Do you already own a wooden log cabin or do you consider buying one to make it a weekend cottage? If you think of buying one you will rather think of choosing a larger size because a weekend cottage needs to have all the amenities of a normal house – maybe even more.

Of course, there is also a trend to “micro-homes” that offer everything on incredibly small spaces like for example a kitchen, work place, bedroom, and bathroom on just 12 m². Even though this is often only achieved by constructing an internal second floor for example for the bed. This can be encouraging if you already own a small wooden log cabin or a smaller garden room or summer house and think about making it a full-grown home.

If you type „wooden log cabin“ into a search engine you will quickly find advertisements like “Log Cabins for a weekend short break”, and looking at the prices to spend for one week you will find values around £250.- to 500.- per week.  Often guests opt for smaller log cabins because they think these small spaces to be somewhat cosier than larger ones. The rent is usually defined by space and surroundings. Sometimes these wooden log cabins are single buildings somewhere in the countryside surrounded by nature, sometimes they come in groups in resorts situated in a large area open to all tenants.

A weekend cottage turned wooden log cabin can be rented out, or used by the owner

If the wooden log cabin is in your own garden, on a farm, a camp site or somewhere out in the woods – both usages and even a mixture of them are possible. There are quite a number of platforms on the internet today, offering rooms, cottages and holiday homes for people on journeys, business people, budget travellers, or couples searching for a secluded place for a romantic weekend getaway in a natural setting.

So buying a couple of wooden log cabins and renting one or even some nice places from a farmer or larger land owner to build them on could even be a lucrative business model.

On the other hand, owning such a weekend cottage could benefit you and your family as an affordable getaway from everyday life in the city or enable a frequent holiday for the children to experience nature. Imagine your wooden log cabin sitting in a nice valley with a small river maybe on a camping site. You would be there on the weekends for a small fee because the cottage is your own, meet friends with children, the children would play in the river and the grown ups would relax, enjoy nature, and talks with friends and acquaintances.

Or if you don’t have children, you could escape to your own secluded little love nest every weekend, on holidays and be in nature.

Whenever you cannot go, you could rent it out for a few days or even a week to those looking for the same pleasures who don’t own their own weekend cottage.

What would be needed to make a wooden log cabin a weekend cottage?

The size of the wooden log cabin you would need to purchase of course determines the level of luxury that you can possibly fit into your weekend cottage. So apart from the obvious requirements like a bathroom, some kind of heating and insulation and beds there are many things possible. For example, if you erect your wooden log cabin on a camp site, there might be a store to buy food, public showers, and even a restaurant. The more you rely on these, the less need to build in an own shower or kitchen.

If you have decided to use a more secluded place you would have to add a kitchen with an oven and a fridge to the list of requirements.

For many, this will already be enough. They will be content with a cottage providing the most necessary things because they don’t come for the cottage but for the nature, for the excitement of sleeping somewhere else than their usual place, and some kind of ‘Canadian log cottage romantic’ might even be spoiled by too many amenities.

Of course, a veranda or a terrace would also be nice with some comfortable beach chairs to relax in. A sauna would be great or at least a wood fired hot tub, both of which would make the weekend cottage much more attractive for stays during the winter time.

Talking about wooden log cabin romantics: an open fire place would add to that even though a closed fireplace, a wood burning stove that allows you to watch the flames through a glass front, provides more safety and maybe a bit easier handling. However, on the cost side, the open fireplace could be made DIY which is impossible for most for the closed fireplace.

Any kind of heating would also be a good reason to insulate your wooden log cabin which can be quite easily done.

What can you do at the outside of the wooden log cabin to make it more attractive?

Of course, nature is always great. Though for couch-surfers and travellers your garden might be perfectly fine, too. Not to speak about the advantage that your cottage in your own garden could also serve as a guest room for friends and external family. But for holidays, especially for kids, nature is always the best. So if it is possible to have a place for a camp fire outside, that would be great. If there are any high trees a swing fixed on some limbs very high up the tree can provide some interesting experience not only for kids. Some old and stable trees might also offer the opportunity of slacklining or tightrope walking where you anchor a rope between two trees and balance over it.

Of course, a good map displaying trekking routes around the log cabin would also be great.

Many wooden log cabins are offered with integrated covered verandas which are also recommendable to increase the recreational value.