Photographs by Looking Glass Lodge, used with permission.
Fairlight, East Sussex, England
An architect-designed lodge with full-height smart-glass walls that turn opaque at the flick of a switch, hidden in private ancient woodland in the High Weald.
An architect-designed lodge with full-height smart-glass walls that turn opaque at the flick of a switch, hidden in private ancient woodland in the High Weald. As featured on George Clarke's Amazing Spaces. About an hour from London — the fastest route from the capital to total seclusion on this list. Book direct.
Best for: design lovers escaping London
There is no pathway lighting from the car parking area to the lodge; rechargeable lanterns are provided and they encourage arrival before dusk, asking for at least seven days' notice if you expect to arrive after dark in winter. All arrivals must be before 9pm, all year round, and the access track may be unsuitable for very low slung cars.
Rik and Lindsey
They live with their family in a converted coach house on the outskirts of the small village of Fairlight, on the edge of Mallydams Wood Nature Reserve, which Rik's parents established for the RSPCA in the 1960s. The lodge was sensitively built by local craftsmen.
Checked August 2026 · We re-verify prices and opening every quarter.
Castellina in Chianti, Siena · Sleeps 2–9
Fifteenth-century stone cottages on a family wine and olive estate in Chianti, between Siena and Florence.
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Granö · Sleeps 2–4
Bird's-nest cabins built from reclaimed timber high in the pines above the Ume river.
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Valldal, Møre og Romsdal · Sleeps 2–4
The original Norwegian landscape hotel: glass-walled rooms scattered through a river gorge, each angled so you cannot see another.
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