By Angela Green, Content Executive, H&C News: Sustainability remains the central focus for Outside rooms and spaces.
Treetops, rhododendron glades, stars over Ullswater… Another Place, The Lake launches its new Outside rooms and spaces to bring guests closer to the wild, while enjoying the inspired design and interior comforts the hotel is known for.
A large, secluded, contemporary treehouse with floor-to-ceiling views to the lake. Six beautifully handcrafted oak and tin shepherd huts with stargazing roofs over freestanding double beds.
A Victorian-style glasshouse hosting everything from woodfired feasts to garden yoga sessions. And a rebuilt ‘Sheep Shed’ lakeside cabin, for warm year-round changing, showers and wetsuit drying post-swim, paddleboard, kayak, and everything else that beckons on Britain’s second largest lake.
Another Place, The Lake has launched Outside: a collection of new rooms and spaces expanding its guest experience in a playful and imaginative way to give even more connection to the striking outdoor environment and active lifestyle that draws them there.
The highlight is a 70m2 architect designed treehouse with three different sections – two double bedrooms and a bathroom, in a secluded setting with striking views, and accessed by a walkway. Surrounded by oak, ash and yew trees on two sides, the other two sides have unbroken views across the lake and fells. A large outdoor deck houses a freestanding bath, while the inside features a log burner, sofa area, reclaimed oak floors and an interior design approach inspired by the hotel’s rooms and the acclaimed beach lofts at Watergate Bay.
The style is contemporary lake-living. Offering comfort whilst not distracting from the fantastic view. Using local suppliers and craftsmen, Matt Hulme from Dynargh Design has combined warm accent colours with wicker lampshades and natural tones, allowing the greens and browns from outside to become part of the design. The large sliding doors encouraging you out onto the deck.
“The treehouse is one of a kind, and the biggest accommodation on offer in any of our locations,” says Another Place, The Lake’s CEO Will Ashworth. “But the whole set – the treehouse, shepherd huts, Glasshouse and Sheep Shed – brings a new energy and buzz. We’re blending great hospitality and novel experiences with a sublime natural environment.”
For the three family and three couples’ shepherd huts, Will and his team have collaborated with the Blackdown Shepherd Hut company. With its workshop of expert joiners and craftspeople in Ilminster, Somerset, Blackdown is one of the UK’s leaders in creating high specification contemporary shepherd hut experiences.
Each unit comprises of a ‘brace’ of two shepherd huts, joined with a glass walkway. One side houses a double bed with stargazing roof and solid copper bath in a big double window; the other a lounge area, log burner and pantry (or an extra bunk room instead of the copper bath for the family huts). The three couples’ huts have lake views and are secluded by rhododendrons – but all of them have their own landscaped areas (designed by landscape architect Laurel Truscott) with a morning terrace decking, fire pits and bean bags for taking in the fresh air and big skies.
“They are absolutely charming,” says Will. “And the quality of artisan joinery within these huts – which are made of FSC-certified French oak – is exceptional. I’ve been bowled over by their quality.”
Matt Hulme, of Dynargh Design (who recently redesigned the hotel’s Georgian suites, as well as creating Watergate Bay’s beach lofts), has also worked closely with Blackdown and Harrison Pitt Architects (who designed the treehouse) to specify colours, textiles, interior lighting, fixtures and fittings that are a natural continuation of Another Place’s design philosophy.
Sustainability continues to be a central focus, with reclaimed flooring and tiles, 100% renewable electricity, and heating from the hotel’s biomass boiler. The treehouse is built on a wooden frame and uses an eco-screw pile system for the foundations, avoiding the need for concrete or damage to the mature trees in its setting.
The 14m x 5m Glasshouse, created by Hartley Botanic, sits in the gardens – the closest building to the lake shore – as a focal point for all hotel guests. It is next to the vegetable and herb patch, which will supply produce for Glasshouse chefs, and grow some edible plants inside – from tomato vines to fresh herbs. Guests can have breakfast, coffees, lunch, woodfired pizzas and feast nights – or do yoga and creative workshops in this flexible space. There will be a small terrace outside, for making the most of the lake and mountain views in fine weather.
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