Art Hotels, six hotels

Wood is split at the block and carried to the hut, where a fire is set and kept in through the evening. Water comes from the spring in a bucket. Candles stand in place of lamps, food is cooked over the fire outside, and the hut is swept out before it is left.

The lodge keeps the huts, the wood store and the spring path in order and lays in the wood that guests split. Bedding is supplied, the sauna by the lake is heated on request, and staff explain how the site works on arrival. Provisions can be bought at the lodge itself.

The huts are cut into the forest floor above the lake, with no power and no running water inside them. There is nothing at all to switch on, so warmth and light exist only where someone has made them that evening.

Meals are collected from the main building and carried along the path to the cabin, and bags make the same trip. The way runs over boardwalks between the trees. After dark a torch is wanted, and anything left behind means walking back through the pines to fetch it.

The hotel cooks and serves in the shared building, prepares the cabins and keeps the walkways clear. Water and bedding are put in place, the sauna is heated and the paths are lit where they need to be. Breakfast is made ready for guests to take out to their own cabin.

The cabins are raised among pines in Småland and reached only by narrow boardwalks that run between the trunks. Nothing is driven to a door, so whatever a guest wants for the evening travels there with them from the main house.

The last part of the way up the slope is walked, and what is wanted for the stay is carried. Once inside, the house runs on what it gathers for itself. Water and light are used with that in mind, meals are cooked in the kitchen, and the doors are locked again on leaving.

The house is prepared and stocked before an arrival, then left to its guests. Rainwater is gathered and solar power stored by systems the owners maintain. A caretaker can be reached by phone, deliveries are arranged in advance, and the building is cleaned and set right between stays.

The house stands alone on the side of an extinct volcano above Guanajuato, with a rough track and no neighbours. Keeping staff on the slope through every stay would put people where the house was built to hold none.

Guests settle into a house of their own and keep it as they like. Cooking is done in the kitchen there, a fire is lit if one is wanted, and the days are set without reference to a timetable. Anything from the hosts is arranged beforehand rather than found waiting.

The owners prepare each house, stock it and hand it over. Heating draws on the ground beneath, and the buildings are maintained and cleaned between stays. Meals, transfers or a guide can be organised on request, and the hosts stay reachable while keeping out of the house itself.

The houses stand apart from one another on open land in south Iceland, well away from the nearest village. Weather and distance together make a fixed daily service hard to hold, so what is offered is agreed with the hosts in advance instead.

A stair leads from the forest floor to the cabin, and bags go up it. Food bought below travels the same way. Water is brought up in containers, the stove is lit for warmth, and everything taken up the stair comes down again when the stay is over.

The cabins are built, heated and serviced by the hosts. Bedding and gas are put in, the structures are checked, and a food basket can be ordered and left ready at the foot of the stair. Between stays each cabin is cleaned and the ground around it kept in order.

The cabins are lifted into the pine canopy of the Finnskogen forest and are reached only by their own stairs, one to each building. Nothing rolls up a staircase, so whatever is wanted above has to be carried there by hand.

For the length of a stay a cottage is taken on entirely. Meals are cooked in its kitchen, the fire is laid and lit, and the rooms are kept as the guests wish. Shopping is done before arriving or brought in by arrangement, and the cottage is left clean at the end.

The reserve maintains the cottages, delivers wood and looks after the land around them. Staff can arrange a cook, a stalker or a guide, and the lodge kitchen serves those staying there. Roads, tracks and water supplies across the estate are kept in working order by the team.

The cottages are scattered across a large Highland estate in Sutherland, and some of them lie a long way from the lodge. Reaching each one takes time, so daily attendance is impractical and the houses are handed over whole instead.