We’ve got two! The family who loved their Norwegian Log cabin so much they bought another one - to live in

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Tucked away in the corner of her parent’s large leafy garden near Marlow sits Sally Swift’s brand-new three-bedroom log home. Just metres away at the top of the garden is her mother Gillian’s log cabin, which she bought from Norwegian Log 25 years ago and uses as a craft room.

“My parents always said they wanted to build in their garden. Because they had mum’s log cabin, which has been a real success, and they already knew Norwegian Log, it was just the sensible thing to do and almost a given,” laughs Sally.

The family property is in The Chilterns AONB, so planning permission for a brick and flint cottage for Sally would have been highly unlikely, but as Norwegian Log’s homes are transportable, they knew they were onto a winner. As the new lodge was going to be used by a member of the family and it would be sited within the garden curtilage, Norwegian Log helped them gain a Certificate of Lawful Use and the build project was go!

“I’d been renting locally and was spending all my salary on rent. I was working all the time and it was getting quite difficult,” says Sally. “This has taken the pressure off financially. I obviously still pay rent but it’s easier than before as I have a very understanding landlady with whom I have dinner a couple of days a week!”

Sally, who has two adult children, has tweaked the interior layout of the stylish new cabin to allow for three double bedrooms, a shower room, an extra loo and a large kitchen/dining and living space. Her new home, finished in a dark exterior hue, sits snuggly in what was her parent’s large, fenced vegetable patch.

“When I look out of the window, what’s not to like! It’s tucked away, secluded, utterly silent at night and I can listen to the owls and the bats. It’s like being on holiday. We have a family beach hut and it reminds me of staying in that. It’s just marvellous,” she says.

Switching from private rental to her new log cabin has allowed Sally to pursue new career goals. Instead of juggling a tiring teaching role and working weekends at a local café, she is now working part time at the café, writing books and narrating audio books. And she is on hand to support her mum Gillian if needed.

“She was paying lots in rent and so it seemed to be the sensible thing to accommodate her in the garden,” explains Gillian. “Because we couldn’t get planning permission for a brick and flint cottage we went to Norwegian Log and Nick said he could help. We’d dealt with Norwegian Log before, my log cabin from them is 25 years old.”

Located next to her house, Gillian’s log cabin is kitted out as a craft room. “I was a textiles teacher and so use it as a sewing studio. It has a loo so we also use it as a changing room for our swimming pool,” she explains. “I wouldn’t want to be without it.”

Two log cabins, built a quarter of a century apart, helping two generations of the same family and built to last for decades to come.