Our Approach

How we built a lower-impact Dorset retreat

We’re Scott and Caroline. Scott is an architect and Caroline is a furniture buyer, and we designed and built The Bide ourselves. From the start we wanted to show that a small holiday cabin could be beautiful, comfortable all year round, and lighter on the landscape than a typical build.

We don’t claim to be perfect, or carbon neutral. This page sets out exactly what we’ve done, what we chose and why, and what we’re still working on.

Adding to Dorset, not taking from it

Second homes and holiday lets put real pressure on housing in Dorset, and we’re very aware of that. The Bide hasn’t taken a single home away from local people. Both cabins were purpose-built from scratch on farmland, not converted from an existing house or cottage.

Our planning permission restricts the cabins to holiday use only, and Dorset Council was keen that they serve visitors. They can’t be lived in as permanent homes or sold off as housing. That means every stay brings visitors and spending into the area — local pubs, farm shops, producers and the farm itself — without reducing the housing available to people who live and work here.

Supporting the farm

The Bide sits on Hewish Farm, a working family farm near Milton Abbas. We rent a strip of land from the farmer that was once poor-quality grazing, land that never earned its keep for livestock.

Today that strip is doing far more. The rent gives the farm a steady second income, one that doesn’t rise and fall with livestock prices, weather or harvests. This kind of farm diversification helps keep small Dorset farms working. And because the land no longer needs to be grazed, it can be given back to nature: the farmer has already planted trees as part of a rewilding scheme, and there’s room to re-plant further as the years go on.

So your stay supports a working farm and helps turn a tired field into woodland, hedgerow and wildlife habitat. It also means the cabins sit lightly on land that was never good farmland, rather than taking anything from the farm’s productive fields.

Booking direct means 100% of your payment stays with us and the local rural economy, with no platform commission going out of Dorset.

The structure: WikiHouse, CNC fabrication and FSC timber

The Bothy is built using WikiHouse, an open-source building system. Its frame is made from FSC-certified timber sheets, cut to millimetre precision by a CNC machine and then bolted together by hand. Because the parts are digitally cut to exactly what’s needed, offcuts and site waste are minimal, and there’s no wet concrete-heavy construction.

We assembled the Bothy on a driveway in Lincolnshire, then brought it to Dorset, where it was towed into position by tractor. This kept disruption to the farm to a minimum.

The Nest followed in 2025. It uses structural insulated panels (SIPs), a factory-made timber system that goes up quickly and seals tightly. Its distinctive timber shingles were also cut by CNC.

Insulation: sheep’s wool and wood fibre

Instead of plastic-based foams, the Bothy is insulated with sheep’s wool and wood fibre. Both are natural, renewable and low in embodied carbon. They also manage moisture well and keep the cabin feeling calm and even in temperature, cosy in January and cool in July.

Both cabins are triple-glazed and built to be very airtight. That means less heat escapes, so less energy is needed to keep you warm.

Ventilation and energy

Because the cabins are so airtight, fresh air is managed by MVHR (mechanical ventilation with heat recovery). It continuously brings in fresh, filtered air and recovers heat from the stale air going out. You get clean air without throwing warmth away.

A low-waste stay

  • Refillable toiletries from Fill, with no single-use miniatures

  • Recycling and food-waste composting

Local Suppliers

We’d rather your money stayed in the South West, so we’ve chosen independent, local businesses wherever we can, especially ones that share our approach.

  • Bad Hand Coffee. The coffee in your cabin comes from an independent roastery in Bournemouth. They roast daily from a converted warehouse in Bournemouth’s Triangle, pack their coffee in home-compostable bags, and roast using solar power.

  • Naturalmat. Our super-king & king mattresses are handmade in Devon. They’re organic and chemical-free, and found in some of the world’s best hotels.

  • Wessex Internet. Even our Wi-Fi is local. Wessex Internet is an independent Dorset broadband provider, founded in 2010 by a Dorset farmer who struggled to get an affordable connection himself. They bring full-fibre broadband to rural areas that the big providers often deem too remote to serve, so you get fast, reliable Wi-Fi in the middle of the countryside. dorsetlifedealroom

  • Langham Wine Estate, nearby for award-winning English sparkling wine

  • Steepton Bill farm shop for breakfast hampers

  • Weymouth Bike Hire, who deliver e-bikes to the cabin door