UNPLUGGED: A DIGITAL DETOX
Did you know the average person scrolls the height of Mt Everest every year! Thats an average of 5 hours a day.(*1) As two people who make a living from our laptops and have a love of 'the gram', we sometimes feel our technology is an extra limb, omnipresent and inescapable. So, when the team at Unplugged reached out to ask if we'd be interested in a digital detox, we were equal parts thrilled and terrified. The idea of locking our phones in a box and going digital free 3 nights seemed like quite a feat. However, as the stay slowly approached, we became more and more excited about the prospect. Four days of notification-free lazing around in the countryside sounded especially good after having been isolating in our small London flat for the best part of 4months!
So it was, that on a quiet Sunday morning in early August we packed our bags, tied on our face masks and jumped on board a train at Liverpool Street Station bound for Cambridgeshire. The secret location of the Unplugged site is only an hour from London, but so expertly nestled into the countryside that it feels a million miles from anywhere.
Hector and Ben, the duo behind Unplugged, kindly greeted us on arrival and we got time to chat to them about their new venture during the quick drive out of town. After personally benefiting from digital detoxes, they want this experience to act as an antidote for the hectic lives of fellow city-dwellers, a way to unplug from our devices and really recharge.
As we stepped from the car and began the short walk along a grassy path towards the cabin, we immediately felt ourselves relax. Nature and wide-open spaces certainly have that effect don't they! In fact recent research has proven that- “spending time in nature can improve immune, cardiovascular, and respiratory functioning. ‘Nature therapy’ can provide emotional healing, decrease blood pressure, improve a person's general sleep-wake cycle, improve relationship skills, reduces stress, and reduce aggression and pain. Researchers found that as little as five minutes in a natural setting, whether walking in a park or gardening in the backyard, improves mood, self-esteem, and motivation.” Whew! if 5 minutes works wonders you can imagine how great we felt after 3 nights.
The cabin itself a step up from glamping; minimal enough to allow you time to focus on nature but comfortable enough to get a good nights sleep after all the nothing-doing!
While there may not be any TV or WiFi, we certainly never found ourselves bored. Aside of course from drinking in the stunning scenery, there's also a stack of books to read, an old school cassette tape player to set the mood and a box full of games to play.
We never did dip into the game box ourselves, deciding instead to go for walks in the surrounding area. Helpfully the Unplugged team also supply a handy map and compass for just such adventures! it was a fun experience to try navigating around without the aid of our trusty google maps.
One of our favourite things about the stay was how secluded and alone we felt throughout. We could truly unwind and feel at home, plus it certainly made socially distancing easy! There’s something magic about eating meals al-fresco too.
We could have actually easily lazed around the cabin the whole time, but as we'd packed our hiking boots, we decided to go for a walk in the local area. So on our second day we ventured out to two local pubs, both within an hour's walk from the Cabin. The first (and best looking) was The Axe and Compass. A flower box covered delight where we stopped for a well earned cold drink before moving on to the less photographable, but friendlier "The Cricketers". This pub is actually owned by Jamie Olivers parents, so we were pretty disappointed to arrive just as the lunchtime kitchen closed. Our advice if you plan on eating out, is to book ahead and check opening times, it seems most place close for a siesta between lunch and dinner.
The beauty of the whole digital detox experience is you can really choose to do as much or as little as you want. We loved our stay, and found that 3 nights was a perfect amount to not feel rushed and relax into the flow of nature. Although to be honest we could have easily kept out phones locked away in that box for a few more days!
We should all make more time for sunsets and star-gazing
We would heartily recommend a digital detox experience to anyone and Unplugged was a wonderful host. Especially now in the era of social distancing, it seems we are all increasingly reliant on staying connected digitally while somehow managing to feel more and more disconnected. After the the unprecedented Lockdowns around the world due to COVID19 more and more people are realising how deeply we need nature in our lives and how the ability to get out and about in nature can drastically improve our moods. We hope our experience inspires you to try a little nature therapy yourself!
We were guests of Unplugged, but as always our opinions are our own