Harvest Moon Holidays

Just a wonderful place. Area is amazing, staff are always welcoming, friendly and always approachable.

“A Far Green Country Under A Swift Sunrise” As I type these words it’s 7:00 AM, I’m sitting on the veranda, drinking tea and watching Old Sol climb above the dunes a short distance to my left. All I can hear is birdsong and the faint lapping of waves against a gorgeous beach that’s but a three minute walk away. If you’re looking for the soundtrack to happiness this is it. Okay, before I wax poetic any further about the environment and experience of this place you’re probably asking about the practicalities. Okay, here’s we go: the cabins are very cozy and well laid out. The beds are great and you’ll sleep well. The cooking facilities are basic but they work. You’ve got all the tableware and utensils you’ll need already in the cabin on your arrival. “Glamping” is definitely less hassle than camping. The absence of mains electricity is, in my opinion, a positive - it forces you to live in a simpler, more natural, manner. There are (solar-powered) charging facilities for your mobile devices, if you can’t go without your daily digital hit. But my phone’s been turned off for most of the week, being used only to take photos and to write this review. Think you can’t live without all your electronic gadgets? Try it, you might just be surprised. The toilet and shower are ‘outside’, in the sense that you access them by going out onto the rear veranda. But as someone whose early childhood was spent in a house that had no indoor toilet, that too is warmly nostalgic. The shower is absolutely fine and does the trick. We don’t have children, but seeing the youngsters of other families running around having fun tells me that kids won’t be bored here. I reckon if more kids were brought to places like this, to have the kind of holiday adventures I had as a child, the kind of experiences that seem hewn from the bedrock of finest ‘Enid Blyton’, then I reckon the world would become a saner, kinder place. The staff are friendly and helpful. Lovely people. A big thank you to Niamh who met us on arrival, and showed us the ins and outs of the cabin. So, what do you find here? Well, a wonderful beach, which seems mostly or even, at certain times of the day, completely empty. (It gets busier nearer the public car park at Tyninghame, but that’s nigh on a mile away). Delightful woods in which you can walk. The sights & sounds of wildlife: birds, deer, rabbits, hares and so on. And peace, you find peace. We came here looking for somewhere to chill for a few days and we found it to be beyond our expectations. This is the place to wind down and recharge. When you enter the site of the beach cabins a small sign reads “300m to tranquility”. Well, I can’t vouch for the distance, but what awaits at journey’s end is, indeed, tranquility. My wife said to me yesterday “This is a place of healing”, and so it is. Whatever wounds your spirit has suffered, they will begin to mend here. Whatever burdens weigh upon your soul, here you’ll find respite. And I wonder how many psychotherapists have gone out of business as a result of their clients holidaying here… The sharp-eyed among you will have noticed I titled this review with a line from the final chapter of The Lord of the Rings. “A far green country…” is the only description (at least in LOTR) that Tolkien gives us of Valinor - the Undying Land; the place to which Frodo retires to find rest and respite from the hurts he suffered in the quest to destroy the Ring. Well, at Harvest Moon you’ll find rest and contentment in *this* far green country. (You’ll only see the swift sunrise if you’re awake early enough, and trust me, you’ll want to be). And you don’t even have to sail the Sundering Sea to reach this little bit of Heaven. You’ll find it here in East Lothian.

We had a wonderful trip to the Harvest Moon treehouses. Seriously memorable! We were a group of 41 (28 adults and 13 children) and had booked all 7 treehouses and the cottage for my 50th. The accommodation was clean, comfy, and well-provisioned. We were well looked after by the staff, who were also really helpful and responsive while I was organising the trip. The shared outdoor space was great for eating our meals together on tables, and for playing football. We loved the alpacas and chickens. The nearby beach is spectacular. In the evenings we gathered round the campfire for marshmallows and whisky. It was bliss! I can't recommend this place enough, and am looking forward to the next time I can come back to stay.