Burnout Boltholes
Places to bookmark for those times when you want to escape the world.
Sometimes I worry that I’ve forgotten what boredom feels like, certainly the type I experienced as a child when I’d mooch around the house declaring to any one who would listen: I’m bored! What can I do?!
Of course the entire point of boredom is to do nothing except perhaps to create a little space in your soul. Sitting, thinking, walking, resting - these are things I actively try to make room for in my life nowadays, because good things happen when you’re bored. Important answers swim to the top.
I realised this last year when, after a bout of bad health that left me with what doctors now believe is vagus nerve syncope(I basically faint a bunch like those Victorian ladies in tight corsets, which is terribly inconvenient when on British Rail) I took myself off to the Norwegian wilderness. My days were spent lighting fires, taking forest walks, pouring baths and just sitting in the complete stillness of the world around me. It did not cure me, of course, but it did help. It recalibrated my thoughts and it made me comfortable, nay appreciative of the nothingness.
So today I wanted to share with you my favourite round-up of the best boltholes to do exactly that in: nothing. I have been to many of them, and those I have not been to have I have bookmarked for visiting at a later date. Because it’s me I’ve not put any deserted cabins in here where you have to fetch your own firewood and there’s no flushing toilet. Not my thing, as you probably know by now.
Anyway, have a wonderful, still Sunday (even if it’s just for ten minutes) wherever you are in the world.
Farrah x
When I close my eyes at night and imagine the dream home it’s not unlike Velvet House’s first outpost in Normandy, Seine Loops- a storybook thatched cottage with a row boat, a wooden deck for reading, a floating sauna to chase up a morning dip in the lake- and of course, no neighbours. Gaspard Konrad is the stylish Parisian reimagining what the country house experience looks and feels likes in France with his new holiday rental company-Velvet House. The concept for all his properties is the same: they must be within 2 hours of a major French city, have chic interiors and every home must be bathed in nature. Seine Loops looks insanely restful and sleeps four in total- though truth be told, when a house is this good, who wants to share it?
The private island of Eilean Shona on the west coast of Scotland has been on my hit list for years. There are several cottages to choose from and not a dud amongst them. A couple of the cottages such as South Shore Cottage are completely off-grid for that total Robinson Crusoe feeling but my favourite would be Sail Loft which sits on the edge of the water with panoramic views out to the loch. There is a Nordic sauna to warm you up after a wild swim and a balcony to drift to sleep on in the summer months. (Sleeps 4)