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Forest Holidays has unveiled a new generation of holiday cabins designed by London-based Holder Mathias Architects in the Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire, to provide a ‘back-to-nature’ experience to guests.

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The new holiday cabins is the third set of timber cabins Holder Mathias has designed for Forest Holidays - a self-catering forest holiday accommodation provider in England. It follows the opening of 14 units in Argyll, Scotland in October 2009, and 21 units in Cropton, North York Moors. The new cabins, which are Forest Holidays’ sixth and largest site to date, were launched on 13 October 2010.

The cabins are designed to provide guests with an inspiring woodland experience, while minimising any environmental impact and delivering high levels of sustainability. Peter Gamble, managing director of Holder Mathias, stated that the new cabins are designed to provide open, light, internal spaces that will connect guests to the flora, fauna and wildlife around them, while blending in with the surrounding woodland.

The cabins have been designed to give guests a ‘back-to-nature’ experience, and take advantage of the site’s natural settings, with open living spaces featuring large glazed windows. All of the cabins have been built on stilts over the woodland floor to reduce disruption to local flora and fauna, and low impact piling has been used to reduce the effect on tree roots.

In order to meet BREEAM Excellent & Code 4 for Sustainable Homes, materials that have a minimal environmental impact have been used, including FSC-sourced timber, safe water-based timber stains and preservatives, energy-efficient and environmentally-friendly insulation, and low embodied energy concrete roof tiles. The one, two, three and four bedroom cabins feature a range of deluxe furnishings and fittings; including flat screen TV, well-equipped kitchen, BBQ and outdoor hot tub.

The Forest of Dean site is also the first to offer the new Golden Oak Plus cabin, which is built and equipped to luxury standards and includes upgraded features such as larger terraces and night vision equipment to view the nocturnal creatures of the forest. The site also includes a unique tree house, which sleeps up to eight persons.

In addition to the cabins, a new Forest Retreat building has been constructed to greet guests, which includes a small shop, café and large external deck area with views over the surrounding landscape. The central building is also the home for the Forest Experience room, the hub for all the Forest Ranger Activities.

Forest Holidays is a joint venture between the Forestry Commission and The Camping and Caravanning Club, and provides environmentally friendly cabin breaks at various locations around Britain.

The 76-unit, 13-hectare Forest of Dean site forms part of a £60 million ($96 million) investment programme to add a further 613 units across the UK. Following the addition of these 613 cabins, there will be 786 units in total in the UK.

Holder Mathias was commissioned by Forest Holidays in 2007 to develop a new generation of holiday cabins to be rolled out over the next ten years, and planning consent has already been secured at sites in Sherwood Forest and Glenmore, Scotland, along with the expansion of an existing site at Cropton, Yorkshire. The practice is also engaged in supporting Forest Holidays in its masterplanning on other sites within the Forestry Commission estate.