Ever find yourself craving some time away in nature? A complete digital detox? You’re not the only one.

Unplugged’s digital detox cabins have taken the population by storm and it’s easy to see why. Two or three nights in a fully equipped, countryside cabin stay is an easy sell for those of us who spend our days shackled to our desks, haunted by childhood warnings of “square eyes”. Already eyeing up the Unplugged cabins for a while, I jumped at the opportunity to chat with co-founder Hector and learn more about Unplugged stays and the company journey. 

Where Unplugged began

Co-founders Hector and Ben were fully immersed in London’s tech scene. But the 11-hour days in front of a screen quickly led to burnout and Hector decided enough was enough. He booked a 2-week silent retreat in the Himalayas. “You get 10 days completely cast off from the outside world. Very cliché, but when I came back, I quit my job a week later and here we are.” 

Together, determined to create something that would bring the opportunity to switch off and recharge closer to home, Ben and Hector decided to build countryside rental cabins with one clear motive – to digital detox. 

The cabins are in beautiful parts of the countryside and stays are always three or four nights long. Upon arrival, guests are invited to put their phones in a lockbox and given everything they would need for their stay. The lockbox is provided alongside the key and padlock, so guests can retrieve their phones at any time if the withdrawal symptoms become too much to bear. But as Hector explains, the idea is that they won’t need to. 

“The idea is you get there, either yourself or with a partner, you literally lock your phone in a box and then you're offline in nature… People travel a lot, they do lots of things, but most couples who have been together for less than a decade, for example, probably haven't spent a day together without their phones. So actually, when you take the phones away, it's a surprisingly profound experience.”

Where can I find an Unplugged cabin?

Hector and the team scouted locations for their digital detox cabins all across England and Wales. “The amazing thing is just how many beautiful parts of the country there are that people don’t realise.” 

There’s even a cabin in Spain, about an hour from Barcelona and with the team now beginning to receive location requests from customers, there are plans to expand into the southwest of England, North Wales and even Scotland.  

What will I find in an Unplugged cabin?

Unplugged’s aim is to provide everything you might need for a total digital detox, but without the pressure. “We didn’t want to go in and prescribe what you need, so there’s no agenda or anything like that.” 

Guests can find the lockbox, a camera, a map, board games, books and even a cassette player loaded with nostalgic music and sleep stories, courtesy of their partnership with Calm. There’s nothing the team haven’t considered – if there’s something you might use your phone for, you’ll find an alternative that makes sure there’s no need for you to open that lockbox.

And it doesn’t end there. In each cabin you’ll find cooking facilities, a wood burning stove for the colder winter nights, and one of their cabins even features a hot tub. 

The three-day effect

Hector and the team quickly realised that for a digital detox to really work its magic, it needs to last a minimum of three days. “To actually get the benefit, you really need to kind of abstain completely for a few days.” 

They learnt from both personal and customer experiences that it usually takes the first full day for the mind to settle down. Then there’s a feeling of resistance. “They feel a bit like they’ve lost a limb, there’s almost this discomfort.” But by the final day, there’s a deep sense of calmness. 

By setting a three-day minimum stay, the team ensure that digital detoxers can experience the full benefit and not simply take one night off from their stressful lives just to return the following day. 

“We’re really selling an experience. And that’s the change we want to make in the world. I want to make sure we fully allow people to experience what it’s like to be without your phone because what’s amazing is that deep sense of calm. It’s not some supernatural thing, it’s how we’re built to operate. We’re not built for the side effects of the overstimulation that we live in today.” 

The reaction from guests when locking away their phones is, as you might imagine, varied. “You could almost split that directly in half. Some people say, ‘this is such a relief, I’m so ready to do that, take it away from me!’ and the other half are still terrified and anxious about it… obviously, neither of those is right or wrong. But there are certainly some people who don’t feel it’s possible, they feel like something bad will happen when they’re without their phone, that the world won’t cope.”

“What’s really surprising is when you switch your phone back on and realise how little has changed, you know? The world copes with your absence from the internet for a few days. So that’s always very humbling.”

“The more time you spend offline, the more time you crave offline.” 

Unplugged was met with some resistance and doubt upon its initial launch. Some sceptics argued that three days is simply not enough to change habits, and the team heard their fair share of ‘it takes twenty days to form a habit!’ arguments. But as Hector explains, that’s not actually the point. 

“It’s really about changing people’s perspectives towards spending more time offline and being more connected and I think what this does is shift that in a different direction. It makes people realise they can spend three days offline and that there are many benefits. What I have found in my own life, and regular users of our cabins too, is that the more time you spend offline, the more time you crave offline.” 

A British countryside stay inspired by a Himalayan retreat

The Unplugged website itself stays true to the offline theme – it’s as though you’re looking at the natural fibres of a piece of paper and not a screen made up of thousands of pixels. On this scrapbook-esque website, you can find range of resources and blogs on mindful practices such as journaling or burn lists. 

What became really clear in our conversation is that Hector’s approach to the cabin stays is truly rooted in compassion. The digital detox is a suggestion, never an obligation. His attitude to the varying reactions is the epitome of understanding, too. It’s clear that the practices learnt in the silent retreat have formed the cornerstone of this venture. “I think every business is, to some extent, the embodiment of the founders.” 

“A lot of it was very aligned with kind of where my own thing was going and the change I was making to my own life. I think a lot of it just came from a place of acceptance.” 

There’s no denying that modern working life often teaches us that we need more. More responsibility, more career progression, more money. But Hector’s experiences in the retreat taught him a different perspective. “The big insight I came away with is that I have everything. We all do. And in fact, it’s actually about taking things away. 

I think that probably comes across in the business – that actually we are all enough and sometimes it’s a great start just to reconnect with ourselves, reconnect with our partner, or whatever it might be.”

From a single cabin to a 90% occupancy rate

This attitude to life and work arguably goes against the grain of how we usually perceive business. But Unplugged’s steady rise from one single cabin to a 90% occupancy is a testament to how a mindful, heart-centred approach can still lead to business success. But that doesn’t mean this achievement was easy. “It was not as straightforward as described. It’s always so fascinating how easy these things look on the outside.” 

Keeping focused on the cause was a huge motivator for Hector. “Despite the challenges, I just feel it’s so important that this exists in the world. I really think it’s a case of if we don’t do it, no one else will. Because there are a lot of cabin concepts out there and none of them are focused on this particular problem. So that’s been a really motivating drive forward.” 

How Hector manages the humbling nature of running a business

As any business owner will tell you, running a business is no walk in the park – no matter how mindful your approach. “The hardest part is just that at every stage you get to, you’re kind of a complete beginner again.” 

Despite the humbling reminder that every stage is a brand-new challenge, Hector maintains his focus on the people around him. “It’s all about the people, the company is just a group of people working towards a shared objective. Getting the right people on board was the best.” 

Next on the cards for Unplugged: help people live more unplugged lives

Aside from pinning locations on the map for new cabins, the team are thinking about other ways they can support more of us to become more offline. 

“People have this perspective shift and they leave wanting to implement this more into their life. So now we’re asking ourselves, ‘What does that look like? How do we support people between their stays? How can we facilitate people having more unplugged lives?’” 

Watch this space to see what else Unplugged have in store to help us spend less time on screens and more time connecting. In the meantime, why not book a stay and experience it for yourself? I’m already planning my cabin retreat… 

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Amaia Wilson Frade is a copywriter and translator from Southampton, England. A language fanatic who speaks Spanish, French and Italian and loves writing for purpose-driven brands. Her happy place is tucked away in her campervan in the countryside or by the sea, meditating and matching playlists to whatever she's reading as she waits for summer to roll back around.