They say your destiny is the idea that won’t go away. For our co-founder Richard, that idea arrived quietly one evening 25 years ago, as he sat by the fire with a sketchbook and a well-thumbed copy of A Plank Bridge by a Pool by Norman Thelwell. A freelance designer at the time, and inspired by the ancient, half-forgotten shepherd’s huts scattered across the Dorset countryside, he began to imagine something he could build in his workshop – something small, beautiful and fully assembled, just waiting to be rolled into place.
A quarter of a century later, with Plankbridge now firmly established as the home of considered, heritage-inspired hutmaking, Richard has returned to where it all began: designing a retreat that is rooted in sustainability, simplicity and deep respect for the natural world. The result is the Hermitage Hut – off-grid, with solar panels and a living sedum roof, and clad in waney-edge Western red cedar to feel at home in any landscape, whether it’s woodland, wildflower meadow or tucked away in a quiet corner of your garden.
Step inside the Hermitage Hut and you’ll find a peaceful, pared-back space that invites you to slow down. There’s a fold-down oak desk for writing and sketching; a Hobbit wood-burning stove to warm your feet and boil the kettle after a long walk; and a 4ft 6in handmade box bed with an organic mattress by Naturalmat, with a feature wall lined with Organoid Stone Pine Forest flax fleece, which softly releases the scent of herbs, moss and pine and ferns as you sleep.
As ever with Plankbridge, it’s the small details that matter. To make the Hermitage Hut even more special, we’ve partnered with our Dorset friends at Rose of Jericho, experts in traditional lime-based finishes, to create a curated palette of calming Chalk Washes for the interior – soft, natural hues which are applied by hand to the tongue-and-groove cladding to create a stippled paint effect that evokes the beauty of traditional limewashes.
And while this new hut looks fondly back to our roots, it also looks forward. As we celebrate 25 years and prepare to build hut number 701, we’re inching closer to another milestone here at Plankbridge: by the time we reach our 750th hut, we will have cast 3,000 of our own iron wheels. Stacked flat, they’d stretch 450 metres into the sky – nearly three times the height of Glastonbury Tor. A quiet reminder that even the smallest ideas, once set in motion, can carry you a very long way indeed.
The Hermitage Hut measures 14ft x 7ft 5in and is available for £43,600 (including VAT).
If you’d like to find out more, do drop our friendly team a line at enquiries@plankbridge.com
