The Big Wide Open

Two centuries later, Thoreau’s theory of the healing power of nature is more than a philosophical idea: it’s a scientific fact. Numerous academic studies have shown how time spent in the outdoors can be beneficial for our physical and mental health. It’s been shown to reduce stress, combat depression and anxiety, and might even play a role in helping conditions from cardiovascular disease to obesity, diabetes and asthma. Experts now recommend we need a minimum of 120 minutes a week to feel the beneficial effects.

This is, of course, something many other cultures have known (and put into practice) for centuries: from the Scandinavian idea of friluftsliv (free air life) to the Japanese custom of Shinrin Yoku (forest bathing), these are old lessons that the rest of us are only now giving ourselves the time and space to relearn.

In the context of a global pandemic that’s meant we’ve had to spend more time than normal stuck at home, staring at the same walls, the importance of getting out in the outdoors has never seemed more vital.

Thoughts from Another Place

Another Place is lucky to have some of the UK’s wildest landscapes – and darkest skies – on our doorstep. And we encourage all our guests to spend as much time out there as they possibly can.

But our desire for new experiences is more than a case of itchy feet: it’s hard-wired into us as human beings. A research team from the University of Edinburgh recently showed that the locus coeruleus, the area of the brain that produces dopamine, the ‘happy hormone’, fires up when subjected to new experiences – and in return, relays signals to the hippocampus, the part of the brain that forms memories. In other words, trying new things make us feel good – and also helps us learn and remember. We are curious, restless beings that have evolved to test our limits and seek out new experiences. It’s, quite literally, in our DNA.

We think it’s important for all of us to step outside our comfort zones sometimes – whether that means paddleboarding on the lake, exploring a huge cave or braving swimming in the middle of winter. Just so long as there’s a thoughtfully designed room to come back to and a hot bath to warm up in, that is…

“I wanted to explore the human desire for solitude,” he explains. “What drives us to live in these remote places, how we survive when we get there, and how they change us when we return… The funny thing was that after all that travelling, the thing I realised was that solitude is really a state of mind: even in a crowded country like ours, it’s still surprisingly easy to just ‘fall off the map’. You don’t have to disappear to the far reaches of the planet: you can be alone just by heading out into the hills in the middle of a rainstorm, or going for a walk in the middle of the night when everyone else is fast asleep. It helps you view the world through a different lens.”

As Dan found out, solitude isn’t always about being alone. Sometimes it’s just about giving yourself the time and space to breathe.

Thoughts from Another Place

Finding some time for yourself is something we feel really strongly about at Another Place – whether it’s tramping solo up a neighbouring fell, wandering along the lake shore or having a treatment in Swim Club.

But there’s another concept that we crave, too. Different cultures have different words for it: the Welsh would call it cwtch, while the Dutch would know it as gezellig. It’s that feeling of coming from the outdoors into a warm, comfortable, welcoming space; the reassurance of shelter, of relaxing into an armchair by the fire with a good book and warming drink while dusk falls or the weather rages outside. After a long day of exploring in the wilds, for me, there’s absolutely nothing that feels better.

Final thoughts from Another Place

From the outset, Another Place has set out to explore the relationship between the outdoors and indoors. It’s what enhances the experience of looking out at the fells through the glass wall of our swimming pool, for example, or the feeling of watching the changing light on the fells from the comfort of one of our lake-view rooms. Surrounded by incredible landscapes, we want our local environment to be reflected in the experience of staying here – not just in the views, but right through into the design of our rooms and shared spaces.