Our top UK off-grid holidays

All around there’s nothing but woodland and your only neighbours are the wildlife, so settle in, fire up the tub and, frankly, strip off if you want, because there’s nobody around to mind, or even notice. 

The outdoor shower is gas-powered and hot, so you’ll send coils of steam up into the ancient trees as you scrub. A biomass boiler provides heat for the farm and solar panels provide power for both the farm and the tipi.

Surrounded by woodland, nestled into the hillside and enclosed by a stream, this brilliantly designed pod has a modular bed that pulls apart during the day to become a table and chairs, a wood-burner to keep things cosy no matter the season, and windows set up high so you can stargaze in comfort at night. Bathing in the twin outdoor tubs is a very special experience indeed. Draw water from the stream with a handpump, heat it up in the special ghillie kettle and settle into a blissful soak surrounded by the sights and sounds of nature.

From the solar panels to the reclaimed beams and lambswool insulation, this is a place in perfect harmony with its environment. Outside you’ll find a fire pit for late night stargazing or al fresco cookery if you’re feeling wild. The bothy is off-grid, but lighting is powered by the solar panels and there’s charging for smaller devices. From November to February you might share the spot with grazing sheep, but other than that your nearest neighbours are over 500m away.

The Withywindle, hidden in a wild Devonshire meadow, 15-minutes walk away from the nearest building, is designed to blend into its rural surroundings and help you do the same. Spend your afternoons lazily constructing pizzas for the Ooni oven outside on the deck, or rustle up meals on the fire pit nearby, there are books to peruse and a massive outdoor bath to lie back and pretend to read them in. You can finish the day with a little quiet stargazing wrapped in blankets. Tina and her partner Adam fled the bustle of the city and have set about living their rural dream with admirable enthusiasm.

Not far from the coast, this off-the-grid hideaway is settled into the Norfolk countryside, where patches of woodland punctuate the endless patchwork fields. This is a perfect spot for a bit of a digital detox, swapping scrolling on glass screens for admiring views through glass panes.  

When you’re not adventuring, you can spend your time luxuriating on the deck, wandering the meadow, or even just kicking back in the wood-fired hot tub – enjoying some well-earned, real-life downtime.

Too much screen time can drive you up the wall, so head on out to a bus surrounded by nature, that can drive you… nowhere. And good thing too, as you won’t want to be anywhere else. With its own solar power and spring water, this spot feels like a tiny paradise designed to escape the modern world. 

Forget posting to the grid, you’re off it for a few days. Have lie ins in the bed, reading until the morning’s in full swing, take lunch at the al fresco table, have a drink by the firepit or simply spend the day wild swimming nearby.

Who needs the outside world, when your own little world looks like this? Take a break from the never-ending social feed and tap back into a life more wild. You can grab breakfast hampers from the farm, and decide whether you’re cooking up conventionally on the hobs, or if you’re going rustic – and cooking over the firepit.  

Once you’re well fed, you can decide whether you’re staying put to enjoy your very own field to yourselves, or if you’re heading further afield – exploring the locale for wild swimming spots, or heading further, perhaps to the sea.