Guest experience of the Charcoal Huts

All I can hear is rustle of the leaves in the upper branches of the alder all around The Charcoal Hut. We are in Birch, at is happens, not Alder, which is the lower of the two Huts. Actually, it is not by chance, we’ve chosen our off-grid Hut to be Birch, since it’s our second time here, in Moss Wood, at the southern end of Bute Community Forest. We loved the view the first time we stayed… and we love it now.

My wife and I sit on the larch-wood decking, larch that I know is from the Community Forest itself, as is the larch that clads the interior. Our two children are inside the Hut.. surprisingly quiet (in fact ominously silent), although I know the Huts are snug and pretty soundproof. They’re inside making sure the stove is well lit and that the Hut remains cosy and warm. It certainly was last night…. perfectly cosy, a contrast to the chilled are outside. It's September and it’s my birthday weekend. The Charcoal Huts are my destination of choice. The sky overhead is starry – the brilliance of the stars a pleasant shock. I read that the best northern constellations this time of year are Cygnus, Delphinus, Vulpecula and Equuleus but I could not tell you where they are…..but the sheer number of stars visible to my naked eye is simply astounding.

There is an early autumn tang to the air now the sun has gone down. A late heron raises its raspy cry into the night. Most of the birds have settled for the night and the bats, visible at twilight, can no longer be seen. There is a shuffling – and a low grunting – away to our left, likely to be one of the many Moss Wood resident hedgehogs, sounding rather large in the stillness of the night. I imagine the ethereal hoot of a tawny owl, perhaps it’s the one that nested here last year, or one its young.

There is no better way to escape the busy-ness of life than here at The Charcoal Huts, on the edge of Moss Wood, looking north up the Kyles of Bute towards Loch Riddon, the Cowal Hills silhouetted against night almost as black, but not quite. The day was full, a long Forest walk through the old oak woodland, a swim in the sea (well, I confess, my wife did this), a barbeque on the shore. The wildlife was around us all day, on the ground, in the sky, in the sea, even the nature we did not see, such the otters that we are know to be here. A really love couple of days. But don’t take my word of it…. Try for yourself…. And experience the magic of the outdoors.