Why an eco-cabin?

At times we’ve even asked ourselves that question! There were a number of much easier and cheaper alternatives to providing holiday accommodation at Hope Cottage but we wanted to create something that would have a minimal environmental impact but maximum sustainability and improve the existing site.

Faith, Hope and Charity the three cottages have been on this site for over 140 years. They were built as mine managers cottages and the land that Heartstone Cabin sits on had buildings on it ‘for the amenity of the mine workers’. Over time various sheds and garages occupied the site and that is how an old tin roofed work shop came to be rebuilt as an eco-cabin.

The Highlands of Scotland are very beautiful and through visits and family connections we both became inspired and enchanted by its grandeur and wilderness. We had also seen how tourism had become essential to the economy of the region but could if not managed correctly have an adverse impact on the area we therefor wanted to ensure that any venture we undertook would have minimal impact on its environment.

There were a number of elements in our aspirations to build an eco-friendly, low impact holiday let.

Heartstone Cabin is built from timber sourced from sustainable forest and erected by local craftsmen, (another factor was that we would use local skills where ever we could).

We can recommend a visit to Fynwoods workshop in Dunoon it will soon become obvious why we used their team of craftsmen.

Going off-grid (with the cabins electricity being supplied by solar power and with the composting toilet) is part of an ongoing strategy in the way forward with the cabin which with regard to its eco footprint continues to be a work in progress. We are very much looking into what other forms of renewable energy we could use.

We are both keen to recycle, reuse and upcycle so elements of the cabin have been recycled or up cycled, eg. even the wooden pallets that the cabin arrived on have been repurposed.

So Heartstone Cabin is a very personal build, much of it is hand built and crafted, it has also been a learning experience for us and has brought a greater awareness of the consequences’ and cost on our environment of our modern life style. Using renewable energy makes you mindful and aware that every bit of energy we use has a cost and consequence.