Cabins in the Forest of Dean

Who was Dean anyway? And do they mind us being in their forest?
Legendary actor James Dean, ignoring the warnings of Alec Guinness, bought a huge swathe of Gloucestershire. Ok that’s not true, but the origin of the name is in fact unclear. Some say it derives from the old word for hillfort, “din”. Another theory is that the area, once so heavily populated by Danes that it was called Danubia, lead to the forest being “of the Danes”. Dane became Dene became Dean and it bears their name to this day. Whatever you choose to believe about the etymology, you are very welcome to bike and hike the trails, enjoy the outdoor sculpture and settle into some fine glamping spaces.

What is there to do in the Forest of Dean?
Well, as you can imagine, there are a lot of woodland walks, but we’ve got a soft spot for the 4.5-mile sculpture trail. The route winds among the trees taking in some incredible works, like massive stained-glass installations hanging above the path and poetry carved onto monoliths. The Forest of Dean also borders the Wye Valley, so you can blend some woodland walking with canoeing, wild swimming or just a pint by the riverside.

Are the cabins all run by you?
Well, no. Canopy & Stars doesn’t actually own any cabins. What we do is travel the country, looking for incredible, creative people building fabulous things. And we find a lot of them. When we see one we like, we stay overnight, chat to the owner, check out the local area and make a decision on whether or not it’s good enough for our collection. So every cabin we have in the Forest of Dean, or anywhere, is on our site because we’ve been there and we love it.

I only book with really nice companies though...
That's ok, we're lovely. We're a B Corp, which means we've been certified to the highest standard of ethical and environmental consideration, but we've also built impact into our company structure. We're part-owned by a charitable trust that supports environmental causes and we have a Sustainability and Impact Manager, whose sole responsibility is to find ways for us to limit any negative impact we have and do as much good as possible. You can read more about our impact projects, our strategy and the challenges we've faced in our full and transparent impact report.