After returning from the winter break in Portugal at the end of February I was greeted by bleak and cold winter weather in Germany for the whole of March.
I know I should not be one to complain as I have been fortunate enough to work on my Vitamin D levels in the Algarve for the best part of the winter, however it was still a bit of a struggle and I was very pleased with myself to already have another trip to look forward to.
I had looked at the Sow Cabins website ever since I got the Take Me to The Lakes edition for Cologne last summer and had considered booking one of their cabins a number of times. So when they announced at the beginning of the year that some of their cabins are now also allowing pets, I took it as a sign. Surprisingly they still has availability for Easter and I just double-checked if pets also included cats before I booked.
A day before departure the company called me to apologise as they had to locate us to a different cabin due to technical problems at the one we had booked originally. The "new" cabin was a further 30min by car and closer to Brussels, which was fine.
We received the manual for the cabin in advance, which sounded really intriguing:
Your Slow Cabin is situated on the private domain of the Rubens Castle in the village of Zemst. The beautiful castle, also known as “Het Steen” (literally translated as The Stone) or Elewijt’s Castle dates back to 1304.
Elfie and I set off around midday on Good Friday and arrived at the location around 4.30pm. All the cabins are located a bit off the beaten track, so I knew it would be approximately 15 -20min to walk there. The way to the cabin was a quiet dirt track and I wanted to give Elfie the chance to explore it a little bit after spending 3 hours in the car.
The dirt track led onto a beautiful forrest path and nature was so much more advanced here already that it actually felt like spring. I could quite believe my luck when I stood in front of a big gate to the castle and realised that we would literally be staying in a cabin right next to it on the private ground. I mean it really did what it said on the box! Of course it was more than perfect for Elfie because there were no other people or - god forbid - dogs.
We ended up spending the next two days pretty much sleeping, resting, reading and staring out into nature (both of us).
The cabin had everything you need and I loved the simplicity of it. It was also a big plus to not have to hide any decorative accessories so they do not get knocked over by Elfie.
Slow Cabins are very committed to leaving as little of an impact on the environment as possible. Apart from a water dispenser with drinking water the cabin uses rain water by means of a complex filter system and guests are asked not to bring their own non-biodegradable skincare & cosmetics, as these are supplied in the cabin as well.
We strive for minimal impact on the environment and maximum impact on your health and well-being. In the next few days, we invite you to slow down, feel at home and enjoy life’s simplest pleasures.
I had been pretty organised and prepped a lot of food to take with me, so I actually did not have a chocolate binge over Easter (there were muffins though). It also meant that I literally had no reason to leave the grounds of "our" castle during the entire stay. I had booked a late check out (5pm) for Sunday, so that we could enjoy the whole day before traveling back to Cologne.
I did capture our stay in a Vlog, which shows the surrounding scenery in much more detail. I will definitely repeat our stay in one of the other cabins soon!
Mella
xx
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