Given the humble origins of bed nooks and box beds, it might seem counter-intuitive to book a luxury escape in the knowledge that your sleeping quarters might just be smaller than your own at home—or even resemble the setting of a children’s sleepover. Rest assured, though, that bed nooks are very much for grown-ups, and have been since medieval times.
Across much of Europe until the 20th century, these cabin-like compartments would carry voyaging nobles over oceans and mountains in ‘bed carriages’ aboard ships and trains. While staying put, farmers in need of some shut-eye built these sturdy, well-insulated beds into their barns to keep warm and avoid being trampled by livestock overnight. As time went on, embellishments were added, such as hand-painted motifs, wood carvings, drapery, and cocooning bedlinens.
Now, designers like Hám Interiors are making clever use of compact spaces by fitting bedrooms with alcoves that are both practical and aesthetically pleasing. Leaning into the ever-coddling cottagecore trend, these beds of yore are making a cold-season comeback in homes both big and small, alongside newly opened hotels like The Six Bells. The internet can’t seem to stop saving those images of the Inn Keeper Suite’s bed nook in the storybook Hudson Valley stay, which looked to the Austrian Alps for its Tyrolean, timber-framed hideout. Blending Bavarian charm with the chocolate-box appeal of the English countryside, The Six Bells’ inspiration lies firmly across the Atlantic, where characterful cottages and rural retreats have long mastered the art of the tucked-away, nostalgic nook.
So, if your inner-child needs indulging just once this autumn, we’ve found the coziest UK dens to clamber into after days spent roaming the Cornish coast or Scottish Highlands, before closing the curtains on the world for the night.
The Net Loft, Atlanta Trevone, Cornwall
Photo: John Hersey
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