The Wellbeing Cabin, born of a collaboration between Unplugged and Healf, has been designed to help you slow down, reset, and recharge. Ahead, one editor's honest staycation review.
Unplugged’s aesthetic cabins regularly decorate my FYP — ironic, as the premise is to switch out your smartphone for an early 2000s Nokia, fitted with Snake but free from all socials, allowing you to engage in a short-but-sweet digital detox.
If I’m honest, countless summers spent sleeping on a damp ground sheet at Girl Guide Camp almost put an end to my camping career. But it was easy with Unplugged – wellies and wheelbarrows on offer at the entrance, and pre-chopped wood available round the clock. The only thing on the agenda? Rest and reconnection.
I can’t say unplugging is something I do often – or at all – my screen time regularly exceeding seven hours. Yet, without endless demands to ‘spend the day with me’ from content creators I have more contact with than some members of my family, I had the time and space to mentally wander.
Top of mind? How rarely I sit in silence, my life admin performed alongside a soundtrack of reality TV or Greg James. And as I sat staring at the fire we’d built ourselves, I realised that I needed this escape for more than to break up with TikTok.
How it works: upon arriving at your wooden cabin fitted with a double bed, rainfall shower, fully-equipped kitchen, various board games and an outdoor fire pit, you’re asked to place your phone in a lockbox for the extent of your stay. In return, you’re supplied with an instant camera and a 10-pack of film to capture the highs. And for those concerned, the eco-composting toilet, aside from the fact that you don’t flush, is no different to yours at home.
Though the Wellbeing cabin, better known as Helix and located in the heart of the Five Hundred Acre Wood, has been designed in partnership with wellness retailer, Healf and kitted out with a few wellness extras to bring about holistic healing. Most extravagant? A five-seater sauna (despite the venue only sleeping two) and a Monk ice bath.
On arrival, I was reluctant to see what thoughts (and anxieties) came up. Of course, being in the woods with my best friend, whom I’d convinced to join me by selling it as the ultimate girls’ sleepover, I knew I’d be physically safe. But free from intrusive thoughts? Perhaps not.
Instead, I set about tuning the battery-powdered radio, making a Dirtea Matcha and testing out the red light therapy plate in a bid to keep my hands and brain busy. I was also the first to suggest a temporary return to civilisation. All Unplugged sites are only up to two hours from the closest city.
Helix is only a 10-minute drive from multiple farm shops (Perryhill wins for fresh produce and homebaked goods) and the local village of Hartfield, which is home to Pooh Corner — a tea room that serves as a honeypot for tourists and locals alike. The Bear Pub is also worth a visit, if only to pick up a Chorizo Scotch Egg for your 6km walk back to camp.
Once fed, watered and walked, I had time to mull. Read on for the thoughts, musings and revelations that littered my (handwritten) notes page over the course of 67 hours:
- I’m a silent member of far too many WhatsApp groups. It’s not that I don’t want to know what’s going on, or be part of our running commentary on the Real Housewives happenings, but would meaningful conversations with a few make me feel more fulfilled?
- I need to make more space in my life for silence. While we were free of Netflix, Spotify, and TikTok, we turned to the radio a lot. Why am I uncomfortable in silence?
- Silence chronicles continued. I think it’s because I’m scared of the space silence offers, and what venturing into that empty void might bring up.
- I don’t drink enough water. Ever. Must rectify that on my return to the office.
- The Amanda-Wes Summer House drama is my Roman Empire. Never did I think I’d be team Kyle. Also, we need Paige Desorbo’s reaction.
- More silent thoughts. I’m not sure where my belief that silence means you don’t have chemistry or a bond comes from. Being comfortable enough to embrace soundlessness is the ultimate sign of connection.
- Going off-grid is a great way to bond. No performing for others’ Instagram stories or scheduling future catch-ups. Instead, you’ve got the time to reveal your inner workings and find more mutual points of connection.
- I’m not sold on cold plunges. I’m not sure I enjoy the sensation of prickly toes and the slowing of my heart rate.
- More saunas. I am, however, entirely sold on the warm alternative. See me enjoying a dose of dopamine at a sauna social club near you soon.
- I need to invest in one of these robes. Kudos, Piglet in Bed.
- The world is becoming too automated; too slick. We may have been praising the practicalities of ChatGPT in the car — for my editor reading this, used only to re-order my inbox — but I enjoyed the fact we couldn’t build a big enough fire to feed the sauna on day one. We didn’t have Claude to ask for tips, and there’s bonding and a story in getting it wrong.
- Physical wellness is easier to find. A good night’s sleep, good food, and regular doses of fresh air do wonders.
- Nature offers a decent dopamine boost. We were most excited when watching ducks swim in the lake or deer grazing at dusk.
- I’m always waiting for the perfect conditions. ‘I’ll start writing my book when I’ve got an entirely free Sunday.’ ‘I’ll be happy at work when I’m earning triple figures’. No more.
- Will I ever remember how to play Rummy? Confession: I had to retrieve my phone to Google the rules.
Essentially, Helix is like creating a den as a kid. It allows for an escape from the outside world. The only difference here is that this wellness retreat is kitted out with a linen-adorned double bed, a sauna, and will certainly bring on a sense of self-connection hard to find in a world of smartphones and overstimulation. See me checking in for another life assessment next Spring.
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