The Hiddle Hut - Northumberland

23/01/2025

📚There is a storm warning this weekend for Northumberland and for many parts of the U.K so you will find me curled up on the sofa reading my book with flames flickering in the log burner and a big mug of coffee by my side! ☕️ I hope this weekend’s hut guests will enjoy doing the same! 😊

🧀 Saturdays are for grazing and I can’t wait to delve into an assortment of cheeses that we bought at this week as well as a selection of charcuterie from who we saw at the last

😋 Our grazing boards are available to order for you to enjoy on arrival at the Hiddle Hut so all you need to do is unpack, open a 🍾 and sit down to eat as even the log burner will already be lit for you! 🔥

🗓️ Drop me a DM for availability in our luxury stargazing cabin!

01/01/2025

😁 As some of you know, I LOVE January! It’s the most exciting month of the year for me! It’s when I make plans, practice self care and even manage a little getaway with James and some gorgeous friends! 🧳

🗓️ The new calendar already has dates circled and trips pencilled in! 🥳 The seed catalogue is already dog eared and my pile of books given to me at Christmas are piled up on the side table next to my chair ready for me to invest in some me time.📚

🤗 I am compiling my list of 2025 goals NOT New Year’s resolutions - I don’t believe in them! I find having goals or intentions are more realistic, achievable and can roll over to another year if necessary. 😜

☺️ My goals and hopes for this year are mainly for our family. That we remain healthy and happy and that Ollie, Phoebe and her partner James fulfil their hopes and dreams! New jobs, travelling, learning new skills and enjoying life! ✈️

🥰 My goals and intentions for my little business are many but this year I am hoping to add another job title to my already extensive list where the Hiddle Hut is concerned! 🤗 All will be revealed later in the year! Needless to say, the Hiddle Hut will continue to evolve in 2025! My main goal is to continue to make every guest feel special and for their stay to be more than they dreamed of! ⭐️

🥰 Hello January, you little beauty! Wrap me up in your inky dark skies, dazzle me with your sparkling frosts and give me the opportunity to stop, reset and plan!

☺️ What are your goals and intentions for 2025? 📋

22/12/2024

🎅🏻Just a few stills of the Hiddle Hut at Christmas time.
I will never tire of hosting our guests and providing a bespoke experience. Personalising each and every stay so that our guests feel special, cared for and valued is at the heart of everything we do! 🥰

💛Finding out what our guests interests are and what brought them to Northumberland is integral to our guests experience. Sharing local walks, seasonal events or details of our fabulous independent and creative businesses and restaurants according to our guests specifications means that each stay is individual to them. 😍

🎄No matter what time of year you book your stay, the Hiddle Hut will become your special place as it will be prepared just with you in mind.

☕️🍫 December stays also have the added bonus of our luxury hot chocolate station with countless treats as well as your delicious welcome hamper!

🌷😎🍂❄️ So which season would you want to visit Northumberland and stargaze in our luxury cabin?
DM for availability and gift vouchers! 🎁

29/11/2024

🎄 So excited to be welcoming our December guests at the Hiddle Hut with some Christmas treats!

☕️ I will be sending them an email to find out what their favourite chocolate treat is so that I can add it to the complimentary Hot Chocolate Station! 🍫

❄️ Check our website for December 2025 and limited 2024 availability!

08/11/2024

🎃 Did you know that around 18,000 tonnes of pumpkins are thrown away in the UK each year after Halloween? That’s the equivalent of 260 million portions of pumpkin pie! 🫨 Well not in this household!

👩🏼‍🌾I use a lot of pumpkins in my Halloween displays for the Hiddle Hut but none of them go to waste!

🥣 Our favourite way to eat 🎃 is in a spicy soup 🌶️
This is my own gf recipe but feel free to tinker with it!

🧅 Ingredients
A pumpkin 1.5- 2 Kg
1 large white onion diced
3 tablespoons of Olive oil
An inch of fresh ginger finely diced
2 cloves of garlic crushed
1 tblspn of your favourite curry paste (I use Tikka masala paste)
1 sachet of miso soup concentrate
1 tsp chilli flakes
1 tin of coconut milk
900 mls veg stock
Crème fraiche or thick cream to serve

🧑🏼‍🍳Method
Heat the oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4. Cut the pumpkin in half and remove the seeds with a spoon. Cut into wedges or chunks (keep the skin on) and tip into a bowl. Mix the tikka paste with 2 tablespoons of olive oil and drizzle over the pumpkin and toss well to coat in the spiced oil. Transfer to a baking tray, spread out evenly and roast for 40-45 mins, turning halfway through cooking, until the pumpkin is very soft when pierced with a fork. Leave to cool on the tray for a few minutes.
Heat the remaining 1 tbsp olive oil in a large saucepan and fry the onion with a pinch of salt for 10 mins until soft. Add the ginger, garlic and chilli flakes, and fry for a few more minutes until fragrant. Pour in the coconut milk, miso concentrate and stock and bring to a gentle simmer.
When the pumpkin is cool enough to touch, use a spoon to scoop the soft flesh from the skins. Add the soft pumpkin to the stock pan, discarding the skins. Remove from the heat and blitz the soup with a hand blender until creamy and smooth. Season to taste, adding extra chilli if you like. Bring to a gentle simmer, then serve in bowls with a drizzle of cream and a pinch of chilli to serve. Top with toasted pumpkin seeds, if you like!
🌶️ Let me know if you try my spicy pumpkin soup recipe!

31/10/2024

🥣 It’s soup season so I thought I’d share with you my utterly delicious Mushroom Soup Recipe! 🍄‍🟫

🧑🏼‍🍳 Throughout Autumn and Winter I make soup most days for our lunch. This one has an earthy umami flavour from the dried mushrooms and the miso and is packed with Vitamin D from the chestnut mushrooms - something that nearly all of us are deficient of at this time of year! It’s filling and luxurious with the addition of the cream cheese and a drizzle of truffle oil! 😋

Here are your ingredients!
Olive oil and butter
1 medium white onion finely diced
1 medium potato diced
1 clove of garlic minced
I/2 teaspoon of dried thyme
Salt and black pepper
350g of Chestnut Mushrooms sliced
30g pack of dried mixed mushrooms
1 sachet of concentrated miso soup
100g of garlic and herb cream cheese
Fresh chives chopped finely
Drizzle of Truffle oil - optional

I use my biggest cast iron pot with a close fitting lid to make my soups.
Soak the dried mushrooms in a bowl of hot water for 30 minutes.
In a large pot, melt the butter and add the oil, soften the onion for 10 minutes on a low heat with the lid on.
Take the lid off and add the diced potato, chestnut mushrooms, garlic and thyme, stirring them to coat with the oil and butter then soften them with the lid on for about 5 minutes.
Take the lid off and add the drained rehydrated mushrooms and seasoning. Strain the soaking water and add to the mushroom and potato mixture, taking care not to add the sediment in the bottom of the bowl. Add the stock to the pan as well as the miso soup concentrate and stir. Simmer for 15-20 minutes until the potato is soft then blitz with a stick blender.
Add the garlic and herb cream cheese and fresh chives and blitz again to the desired consistency. I like mine quite smooth. Taste for seasonings and adjust to your preference.
Serve in a warmed soup bowl with another dollop of the cream cheese, a sprinkle of the remaining chives and a drizzle of truffle oil if you like it!
Enjoy! 😀
Let me know if you have a go at my recipe! 🥰

10/10/2024

❤️💛💚🩷💜💙🩵♥️
What an incredible evening!
There may have been 🥹 There were certainly whoops of surprise and sheer delight!

🤩 We drove a couple of minutes up the hill to Hadrian’s Wall to see if there was less cloud.

✨Standing at Steel Rigg next to Hadrian’s Wall, directly underneath the Northern lights as they shimmered across the sky is a memory that will never leave me! To share it with Ollie and Phoebe was utterly magical. 😃

🤗To be able to see the movement, colours and building columns with the naked eye was absolutely breathtaking!

🌌 To capture my ‘all grown up’ kids sitting together, watching the moon rise and chatting away under the light of the Milky Way, unaware of me and my camera, was a core memory that I will cherish forever.
I will never take our beautiful dark skies for granted.

💜 The Hiddle Hut has never looked so beautiful, bathed in the light of the Aurora! 🥰

🤗 Where did you see the Aurora tonight?!

07/10/2024

🩷❤️💚💜 She’s back again! Another unbelievable evening watching the NorthernLights dancing across our dark skies above the Hiddle Hut!!

💛 Book your stay in our stargazing cabin via our website. Gift vouchers are available. DM for details!

12/09/2024

💜 I will never not be amazed and excited about seeing the Northern Lights from the Hiddle Hut! Tonight was no exception!! 🤩

💗 I am passionate about sharing our dark skies with our guests and spreading the word about Northumberland’s stargazing opportunities! But to have seen the Aurora for the 6th time in less than 12 months is such a privilege! 💛💚♥️

🤩 Autumn and Winter are optimal times to see more stars because of longer nights with darker, clearer skies. Our cabin is a Stay and Gaze approved location which adheres to all of the strict guidelines necessary to be approved for guest safety, wildlife conservation and for the best stargazing experience. 🔭

⭐️ You can stargaze from the covered deck or up in the clearing at the top of our little woodland or if it’s very chilly, retire to the hand built bed, stay cosy and count the stars through the stargazing roof! 😃

💫 Wether it’s the Aurora, meteor showers, super moons or constellations that are on your bucket list- get in touch for Autumn and Winter availability!

💗💛💜💚♥️ Did you see the Aurora tonight?!

08/09/2024

🏃‍♀️🏃🏃‍♂️ Today is a very proud day here in the North-East of England! I hope doesn’t mind me reposting his latest GNR tribute to all the runners taking to the streets of Newcastle today to raise millions of £ for hundreds of charities!

😊 I am so proud to say that I’ve run the Great North Run three times! I loved each run for very different reasons! Coming from a running family, we have made some amazing family memories taking part in races and events.

🏃‍♂️ We are incredibly proud of our nephew who had an absolutely fantastic result in the GNR 5K on Friday night coming 15th overall! 🤗

🏅 The first time I ran the GNR I was just delighted that I managed to run the whole course! It was fantastic to be able to run with two amazing friends who kept me going the whole way around. 🥰

🏃‍♀️🏃‍♂️ The second time I ran it with Mr C for a charity very close to our hearts.

🏃‍♂️🏃‍♀️🏃🏃‍♂️ The last time we ran the GNR it was a huge family affair! Our sister .foreman2 asked us to celebrate her BIG birthday by running for our favourite charities! It was a fantastic experience but for poor Mr C whose birthday was on the day of the race, it was a birthday he will never forget! 🎂

🏃‍♂️🏃‍♂️ Now we have passed the baton to the next generation of the family! So huge good luck to our nephews and we know you will have an incredible day!

13/08/2024

💫 Absolutely delighted to look back on my photos of last nights Aurora display to find that I had also captured a shooting star!!! 💫

⭐️ Have you seen a shooting star before?
If not, book a stay at the Hiddle Hut; our stargazing cabin is perfectly positioned under the darkest of skies for you to discover the wonders of the heavens!

🤩 Get in touch to check availability!

12/08/2024

💫 To be able to stand in my garden tonight for the second consecutive evening, with the scent of night scented stocks on the breeze, the sound of owls calling to each other and the Northern lights dancing above my head whilst a meteor shower competed for attention, was one of the most powerful memories I will cherish forever and will be eternally thankful for.

✨ If stars, dark skies, the Northern Lights, nature and luxurious touches are your thing, get in touch for more details about the Hiddle Hut; our stargazing cabin.

12/08/2024

🥰 Last night we stood in awe once again as the Aurora danced across the sky overhead! 😍

🤩 As if that wasn’t magical enough, the Perseid meteor shower rained huge streaks of light across our immaculate dark skies! 💫

🐾 While I stood outside in the darkness waiting for the Aurora to arrive, I had a real Peter Pettigrew moment! I could hear tiny scuttling footsteps racing past me up the lane! I managed to grab a few photos of her before she made her way into the undergrowth! Take a look in my stories! 🦔

🤩 Did you see the Aurora last night? The Hiddle Hut is perfectly located for stargazing with very low levels of light pollution. This is the third time in less than a year that we have witnessed the Northern Lights here in Northumberland!

21/06/2024

Hoping for clear skies to see the Strawberry moon tonight! 🌕

08/06/2024

WIN WIN WIN! 🥳🥳🥳

07/06/2024

31/05/2024

WIN WIN WIN
WHO has The Hiddle Hut - Northumberland on their bucket list?!

10/05/2024

💓What a night! 🥹

😍 If you were in any doubt about visiting Northumberland for our beautiful dark skies then this should persuade you! 🤩

💜 The low light pollution levels here meant that we had the most vibrant colourful aurora display tonight - even with the naked eye! 😃

✨ Have you ever seen such a beautiful display of the Northern lights?

✨ Drop a ⭐️ in the comments and I will message you with the availability for our stargazing cabin!