge and cooker, a woodburner and also a desk/workspace area if you are looking for a relaxing and creative space.
Wer die Ruhe sucht, wird diese wahnsinnig liebevoll gestaltete Unterkunft lieben! Die Holzhütte ist super gemütlich und lädt zum Verweilen ein. Die Lage in einem kleinen Wäldchen ist ideal, um nach einem anstrengenden Tag zu entspannen. Der Gastgeber Clive ist sehr freundlich und gibt viele gute Tipps zur Umgebung. Insgesamt absolut empfehlenswert!
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Jeannine
30 Jul 2024
Der Aufenthalt in der kleinen Hütte im Wald war super, um ein paar Tage abzuschalten. Einfach mal nichts machen und die Ruhe genießen konnte man dort sehr leicht. Mein Highlight war der kleine Kamin für den bereits Feuerholz bereitliegt, wenn man eincheckt. Insgesamt ein super tolles Airbnb.
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Eva
10 Aug 2023
Clive’s cabin was amazing, a clean and cozy space with everything you need in a lovely setting. Easy to reach by public transport and close to lovely walks!
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Rosa
05 May 2024
Clive was a great host. Very attentive. The cabin was very nice and the location was fantastic and very easy to find.
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Nik
02 Jun 2024
This was an unforgettable stay and we loved every minute especially having a tour of the site and an insight into permaculture. The eco hut is comfortable and well designed and there were so many little touches that made us feel welcome and at home.
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Georgia
24 Aug 2021
Such a beautiful cabin, with thoughtful touches. Perfect place to explore from, our use as a cosy cabin to hide away and relax. The woodburner keeps you lovely and toasty. Close to Inverness, we used as a stop off on our NC 500 trip. Clive was so accommodating and helped us out. We cannot recommend enough!
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Faye
27 Oct 2020
Clive and Julie provided us with not just an opportunity to recharge, but a chance to learn and think, and completely on our own terms. A beautiful space, exactly as advertised, which I would highly recommend.
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Kenny
18 Jul 2022
The cabin was in a lovely private area and was very comfortable. We were doing the NC500 and it was a good base to go and see the things we wanted to see. The host was very accommodating, and offered some great suggestions for sight seeing and places to eat. I would certainly recommend staying here!
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Richard
16 Aug 2021
Fantastic little cabin, wonderful hosts and a great weekend. If you're couple looking for a cosy spot to light a fire and enjoy some time away, this is the place. Definitely get the breakfast box!
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Kavan
18 Oct 2020
We had a really nice stay here. The cabin was as described and is surrounded by Clive’s beautiful garden. It’s lovely waking up with the view of the trees right in front of you. We also really liked exploring the black isle for a day so definitely don’t skip this beautiful part of Scotland!
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Geert
20 Jun 2024
Nice peaceful cottage
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Philipp
07 Jul 2024
From the time of our booking until the morning of our departure, Clive and Julie provided us with warm, top hospitality and did everything in their power to make our trip to the Black Isle a memorable one. This stay was totally unique in offering a glimpse into sustainable methods of living, while still providing the traveller with a high level of comfort. (Seriously, the bed alone is worth a go.) We were particularly impressed by their shower system, cute wee kitchen set-up, yummy homemade breakfast hamper. Not to mention, the efforts made to ensuring everything in the cabin is eco/sustainable, down to soft-furnishings. As hosts ourselves, we're kinda switched on to the details and this space just works so well. Clive and Julie even made themselves available to show us around their gorgeous permaculture garden and answer many of our questions about how they make it all happen. Hired a car for three days and made it to Ullapool, Findhorn, a few local towns and lovely nature sites including Ben Wyvis. (Well worth the climb, if you're up for a hike!) We'll be sending friends and family in our footsteps - too good not to. A beautiful weekend for any couple, solo traveller or pair of friends, we cannot thank Clive and Julie enough for sharing their ecocabin expereince with us.
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Pete
10 Aug 2020
If you are interested in learning more and getting some hands on experience, then get in touch about our occasional day volunteering opportunities. We also welcome visitors by appointment, drop us an email if you are interested in visiting or volunteering [email protected]