Meet The Elopement Society: The Secret Cabin

The Secret Cabin is a beautiful, bespoke-finished and dog friendly cabin for two, nestled behind woodland and within walking distance to the insanely beautiful Seacliff Beach. This bonnie little bolthole has seen many-a-happy couple roll up in a haze of excitement and laden with the finest garms, blooms and cake; and waved them off a few days later beaming at their newlywed glow. The best vibes on the East Coast by a long shot!

Hi Lorna, tell us a bit about your background and how The Secret Cabin came about. 

I’ve lived at Seacliff with my husband, Tommy, and 3 daughters since 2004 and I just love it here. Tommy’s family have farmed the land for generations so it’s hugely special to us. We bought The Secret Cabin (or summerhouse as it was originally) with the adjacent property and I took it as an opportunity to have my own little business and spread the joy of staying at Seacliff with everyone. 

We started work on the Cabin at the end of 2018 and it opened its doors to guests in Easter 2019 and I haven’t looked back. It had a disjointed start with Covid getting in the way just when the calendar was really filling up, but that’s thankfully behind us now and I still get excited everytime a booking notification pops up on my phone!

What makes the location so special? 

Seacliff is such an amazing place! There’s the beach, obviously. But also all the fields and woodland areas that are full of wildlife. The Secret Cabin is located just at the edge of a wee wood, 5 minutes walk from the beach, and you can really soak up all the calming sounds of nature there and feel like you're miles away from anywhere.

Tell us a bit about the Cabin itself. What was your approach/considerations when designing the interiors? 

The main body of the Cabin was already in place but it needed a shower room and toilet, which originally I’d thought about being accessed from outside. After spending a weekend at a glamping cabin up North and having to trek in the dark to the loo I realised that was not the way forward and luckily there was space to build a small extension to house the shower room and make an entrance hall and also proper plumbing — so no need for a compost toilet (phew!). 

I used a small team of local tradesmen and they were totally on the same wavelength of creating a rustic, natural look for the interiors. We used driftwood from a storm to make the bed and kitchen cupboard doors, we’ve used elm for the worktop from a tree felled at Seacliff, and the wood for the exterior is all locally milled larch. I would love to take the credit for how all of it looks but to be honest I gave the joiners at R&M Bespoke a plan of where everything should go and they did an amazing job bringing those plans to life. Originally, the fire surround was plain fireproof sheets but I’d seen hand poured concrete in a wooden mold on Grand Designs and my joiner was up for making me some. I think it looks brilliant!

The garden trellis and decking is all the handiwork of Dave at East Coast Gardens. He’s so creative and made lots of quirky features incorporating the stained glass work that our old neighbour had left behind in a shed.

What is your favourite quirk of the cabin? 

To be honest I love it all! If the sun is out my favourite place to be is on the loungers on the deck watching all the little birds on the feeder.

What have been the highlights of your hosting journey? 

It’s amazing how many guests have stayed at the Cabin and the biggest highlight for me is when people come to celebrate a special occasion. My current guests got engaged here and are now staying for their anniversary. I love that.

Any steep learning curves? 

The main one for me is how to be super efficient with the changeover laundry!

We love that you support local businesses using them to supply baking, toiletries etc. How important is community to your work and does East Lothian/Scotland have a good network for small businesses? 

This area is packed full of brilliant small businesses and it’s hugely important for me to try and be as eco-conscious as possible and support the local businesses around me. Luckily there’s a fantastic luxury toiletry brand locally, a superb coffee roaster, brilliant eco shop to refill the kitchen products and so many good places to get a tasty cake that I’m spoiled for choice if I don’t have time to bake myself.

What five things to-do/see should guests be adding to their itinerary? 

Top of the list has to be Seacliff Beach and if you can, walk the coast from here in either direction at low tide to Ravensheugh Sands or to Drift for a coffee and cake. North Berwick Distillery is just a mile away and they do brilliant tours and tastings. If you’re feeling adventurous check out Foxlake or Ocean Vertical for watersports. Visit a castle…Tantallon Castle, Dirleton or Hailes. Climb North Berwick Law!

You’ll find no shortage of nature at the Secret Cabin. Do you ever get any wild visitors?

Absolutely! I try to keep the bird feeder topped up in the Secret Cabin garden as there are so many small birds that come to it. They’ll get through nearly the whole thing in half a day! There’s loads of hares and deer in the woods and fields nearby, squirrels in the trees, oh, and the mole that seems determined to dig up the grass!

We’ve had some BEAU-TI-FUL elopements at your place Lorna. Any standout images/stories you love? 

I love the photo that Solen took of the wedding dress hanging up outside the Cabin, it’s a really special one. Driving Sahara and Alex to their ceremony in Binning Woods in my vintage VW Beetle was such an honour. And to know that at least 2 of the couple’s who’ve had an elopement at the Cabin have come all the way from the US is just incredible! To host any couple for their special day really means a lot.

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