Stay in Handcrafted Eco Cabins on Scotland’s Black Isle
Welcome to The Warren, our home and a low-impact eco retreat nestled in a thriving forest garden on the beautiful Black Isle in the Scottish Highlands. We’re a small-scale, low-impact homestead offering two off-grid eco cabins in our regenerative woodland. Our life here is rooted in permaculture, creativity, and care for the land. Whether you’re here to explore the Black Isle or simply slow down, you’re warmly welcome.
Here, sustainability, creativity, and connection to nature shape everything we do. Our off-grid cabins offer a peaceful base for exploring the Highlands or simply slowing down and enjoying quiet days in nature.
A Warm Welcome to Our Eco Cabins
Our two handcrafted eco cabins, built with care and natural materials, are designed for simple, sustainable living. They blend rustic charm with thoughtful design and creative touches, all in harmony with the land around them. The Warren has earned a Green Tourism Gold Award for its eco-friendly ethos.
Tucked into our peaceful forest garden, Siskin is a charming, off-grid tiny house for two.
Designed for low-impact living, it combines natural materials with simplicity, comfort, and creativity.
Inside you’ll find a woodburner, a cosy double bed with organic cotton linen, and a kitchenette with a gas hob. The bathroom has a compost toilet and a simple bucket shower.
Step through patio doors onto the deck overlooking woodland and open fields.
Wake to birdsong, relax under the trees, and enjoy slow days in nature.
Siskin Cabin is perfect for a restful eco retreat in the heart of the Highlands.
Coll Cabin is our slightly larger space, and was completed in March 2022. Fully equipped for a short stay or an extended escape, the cabin sleeps two people and is perfect for eco conscious travellers embracing slow, simple living.
The kitchen includes a fridge, gas cooker, and all you need for preparing simple meals.
There’s also a small desk, making it ideal for writing, sketching, or quiet work.
Outside, a spacious deck invites you to sit, eat, and watch the light change over the trees.
Enjoy morning coffee, listen to the birds, and feel part of the landscape.
Explore Siskin & Coll Cabins →
We chose the names Siskin and Coll Cabin taking inspiration from the place and nature around them. A Siskin is a small bird which is common around the woods. Coll means Hazel in the ancient Ogham tree alphabet, symbolising wisdom, creativity, and knowledge in Celtic mythology
What our guests think
What You’ll Experience Here
- Wake up to birdsong and enjoy forest bathing in your self catering off grid cabin
- Enjoy solar-powered comfort and simple living
- Walk to the waters edge of Beauly Firth via a ruined Castle
- Explore the Black Isle, watch Dolphins at Chanonry Point or walk up the Fairy Glen
- Take an optional tour of the gardens and learn about permaculture through your stay
- Or just relax and unwind in the woodland
- We live and work here, so you’ll often spot us tending the gardens if you fancy a chat
Creative, Regenerative Living
We’re Clive and Julie, and The Warren is where we’ve made our home on the Black Isle. What began as a neglected garden has grown into a thriving permaculture homestead. Here, we welcome guests to our eco cabins and live at a gentler pace, guided by the seasons. Most days you’ll find us in the gardens tending plants, or in the studio, bringing creative ideas to life. More About what we do →
Explore the Forest Garden
When we arrived in 2015, the land was mostly lawn and neglected woodland. Since then, we have worked to transform it into a rich mosaic of edible landscapes, wildlife habitats, and regenerative systems.
Designed with Nature
Using permaculture design principles, we’ve shaped the land with forest gardens, ponds, meadows, and no-dig beds. These systems nourish the soil, support pollinators, and grow beauty and abundance through the seasons.
We continue to learn, adapt, and design as the land evolves with us.
Arts, Making & Daily Creativity
Alongside nurturing the gardens and hosting guests, we make time for creative hobbies.
Clive is a visual artist working across painting, collage, photography, books, and site-specific responses to place. You can see some of his work online at Axisweb, SSA and VAS or when contributing to gallery exhibitions.
Julie brings a background in environmental science, along with a wide range of creative and practical skills. These include organic gardening, breadmaking, and food preserving. In particular, she enjoys sewing, knitting, upcycling textiles and making clothes.
Connect with us
To stay connected with life at The Warren—sign up for our Substack newsletter for updates on our eco cabins, forest garden, creative projects, and seasonal reflections from the Black Isle.
