“It’s a special spot and we wanted to share it,” says Rik. “But the structure needed to be right and we wanted a sustainable build. We did a lot of research and everything we saw was a little too rustic, we wanted a more Scandi style. Eventually we found the right architect, Michael Kendrick, who is based in Leamington Spa.”

And as the site is a natural clearing, not a single tree had to be felled, nor a tree root disturbed to build it. In fact, the impact on the woodland environment is limited to the tiny footprint of those supporting legs, with plenty of room beneath the structure for newts, voles and badgers to stroll along on their ancient pathways, and for vegetation to freely grow. Which includes great swathes of heavenly bluebells, the day I visited.
It did still take some convincing of the authorities to get permission to build it. “It took us two and a half years to get the planning through,” says Rik. “In an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty you can only get permission if you can show that you are enhancing the environment in some way.”
Well, I certainly can’t think of a way to feel more immersed in this glorious woodland, than being able to look out onto it from walls of glass – from the sofa, the kitchen, the bed and even the bath.
And the very glass you look out through has been specially selected to minimise the impact on nature. “It’s electrochromic glass,” says Rik. “At dusk, as soon as the light falls to a certain level, it goes black, so there is no light spill to disturb wildlife.”
So relaxed are the local four-legged residents about the structure, that recent guests have reported seeing a mother fox happily walking past with her cubs trotting behind her.
Another decision Lindsey and Rik took to minimise disturbance to the natural surroundings, was to have no hot tub, or barbecue – just a swing hanging from a branch – and to keep the accommodation to one bedroom. Thereby creating a very special hideaway for couples, which is so appreciated that it is fully booked out for months ahead – there are already bookings for May 2024.

I know that, because I thought, although I live just down the road in Hastings, I might like to spend a couple of nights there myself, in the next bluebell season – and I wouldn’t be the first local to do that. “We’ve had people who live within two miles stay here,” says Rik.
That’s how much of another world it feels like, which is probably why most of their guests tend to stay in once they get there. “We supply a digital guidebook,” says Lindsey, “with all the things to do in the local area, but once people get here they tend not to leave, except to go for walks in the woods. Although you can arrange things to do in the lodge – yoga sessions, massage and Wander Wonder guided wellbeing walks. We provide the numbers for people to book before they arrive.”
As well as the nature-immersed setting, what would keep me very happily in the lodge, rather than exploring the wider environs, is the supremely nurturing atmosphere of the décor and furnishings, which have all been expressly selected to enhance the connection with nature, starting with the colour palette.
Lindsey explained how they went about it: “We got a local illustrator – Eleanor Taylor – to come out before we started building to do an illustration at the site, using the colours of the environment. Then we took these colours as the basis for the interior, to extend the woodland inside. We didn’t want any stark white.”
The illustration is also the background to the lodge’s website, starting the process of immersion in the landscape right from the point of booking.
This is all part of a school of design which was new to me – ‘biophilic’. Literally translating as ‘loving nature’, the idea is to actively involve the natural world in a building, by bringing elements of it inside, literally and through referencing colours and materials, and visually and physically connecting with nature outside.

Brighton-based designer Oliver Heath has written a book on the subject, Design A Healthy Home (there’s a copy in the lodge), and Lindsey did a course with him, to learn how to choose interior finishes and furnishings that most enhance the connection with nature.
This philosophy is immediately visible in the walls finished with large plywood sheets, the oak floor and the ceiling, which brings the cedar batons of the exterior inside, creating a very nurturing effect.
“We were going to use plywood on the ceiling as well,” says Rik, “but during Covid lockdown the price of a sheet of fireproofed plywood went from £68 to £300. So we brought the cedar inside onto the ceiling and we think it works much better, bringing in warmth and texture.” There is something about being able to see the edge of the exterior battening through the window and then it covering the ceiling that makes you feel like the place is giving you a hug.
The same feeling comes from the curved-edged sofa, covered in a warm apricot colour, part of the Quilton Modular range from London shop, Twentytwentyone, which specialises in contemporary and classic 20th century furniture, where they bought all the pieces for the lodge.
All the soft furnishings came from local suppliers. The cushions are from Sailors of Rye, the jute circular mat from Hunter Jones, also in Rye, and the vase and pot from Common Clay, a ceramics studio in Bexhill.
“We wanted everything to be tactile and textured, to have soul,” says Rik – and it does. Particularly the charming coat rack, which looks like a bare tree branch that has walked in through the door and planted itself inside.
The same spirit of local-sourcing is apparent in the kitchen, where the supplied tea is from Proper Tea, based in nearby Pett, coffee from Roar Gill, in Hastings, and hot chocolate from Knoops, in Rye.