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We’re celebrating May being National Walking Month with our heads bobbing in the open Lake District skies and feet pattering down a remote lane, leading to a dreamy holiday cottage.

Rest your head in one of our dreamy rural cottages this summer, enjoy escaping into your own world, letting imaginations run free and leave awakened, feeling refreshed and restored. The health benefits of a good night’s sleep are without doubt, just imagine having 14 dreamy nights.

Here’s 5 of our reasons why a rural cottage holiday this summer could be just the tonic you’re looking for PLUS 5 of the best rural summer cottages.

1. Stay Focused, Stop Phubbing

Phubbing definition:

?f?b??/

noun

informal

the practice of ignoring one’s companion or companions in order to pay attention to one’s phone or other mobile device.

The benefits of practising an anti-phubbing policy on holiday and enjoying a digital detox are well-researched. In fact, Google have recently launched well-being tools to help us manage our digital consumption, with screen-time tracking and management tools.

“People tell us a lot of the time they spend on their phones is really useful. But some of it they wish they’d spent on other things.” said Google’s vice president of product management Sameer Samat.

The summer days are dreamily long, however, and a family holiday away from the easy distractions of home analogue entertainment can be difficult.

So, we’re not talking about turning the WiFi off – yes, even our remote cottages have WiFi – but instead, set timers and stick to reduced screen-time allowances, especially during quality time such as meals or day trips.

Forest is a nice ‘phone addict’ app where you ditch your phone by planting a virtual seed in a Forest and if you’re successful at staying focused on the real world and being present, it will grow into a strong tree – just as your mind has grown from being present in real-time experiences.

 

Photo of Satterthwaite Farmhouse

Satterthwaite Farmhouse – sleeps 8. This 4 star, Gold Award 17th century farmhouse has been luxuriously refurbished and is the ideal place for large groups to get together and practise ‘being in the moment’ and anti-phubbing – snubbing people in favour of your mobile. It has WiFi and Freeview but we’re sure that this stunning rural location, a stone’s throw from a village pub, will bring families and friends together without the need for digital distractions. 

 

Book Satterthwaite Farmhouse in Hawkshead 

2. Quality Time with Loved Ones

Far from being tumble-down Little House on the Prairie cottages, our rural cottages include design-led dreamy spaces as well as luxury barn refurbishments. Unique accommodation, hand-picked because they are shining examples of thoughtfully fitted out holiday spaces, designed for you to maximise your precious quality time with friends, family and kids. A secluded Lake District location is hard to come by, offering truly unique views and scenery. They also provide owners with the perfect opportunity to be a little quirky too.

And these unusual and quirky styles are exciting and evoke feelings of fun. Long-lasting memories with loved ones are made in spaces like these, which is why families return time and again.

 

Photo of Raisthwaite Farm

Raisthwaite Farm – sleeps 5, 4 star, welcomes 2 pets, family friendly.  “We loved the ‘home from home’ atmosphere where we could relax over leisurely meals, do jigsaws and play games in the evenings. We had good weather and were able to enjoy lovely walks in the beautiful Lake District. It was great to have no internet!” DIANE CHADWICK, 19TH SEPTEMBER, 2017  This is such an exciting holiday cottage mainly because of its generosity of space, its magical orchard and quirky Victorian features. A holiday in a unique property like this is where life-long memories are made. Hide and seek has never been more fun in the oodles of indoor and outdoor space and quirky nooks and crannies. The window seats become foal points for taking in the huge views and the fun of a bedroom sink delights little guests. Yes, this is a property filled with happiness.

3. It’s Good For Your Health

Having beautiful outdoor scenery right on your doorstep, where you can take your morning cuppa in your pj’s up onto a fellside to watch the morning mists clear, means you will effortlessly spend a lot more hours of the long summer days outdoors than your normal day allows when staying in a remote holiday cottage. And time outdoors is just what doctors around the world are turning to when prescribing patients struggling with stress and anxiety.

Shinrin-yoku is forest bathing in Japan and the Finish government recommends a dose of time outdoors to help mental wellbeing. ‘The Nature Fix: Why Nature Makes Us Happier, Healthier, and More Creative’ by Florence Williams is on our summer reads book list.

Regardless of anxiety levels, we think that the following tonic from the book could help us all:

 

 ‘Take two trees and call me in the morning’. The Nature Fix.

 

Photo of Lavender Cottage

Lavender Cottage – sleep 2, 4 star and welcomes 1 dog. Surrounded by greenery, you will certainly rest easy during a stay at the beautifully soothing Lavender Cottage. You are sure to spend lots of time in this very generous, 2.5 acres, of garden with outdoor seating in a glorious sun trap, soaking up the benefits of platen of vitamin D and fresh air. The huge, sweeping lawn, rockeries, an orchard and meandering pathways are dotted with occasional sitting spots, perfect for escaping for a good read.

 

Book Lavender Cottage 

4. Be Inspired

A long-stay in a remote cottage surrounded by idyllic countryside is the perfect setting for brushing up your artist skills, aka Miss Beatrix Potter. The Lake District is also a photographer’s favourite subject, with golden hour sunsets that go on and on, in endless lake reflections. The light is as natural as on the Cote d’Azure and the skies as open as can be. Dramatic mountain ranges and sweeping valleys, a patchwork of stonewalls and 17th century farm settlements all provide the perfect subject for anyone with a creative eye. It is impossible not to be moved by the beauty of the Lake District landscape.

 

Photo of Felldale

Felldale – sleeps 6, 4 star, family friendly and welcomes 2 dogs. With a remote location and backdrop like this it is hard for guests not to feel inspired by the impressive landscape of this north Lakes valley. Whether it is watercolours or words that are your creative tools, or whether you are a semi-pro photographer, an amateur astrologer, botanical fanatic or keen twitcher – the mind can truly wander, free from everyday distractions, on a rural holiday here.

 

Book Felldale in Ullswater 

5. Make or Break Routines

The space and time that a remote summer cottage holiday affords you is the perfect opportunity to try something new. Windermere is home to some of the best watersports events in the UK  – fancy learning your SUP board from your flyboard? Want to test your nerve on the UK’s highest Via Ferrata along Honister Slate Mine’s ‘iron road’? It is easy to get stuck in a rut of day to day routines, and there’s nothing like stepping out of our comfort zones to restart our routine-weary batteries. This can simply be switching the alarm off and lying in, or feeling the elements on top of England’s highest peak, Scafell. Time to break old routines and set some new habits. What better place than the Lake’s to make a Sun Salutation yoga routine part of your daily regime.

 

Photo of Bobbin Beck Cottage

Bobbin Beck Cottage – sleep 5. This is a 4 star Gold Award cottage that welcomes 2 dogs. According to many, rivers are actually essential to human well-being. So, what better way to enjoy your wake-up cuppa than in your peaceful cottage garden next to a babbling brook. Perhaps heading straight outdoors for a morning stretch (we’d recommend the Sun Salutation) could be one of your new post-holiday routines. This cottage welcomes guests to a truly peaceful setting, where watching the wildlife becomes a very pleasant pastime.

 

Book Bobbin Beck Cottage in Hawkshead 

Other dreamy summer rural escapes with availability for summer 2018 that you must not miss out on are:

Meadowside Cottage – dog friendly, sleeps looking out over a beautiful summer meadow towards the Tower Bank Arms in Near Sawrey, made famous by Beatrix Potter’s Peter Rabbit Tales.

Camellia Cottage – sleeps 4 and welcomes 1 dog, this charming cottage is on the edge of the Lyth Valley, named by Lonely Planet in the list of “the most beautiful places on earth”.

Browse our rural cottages and follow @LakeloversUK on Twitter for #NationalWalkingMonth