A writer finds his flow in the forest
What happens when an author heads to a cabin for four days to wrestle with the blank page
We all know how difficult writing can be. Whether you’re trying to finish a project or start one; whether you’re editing or idea generating. It’s frustrating. I often feel like starting a new project. I miss that feeling of building a new world and having fun with a set of characters that I can bring to life on the page. But between all my other commitments – writing new material for the children’s brand I work for, managing my business, and trying to maintain some semblance of a social life – I just haven’t managed to carve out the mental space recently.
And in this age of distractions… notifications… calls… texts… glowing screens at every turn… it is hard to give the brain a chance to wander. So much of my creativity comes from boredom. Or rather – a lack of stimulation… how to find somewhere in London to switch your head off?
Excuses, excuses. I know. I’ve got hundreds more at the ready. But I’m tired of excuses. I want to get back to my regular writing habit.
So, when Unyoked offered me the chance to come along to one of their beautiful new cabins in the Welsh hills, for a ‘Think Week’ – a creative escape – I couldn’t say no. I jumped at the chance to cut myself off from the city for a few days, to bathe in the forest and wipe the fog away from my mind. Maybe even find some time and space to…write?
This was a golden opportunity for me to be somewhere quiet, with no pressing commitments, no tubes to catch or meetings to attend. A chance – finally – to wrestle with the blank page and, hopefully, overcome it.
Feeling somewhat daunted by the prospect of spending a week with my laptop, Mr Blank Page, and the remote Welsh countryside, I invited my partner along to keep me company. Upon arrival, Elin, the cabin, looked like just what we needed. A clean and modern outpost to shift perspective for a few days and feel the grass on our shins and the sun on our (heavily sun creamed) faces.
This is the first time either of us have ever stayed anywhere this remote. But we love a nature session. I find myself increasingly interested in exploring the outside world and escaping the city.
However, we are still a city bugs, and must confess that I did have some reservations about being totally cut off from the civilised world. This now sounds ridiculous to say, as it was everything I loved about our stay at the cabin – but there you go!
On the drive through the Brecon Beacons, the part of me that was scared to leave civilization behind was relieved to discover that the Unyoked cabin was close to Hay-on-Wye – a cosy, characterful town situated on the edge of the Brecon Beacons National Park. Hay is known as the “town of books”, with over 20 bookshops. Perfect inspiration for a writing (or reading!) retreat. And a handy place to grab any extra supplies during the stay.
After a short coffee stop in Hay, we drove into the wild. We were instructed to park the car around 100m away from the cabin in a designated spot. Here we found two wheelbarrows and signposts to Elin.
After unpacking the car, shifting our belongings from boot to wheelbarrow, we hauled them up a short dirt track, quickly arriving at the cabin.
The cabin is more spacious inside than we’d expected from the photos online. It’s also super-efficiently designed - everything has its purpose and there is hidden storage everywhere.
On our first evening, we laid down on the comfy bed and gazed out of the wide windows, soaking up the Black Mountain valley views. It was in this moment that we realised how used to noise we are; our bodies and minds were surprised by the sudden silence.
“What now?” we thought. My laptop was glaring at me from the tabletop. I could almost feel the blank page taunting me.
To distract myself, I flicked through the Unyoked In-Field Guide. It poses the very same question to the reader. What now?
I appreciated the reassuring words in the Guide, that talk about how to manage expectations for your stay in the wilderness. To remove the need to fill time. To scratch the deliverables. Abandon any need for outcomes. Instead, the guide suggests walking, daydreaming, and befriending trees. So that we did. The laptop could wait.
After a short stroll where we sized up the local trees (a sort of natural speed-dating exercise), we returned to the cabin feeling soft-boiled in nature. If not totally Unyoked just yet. The thought of opening my laptop still a little daunting, I distracted myself by lighting a fire in the pit and cooking up some smoked basa tacos. Fish tacos on an open fire, surrounded by trees, with the sun setting over the crest of hills in the distance. Ahhhh. There’s always tomorrow to write.
Right?
The following morning, we woke up around 8am to the sound of buzzards and chattering sheep. The view of the rolling hills backlit by the rising sun peeped through the blinds. We made stovetop coffee and eggs on toast and pondered what to do with the day.
After a short walk, crunching the stony paths near the cabin, we came back, and I sat down to write for an hour or so.
The silence is a gift. It’s a great feeling, pulling all the plugs out of your head, turning off notifications and voices and that jumpy distracted feeling I get when I’m at work or home.
I read over the writing I had coughed up the last time I went twelve rounds with my work-in-progress. I contemplated it. Got distracted by the trees for a while, and then had a nap. 1-0 to the Blank Page.
When I woke up, having subconsciously chewed over the story arc, characters, motivations, and all the rest of it, I jotted down the next few plot points and began systematically attacking them – sketching out rough ideas for scenes and actually putting words on the page. What a feeling! I’d forgotten how good it felt.
Sometimes I like to free write just to break into the swing of typing, and thinking, and freeing up those ‘writing muscles’. Wherever they are. I tried this exercise – just writing, without expectation – and it really helped.
After some valuable writing time in which I felt that I regained some momentum with my current story idea, we decided to reward ourselves with coffee and a walk. We ventured down the Miles without Stiles trail - a short riverside loop that took us around an hour. Very pleasant - although after 24+ hours of isolation in the cabin, we were surprised to discover other humans on this walk - be warned!
After that, we felt up to a bigger challenge. Hay Bluff looms over the fields that our cabin sits in. And we’d been eyeing her up since arriving. Bulky and brooding, the Bluff is described on Google as a “prominent hill” (there goes my hopes of boasting about climbing a mountain) that stands with a foot in both the English and Welsh Border. We parked up and got onto the trailhead.
A short, breathless ascent leads to a trail that cranks up to the top quite steadily. The hike up only took us around half an hour. At the top, we were rewarded with stunning views across the landscape. It was just so…. Green. The whole place is covered with ferns.
After returning to the cabin, we chilled for the rest of the day. I read outside on the deck, and stared into space, and even wrote a little more. Later, I made a fire, and stared at that for hours, before cooking another delicious meal: marinated harissa chicken with sweet potatoes, white potatoes, and carrots, served with a natural yoghurt dip. Delicious!
Later, we toasted marshmallows on the open fire and watched the sun drop below the hills. As the fire crackled, we listened to owls calling overhead and our neighbour, a buzzard, chirping in the trees.
The remainder of our time spent at Elin was spent doing much of the same – forest bathing, gentle walks, daytime naps, reading, writing, and listening to the sheep chatter in the neighbouring field. It shocked me how quickly I slipped into this natural rhythm of having nowhere to be and feeling present and content in the moment.
Before our visit, I thought I would really struggle with the disconnect. But I found the opposite to be true. On our last day, I had a feeling of dread. We were going back to the city. So many people! And cars… And buses… How would I cope? Couldn’t we stay another few… weeks?
Sadly, we had to return to our daily lives and responsibilities. But we will be back. After the trip, we both felt like we’d given our bodies and minds a big hug. Unyoked has kickstarted a nature habit for us – I keep catching myself looking at all the green patches near me on Google Maps, wondering if I could recreate some of those peaceful moments that we enjoyed in Wales… but sadly, Hyde Park is a little busier.
And there’s nowhere near enough sheep.
Whether you’re an artist, writer, reader, or human being looking to reconnect with yourself, your work, and nature, I’d highly recommend Unyoked’s cabins for a creativity boost.
