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.
We had an amazing week staying at the cabin while we explored the Scottish Highlands. Clive and Julie were super friendly and helpful. The bread in the breakfast hamper was DELICIOUS. We loved staying in nature in a sustainable way and truly cannot recommend the stay enough!
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Naomi
25 Jul 2021
Wonderful little hut in the woods. Sustainable and easy, but still all you need is there. Great to relax. Very friendly and welcoming owners. We should have planned for a longer visit in this small and cosy house.
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Annika
09 Sep 2024
Clive had excellent tips on local activities. We took his recommendation to walk the ridge above Strathpeffer which was lovely! Gorgeous and peaceful cabin tucked away in the world’s most charming garden. Instructions on how to navigate the eco cabin amenities were clear and easy to follow. Would definitely recommend!
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Catalina
28 Jul 2024
It was a very pleasant stay at the cabin. It’s very quiet and is a unique experience. Everything there felt really relaxing and we would highly recommend staying here and indulging in the experience.
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Jari
19 Aug 2024
We absolutely loved our stay here- it is truly magical and Clive and Julie were wonderful. It’s all the little touches that make the stay from the flowers and mint tea to the gift for Andy’s birthday. And definitely order the hamper!! It was so tasty. What a lovely spot- we will definitely be back! 😉
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Sarah
01 Oct 2020
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
We had a fantastic time at Clive and Julie’s! They were so sincere, kind, and welcoming. They took the time to point out amazing local wildlife and gave us great information about the unique space they have built together. They were extremely responsive and went above and beyond to make sure we had a wonderful stay, providing us with maps and guides for the Isle of Skye, which we drove to as part of our trip to the highlands. They offered to take us on a tour of the property but unfortunately we ran out of time. The cabin was very comfortable and thoughtfully designed. The bucket shower was a big highlight for us 🙂 Overall, this was an inspiring visit to a very special place.
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Katie
18 Aug 2023
quite, remote and very peaceful exactly what we needed to recharge after a very active week
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Alex
04 Aug 2024
Beautiful and peaceful place. The cabin is surrounded by trees. Evenings and nights are very quiet (we spent the rest of the time sightseeing). Clive is very helpful and kind. We felt at home.
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Michał
24 Aug 2023
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
We had an amazing experience at Clive&Julie’s place! The surroundings are very beautiful and quiet and the cabin itself was very well equipped. The hosts have thought of every single details to make the place as comfortable as possible. From the forest view straight from the bed to the cozy fire chimney everything was fantastic! Thank you for hosting us, the cabin was the highlight of our trip 😊😍
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Alla
17 Aug 2024
Would recommend to stay here again, Clive and Julie were great hosts.
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Mollie
28 Jun 2021
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]