Gaze out onto the Welsh landscape in good conscience

THE TIMES, SATURDAY APRIL 30 2005

CHECKING IN ECOCABIN, OBLEY, SHROPSHIRE

A YEAR ago, farmer’s wife Kate Grubb was cleaning self-catering cottages in the South Shropshire Hills to earn some cash after the birth of her daughter.

Appalled by the endless waste generated by holiday-makers who came from outside the area bringing bundles of supermarket-bought food and spending little locally, she matched a £29,000 Rural Enterprise Scheme Grant from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and built Ecocabin on her family’s farm.

I found her creation in a secluded valley, where the cabin’s wooden porch looks out towards the Long Mynd and Wales. Built entirely from recycled or reclaimed materials, and using renewable energy sources, the cabin has walls and floors made of local Douglas fir and ash, strengthened by reed boards and insulated with sheep’s wool. Inside, walls are adobe-smooth, painted with non-toxic paints in lemon and off-white. Solar panels heat the water in summer, while winter heat comes from a wood-pellet stove.

Kate has added contemporary furniture, with crafts made by local artists. The kitchen has a Belfast sink, a 1950s dresser and a worktop made from recycled yoghurt pots (flecked with the silver lids). Tiles are made by a local ceramicist, a colourful "painting” is actually melted-down wellington boots, and the recycled furniture is chic and sleek.

The cabin sleeps four (one double, one twin) with organic cotton bedding, naturally dyed in blues or yellows. I had a preserved-heather foam bath, washed my hair with organic aloe vera, and soaked the dishes In chemical-free liquid. I made soup from organic vegetables which I ordered from a list of goodies from small-scale local producers. Other buys included smoked salmon, WeobIey butter, fruit cake and eggs. I prepared the veg on the porch, scattered the peelings in the wormery, then raised my glass of blackberry and elderberry wine to the lambs in the field.

When the grass has grown and Kate’s newly planted cooking-apple and pear tees and native wildflowers sprout, the garden will not look so bare. Some guests might not like being adjacent to the farm with its cows, sheep and birdsong, but it makes for an interesting morning alarm call. Each day I walked a different route over pastures or along the hawthorn hedge lanes without meeting a soul. You can hire or bring your own bicycles, or explore using the shuttle bus.

If you love the outdoors, your planet - and sheep - this is an impressive retreat in which to eat proper food and practise the art of sustainable living.

LEE KAREN STOW

Bottom line: £400-£550 a week or £75-85 a night for four people. Two-night minimum stay.
Sampling the fare: a "buy-local" shopping service for an additional £5 collection charge.
Need to know: Ecocabin (01547 530183, www.ecocabin.co.uk), Obley, nr Bucknell, Shropshire (15 miles from Ludlow).
Cabin: 9.5 out of 10.
Food: 10 out of 10.