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Given the humble origins of bed nooks and box beds, it might seem counter-intuitive to book a luxury escape in the knowledge that your sleeping quarters might just be smaller than your own at home—or even resemble the setting of a children’s sleepover. Rest assured, though, that bed nooks are very much for grown-ups, and have been since medieval times.
Across much of Europe until the 20th century, these cabin-like compartments would carry voyaging nobles over oceans and mountains in ‘bed carriages’ aboard ships and trains. While staying put, farmers in need of some shut-eye built these sturdy, well-insulated beds into their barns to keep warm and avoid being trampled by livestock overnight. As time went on, embellishments were added, such as hand-painted motifs, wood carvings, drapery, and cocooning bedlinens.
Now, designers like Hám Interiors are making clever use of compact spaces by fitting bedrooms with alcoves that are both practical and aesthetically pleasing. Leaning into the ever-coddling cottagecore trend, these beds of yore are making a cold-season comeback in homes both big and small, alongside newly opened hotels like The Six Bells. The internet can’t seem to stop saving those images of the Inn Keeper Suite’s bed nook in the storybook Hudson Valley stay, which looked to the Austrian Alps for its Tyrolean, timber-framed hideout. Blending Bavarian charm with the chocolate-box appeal of the English countryside, The Six Bells’ inspiration lies firmly across the Atlantic, where characterful cottages and rural retreats have long mastered the art of the tucked-away, nostalgic nook.
So, if your inner-child needs indulging just once this autumn, we’ve found the coziest UK dens to clamber into after days spent roaming the Cornish coast or Scottish Highlands, before closing the curtains on the world for the night.
The Net Loft, Atlanta Trevone, Cornwall
A few sandy steps from Cornwall’s Trevone Bay, The Net Loft is a fisherman’s house once used to store crabbing and lobster pots that’s been reimagined with a rakish, salt-sprayed romanticism by HÁM Interiors. The deceptively spacious cottage sleeps four and is awash with shore-centric delights: a California-cool surf gallery lined with a vintage Tigger Newling board and statement wetsuit drying tub, an outdoor zinc bath by William Holland gleaming in the courtyard, and a thoughtfully curated cinema room to take refuge in on stormy evenings.
But it is the Captain’s Bedroom that anchors the entire vision. “From the very beginning we knew we wanted to include a Captain’s Cabin Bed,” says Jess Alken-Theasby, owner of Atlanta Trevone. “I also wanted to soften the concept with a feminine touch—layers upon layers of fabric details that added warmth and intimacy.” With its ticking stripes, scumbled paintwork, and carefully layered textiles, the self-contained sanctuary is part sleeping spot, part private berth that recalls Cornwall’s pirating past. Once smuggled (ahem, snuggled) into position with wooden water birds paddling around the walls, the skylight above allows guests to recline and stargaze as if drifting out to sea on a ship.
The Cyder House, Frampton Court Estate, Cotswolds
Tucked within the bucolic grounds of Frampton Court Estate—a Georgian mansion that can be rented in its entirety or discovered through one of its marvellously made-over holiday lets—The Cyder House sleeps up to 16 along the banks of the River Severn on the edge of the Cotswolds. Refurbished by Charlotte Clifford and her husband Peter, the house draws on the family’s centuries-old ties to the land: pear and apple orchards still thrive here, producing perry and gallons of apple juice each autumn. That orchard spirit is distilled into the interiors, with each room named after a pear variety and decorated with fabrics, flea market finds, and auction-house treasures impressively sourced on a shoestring.
In Gypsy Red, the most whimsical of the six bedrooms, Charlotte transformed what was once an enormous chamber into four double box beds. “My brief to Tess Newall, the Sussex-based decorative artist who painstakingly painted each bed by hand, was to create a magical place to sleep with a gypsy-wagon feel,” says Clifford. The result is a series of timber-boarded nooks fashioned from old cheeseboards, painted in a bespoke blue wash to achieve an aged, historic feel. What was originally imagined as a space for multigenerational groups has since become a coveted backdrop for yoga retreats and hen weekends—where guests inevitably jostle for the chance to curl up in one of the cabin beds.
The Fife Arms, Scotland
At The Fife Arms in the far-flung village of Braemar, even the smallest spaces brim with Highland character. The Croft Rooms, inspired by the lowly croft houses that once dotted this ruggedly handsome landscape, are its coziest hideaways: each fitted with a traditional cabin bed, generous for one or romantically snug for two. Hand-painted by artists—some with scenes of the surrounding Cairngorms they gaze out upon—the beds become both canvas and cocoon, crafted in collaboration with Scottish poet and artist, Alec Finlay, with local folklore in mind.
For those tempted to try their own hand at capturing the heather-cloaked hillsides, the hotel’s Artist’s Studio offers a one-off retreat with masterpiece-worthy views over the national park. The Bloomsbury Group’s artistic domesticity at Charleston House was the muse for this cabin bed, enclosed by bedroom and bathroom walls that are covered in hand-painted motifs from floor to ceiling. Much in the same vein as Charleston’s painters, Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant, who took great pleasure in painting any surface they could lay their brushes on in a rebellion against Edwardian austerity.
Charlotte’s Folly, Shropshire
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Wrapped up in the natural beauty of Shropshire’s woodlands like a perfectly packaged (and proportioned) gingerbread house, Charlotte’s Folly is a luxury self-catering stay for up to six guests. Originally built for lodging Earls in the late 19th century and named after the 2nd Earl of Bradford’s daughter, this pretty pink pad has since been given the magic wand treatment of London-based designer, Emma Ainscough, as part of a series of recent updates made by the Viscount and Viscountess Newport across their verdant 12,000 acre Bradford Estates.
In amongst the candy-counter color palette, clawfoot tubs, and sugar-cube corner quoins, the sweetest dreams of all are to be had in the Blue Room, a long, narrow chamber which is now a fairytale come true. “It’s perhaps the most playful,” admits Eliza, Viscountess Newport, after adding a new wall with a bespoke arch, creating a bed nook within a wallpapered alcove, complete with dividing curtains that close beneath a tented ceiling of billowing white fabric. The walls are dressed in Howe at 36 Bourne Street’s ‘Folies Bergère’ pattern in blue ribbon, complemented by matching blinds. Bespoke headboards and cushions add cloud-like layers of softness to sink into, while a star-shaped pendant and Vaughan wall lights cast a twinkling glow over antique chairs and a wood-burner to warm yourself beside after leaf-peeping stomps along the White Stitch Woods trail.
Settle, Norfolk
Calls of native waterfowl whistle across the 35 acres of parkland kept wonderfully wild by Settle, a restorative, slow-paced retreat in Norfolk where otters have been known to bathe in the lakes and deer forage the nearby groves. Choose from a cutesy cluster of three lovingly restored vintage railway carriages or a custom-built lakeside cabin, each designed to blend seamlessly with its idyllic surroundings. Using salvaged materials and fittings from Morways Reclamation yard, the team sympathetically transformed the retired carriages into rustic yet refined havens, where elevated alcove beds, wood-burning stoves, and kitchens knocked together by hand sit alongside original cast-iron radiators and timber-panelled walls.
Carriage 3 was conceived and crafted in-house, cleverly using a sliding Victorian rail carriage door to divide the kitchen from the living and sleeping compartments, which are accessed via beautiful (and functional) fold-away steps. Whether hiring a single carriage, the cabin, or the entire estate for up to 13 guests—with the option of a pop-up avenue of bell tents for larger groups—Settle invites immersive relaxation and restorative contemplation from its Breckland base.
The Bradley Hare, Wiltshire
Teetering on the Wiltshire-Somerset border, The Bradley Hare is a 19th-century coaching inn burrowed into the grounds of the Duke of Somerset’s estate. Go down the very well-to-do rabbit hole of James Thurstan Waterworth, formerly Soho House’s design director, by opting for The Nest (Room 3). This snugly styled room sleeps a couple of escapees-to-the-country in an alcove bed swathed in ruby-red, green, and burnt-orange curtains. These drapes take historically accurate fashion cues from a dress worn by Jane Seymour, Henry VIII’s third wife and sister of the first Duke of Somerset, and add to the sensation of waking up in another era.
Farrow Ball’s Green Smoke gives the walls a weathered familiarity which brings some of the surrounding Cranborne Chase (an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty) inside. There’s also a deep roll-top bath backed by emerald tiles for post-amble soaks overlooking the garden and Maiden Bradley rooftops. Pick up a handy walkers’ map from the fresh milk station next-door to the hotel, then it’s just a hop, skip, and a jump to the West Wiltshire Downs and horse-carved hillsides of Westbury.
Butlers Cottage, Mayen Estate, Scotland
The River Deveron Valley in north-east Scotland cradles the Mayen Estate, which sprawls across 900 acres of regenerated woodland, countryside grazed by Highland cattle, and salmon-filled streams. Each of the estate’s four holiday cottages sits on its own secluded patch, including the low-slung, stone-hewn Butlers Cottage, thought to have stood here since 1790 to serve the main house. This traditional two-bedroom Highland cottage sleeps up to four (plus canine companions), with not one, but two artist-painted box beds to hunker down in.
The master bedroom is drenched in Dulux Heritage’s Biscuit Beige for maximum warmth, and the bed was crafted by a local joiner before being painted by William Sutherland, one of the estate’s members, using folkloric stencils devised by resident designer, Bethany Evans. “The centrepiece is a Celtic knot design, with side panels inspired by the region’s textile heritage. The curtains are locally woven tweed, tied back with rope, and the Johnstons of Elgin throw adds another layer of Highland craftsmanship,” Evans explains, who grew up on the Mayen Estate and still calls this Banffshire bolthole her family home.
The room is kept extra toasty by a restored fireplace filled with wind-blown firewood gathered from the grounds, and comes with the bonnie bonuses of deep drawers for storing country attire and a shelf above the headboard to lay your book down. Locally sourced antique furnishings sit beside an original artwork by David Lloyd, a Scottish artist hailing from this very stretch and known for his moody takes on the Moray coastline—which begs to be explored, by the way, on the backs of kayaks or boats with the chance of spotting puffins and dolphins frolicking in the firth.