Rent a log cabin
A log cabin is built from horizontal logs or beams, stacked on top of each other and notched together at the corners. The wood is the wall, inside as well as out, with no render in front of it. That is why it smells of timber indoors. What separates it from an ordinary holiday house is not the size but the way it is built, because a log cabin can be a single room or a house with several bedrooms. Old buildings of this kind stand above all in the Alps and in northern Europe, while new ones now mostly arrive prefabricated and are put up on site.
What to check before booking
- Round logs or milled beams?
- Both are called a log cabin. A natural log stays round and uneven in thickness; a milled beam lies straight and looks tidier. The photographs show the difference at once.
- How is it heated?
- A wood stove, an open fire or radiators on the wall. With a stove it does not get warm at the push of a button, and the question is whether wood is laid in. Anyone booking in winter settles that beforehand.
- Is it built for winter?
- Not every cabin is insulated. And not every pipe is laid against frost. Some are shut down in autumn and opened again in spring.
- What about water and the bathroom?
- Everything exists, from the fully fitted cabin to a dry toilet with a wash house next door. You read that before booking.
- How far do you drive, how far do you walk?
- Some cabins stand by the road, others at the end of a forest track that nobody clears in winter. Mobile coverage often ends there too.
- Is there mains electricity?
- Not everywhere. Small solar systems are set up for light and for charging phones, and far from all of them will stretch to a hairdryer or a hotplate. Anyone who brings devices along or wants to work asks about it.
Who it suits
Made for
For anyone who enjoys lighting the fire themselves. Couples and small families for whom an evening without a television does not drag. A lot is possible with a dog as well, as long as the host allows one and the cabin stands out in open ground.
Less so for
Anyone expecting a hotel will be disappointed. With a stove, heating stays manual work, and there is no signal at every forest edge. Old cabins are almost never step free, because the sill beam under the door belongs to the construction.
Where it comes from
Log building is one of the oldest timber techniques in Europe. At Lake Federsee in Upper Swabia archaeologists found houses of this kind dated to between 2880 and 2505 BC. It stayed common where straight grown conifers were available, in northern Europe and in the Alpine countries. On the Delaware, Swedish and Finnish settlers founded a colony in 1638, and historians trace the image of the log cabin back to them.
Good to know
The stove wants attending
Where heating is done with wood, lighting it and feeding it are part of the stay. Whether logs are laid in or bought yourself is something the host will say.
Water in winter
Not every pipe is laid against frost, which is why some cabins close over the cold months. Anyone searching for winter checks that first.
The last few metres
The way to the cabin is not always surfaced, and in winter not always cleared. With a low car or a trailer, ask about the access beforehand.
