Wigwam holidays, Wigtown, Dumfries and Galloway

Scotland on Sunday travel, Do Not Disturb

By ANDREW SMITH Monday, 14th October 2019, 3:45 pm

One of the 'luxury' pods at Wigwam Holiday's Wigtown site

There is a deep-seated human instinct to want to go blinking into a new morning and be greeted with nothing but rolling green hills and grazing sheep. Alas, for some of us, there is a deep-seated weakness when it comes to the tented-option for waking up to such a bucolic scene – for me, constructing any canvas shelter is about as straightforward as making an origami dragon.

The halfway house, then, has become pods – wooden, pre-erected tents, essentially. Even these, for certain townies, do not provide sufficient luxury, though. In the past, family moans have been caused by pods offering nothing more than a heater and a camp bed. More grrr camping than glamping, shall we say.

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Wigwam® Holidays Wigtown seem to recognise these issues and create an experience that succeeds in solving them with glorious, high-end facilities. As their blurb proclaims, refreshingly without any misdirection, it allows them to offer a “hidden treasure” in Dumfries and Galloway. Family run, and opened only two months ago, the five wigwams set in land adjacent to a beef and sheep farm form a delightful reservation in which care and attention have been applied lovingly.

One of the roomy cabins that can sleep five. Most come with a hot tub and wheelchair accessible pods are available.

Budget or boutique?

You can take your pick, really. The site comprises five “luxury, heated, four-berth en-suite Wigwam® Cabins”. The piece de resistance comes in the fact that three of them have hot tubs. Man, it was addictive bubbling away while feeling as if you were communing with nature. Each cabin had all mod cons, some of which I didn’t realise were cons of the mod, like plugboards that had USB connections. When withdrawing from nature, we stuck on the telly. I said we were townies. We were ensconced in the most luxurious cabin and it was roomy, and sleeps five. Stupidly, I couldn’t understand why items in the wet room – yes, it had a wet room – and various kitchen appliances were all placed at waist height. The reason is one the site deserves to be applauded for. Our cabin is one of the first of its kind that is fully wheelchair accessible.

Wining and dining

You could take yourself off to book-festival famous Wigtown, or Newton Stewart for proper nosh. But, hey, we lived a little, by living on the land (after a fashion). A bag of kindling from the site shop and we were all over the out-front barbecue at the cabin. It allowed us to feel we were leaving behind the city life. Especially with the barbecue sticks that had to find service toasting marshmallows. Tip: they don’t take long to warm-up/goo-up/turn a blackish brown/burn.

Room service

A short walk along the paths of the site, aesthetically buffed up with wooden carvings created by the owner and deliberate curves, takes you to a modestly stocked shop that opens a couple of hours a day. Handy for the odd provision or an emergency.

Worth getting out of bed for

A definite first lobbing myself into a hot tub at 7am in the morning. Or any time in the morning, for that matter. And the fact that a short drive can take you deep into the Galloway Forest Park is not to be sniffed at. Billed as over 300 square miles of wild woodland, there are visitors centres agogo – three in total – and all manner of trails and outdoorsy things to do, that outdoorsy people do. It is certainly easy to lose yourself in it. Oh, so easy. Too easy for those born without any internal satnav.

Little extras

This is glamping with the accent on glam and, as such, many standard features of the cabins would be considered extras to boast over in other sites. Wigwam® Holidays Wigtown have sought to curate a “camping made comfy” experience and have pulled it off with panache.

Guestbook comments

A really enjoyable weekend excursion made so because of both the warmth of the owners and nature of the facilities provided.

Andrew Smith