This American and Scandi-inspired architectural form is back in style and popping up in fields across the UK
If 2020 was the year many erected canvas bell tents and bunting in their gardens, and 2021 was when campervan conversions, shepherd’s huts, garden rooms and cabins in the woods took off, then perhaps 2022 is the year for a triangular take on the trend for escapism. Step up, the A-frame.
“Triangular cabins and houses have visual appeal and the structural sturdiness of the angles,” says Cornwall-based A-frame enthusiast Ian Wells – who built the cabins at Cabilla Manor (scroll down to find out more).
“In its simplest form, an A-frame is made up of rows of two similarly sized beams joined at an angle of 45 degrees or less at the top, like a letter ‘A’. Structurally, they bear weight well, lightly and economically. They’re something a little different to shepherd’s huts, which are commonplace now.”
While the form has been around since Neolithic times, and in the early 20th century was used to create mainly utilitarian buildings, the A-frame was popularised in 1950s America by the modernist architect Rudolph Schindler (think cabins for leisure time at the lakeside or mountain escapes).
Ranging from hut-sized holiday homes to full-blown houses with multiple floors, A-frames maintained their popularity throughout the 1970s then fell out of fashion.
Now, it’s back. A new coffee table tome, The Modern A-Frame, by American architectural photographer Ben Rahn (published by Gibbs Smith), depicts the finest examples of new A-frame structures to be found in the US today.
The trend – resurgent in America and increasingly popular in Scandinavian design – has made its way to the UK. “Visits to our portfolio of A-frames have increased by 73 per cent in the past year, overtaking other accommodation types,” says Alex Wilson, co-founder of Host Unusual, a collection of out-of-the-ordinary places to stay in the UK. “They offer affordable luxury and feel fresh and distinctive. It’s an emerging trend we expect to become more prevalent.”
The hashtag #aframecabin currently has more than 159,000 posts on Instagram and counting. On Facebook there is an A-Frame Homes Appreciation UK group and a worldwide A-Frame Living group, which has 194,000 members.
James Warner Smith, author and editor of the Hipcamp guidebook series and website, also has an eye on the trend and lists a number of recently constructed A-frames in his directory of the best camping and associated accommodation in the UK.
“A-frames are appearing in our collection for the first time,” he says. “Ty Famau Geo Lodges in Denbighshire added a two-storey A-frame just a few months ago, and there’s two new treetop A-frames on stilts at Whitlingham Broad campsite in Norfolk, cleverly built on sloping ground so you can sleep in a woodland canopy.” Also on their books is a more rudimentary timber, off-grid A-frame in Leicestershire, used as a deer keeper’s hut as well as for hosting guests, who need to bring their own bedding (deerkeepershut.co.uk).
The increasing popularity of A-frame structures is in tune with the growth forecast for the global market in “glamping” – glamorous camping, or accommodation with home comforts – which was valued at $2.35 billion (£1.87 billion) in 2021 and is anticipated to grow by 10.9 per cent from 2022 to 2030, according to Grand View Research. In the UK, interest in different styles of glamping accommodation generally – from yurts to cabins – has seen a dramatic rise on pre-pandemic levels. “We’ve seen a 50 per cent increase in traffic to glamping pages on our website so far this year compared to 2019,” says Warner Smith.
Welcome to the new A-frame era.
A post shared by Cabilla Cornwall (@cabillacornwall)
Former army officer Merlin Hanbury-Tenison, 37, and his wife Lizzie, 36, have built twelve new A-frame cabins (which they have called ‘koyts’) at Cabilla Manor near Bodmin Moor in Cornwall, where they host restorative retreats in nature.
Merlin and Lizzie Hanbury-Tenison moved to Cabilla 18 months ago with their two-year-old daughter (they also have another baby on the way) after Merlin’s father – 86-year-old explorer and environmentalist Robin Hanbury-Tenison OBE – handed them custodianship of the 14th-century manor. Robin battled coronavirus in 2020, spending seven weeks in hospital. He and his wife Louella now live nearby. “Robin experienced for himself the healing power of the natural landscape here after surviving Covid,” says Lizzie Hanbury-Tenison.
It was healing for the young couple, too. “Moving to Cabilla was a big change for us,” she says. “We’d both had burn-out experiences during our professional careers in London. Merlin had a breakdown in 2017 while he was working 70-hour weeks in Canary Wharf; PTSD had kicked in years after his tours of Afghanistan. Coming to Cabilla has brought him back to life. “We wanted to share it, so we began hosting people in bell tents, running retreats and activities like walking tours, outdoor cooking, beaver spotting and forest bathing.”
Wanting to continue receiving guests in the colder months, the couple came up with the idea of A-frame cabins. After “a sound bath and quite a few glasses of wine” they named the cabins “koyts”, in honour of the Cornish quoits – Stone Age tombs – found in Penwith. “We wanted sustainable structures which wouldn’t interfere with the landscape, but which would mean it was possible to stay outdoors at Cabilla all year-round. As we started sketching and dreaming them up, the triangular shape came to life on the page,” she says.
“I’d had the A-frame shape in my mind, given they’re synonymous with getting back to nature in Scandinavian countries and parts of the States. While thinking of a name, we realised they reminded us of quoits, which are spiritually significant and were seen as portals for life changes. At Cabilla, we want to be a conduit for people who are looking for a life change, big or small, so it tied in.
“They’re surrounded by standing stones and native Cornish plants like bluebells, gorse and campion. Our builder Ian Wells furrowed his brow and had a little sit-down when we presented him with the idea, but he’s used to my mad ideas and always figures it out brilliantly. He sourced all the materials in Cornwall, built them here and took them out to the glade by hand. Each one has a log burner and Cornish wool blankets from Atlantic Blankets in Perranporth, and gives you the sense of being cocooned.”
“Lizzie showed me the idea in October, and we began building in December,” says Wells. “The design took two weeks and it took about four months to finish them. We put them on a floating, cantilevered deck that hangs in the air, and the metal-clad roof comes down as close to the ground as possible, which gives them clean lines. They sit low among the stones and plants. In the front, we used roughly-sawn larch wood cladding, which will weather to a silvery-grey. They’re designed to fit a king-sized bed with an intertwined headboard that can be split into twin beds, with enough height that somebody 6ft tall doesn’t have to duck.
“I sat down and drew it out to scale from Lizzie’s sketches, put together a prototype A-frame structure, and built them on-site in a barn. All the materials were sourced in Cornwall, and we employed unskilled Cornish workers.
“A-frames are sturdy but also have a wow factor to look at. We’ve got plans on the horizon for a larger version, with two floors."
Heather is a woodworker and furniture maker. She built the Drift Farm Triangle A-frame cabin at Drift Farm Campsite in Falmouth, Cornwall, from scratch.
It was always Heather Scott’s dream to build an A-frame, after being inspired by American architect Andrew Geller’s book Beach Houses. “A-frames are becoming more popular as people look for accessible ways to experiment with self-building on a small scale,” she says.
“This was the first time I oversaw the design and fabrication of a whole build. My client, Drift Farm’s owner Shane Flutter, gave me complete free rein. She’s from Norway, and we both love the outdoors. I partnered with another carpenter, Ben Hobbs, and the two of us built it over six months from design to completion.”
Scott has no formal training in architecture, construction or interior design, so says it was “a steep learning curve”. She says: “I fell in love with woodwork at school and moved to Cornwall for a contemporary crafts degree, which I didn’t complete. Instead, I trained with a carpenter, doing an informal apprenticeship, and set up my own business when I was 21.”
She also learnt a lot from YouTube: “I’m half-Dutch and the project was partly inspired by trekkershuttens (hikers’ cabins), popular with campers in the Netherlands. I rarely do a project without a bit of YouTube support. It’s amazing how much you can learn from YouTube – I enjoyed Ottowa-based woodworker Andrew Szeto’s videos about A-frames.
“Having non-vertical walls is inefficient space-wise, but A-frames aren’t greedy with space. They’re pared-back. It’s about having just what you need. The structure is amazing – modest, minimal and simple, but sound. The Drift Farm Triangle is 27 metres square and 4m high, and there’s no concrete foundation. It’s secured with ground screws, so it can be picked up and relocated.”
Scott had sustainability in mind for the project, and used materials that would last a long time – she also avoided wasting materials. “The rafters are made from lengths of 3.6m timber – a common length in building – which meant there would be no surplus. The woodburner and the velux roof window are secondhand, and it’s so well insulated – we used recycled newspaper – that it requires very little energy to heat. You can see the exposed rafters inside, showing how it was constructed.”
She adds: “I painted the front red rather than leaving it as bare timber to exercise creative freedom – I’m also influenced by the De Stijl movement. I’d love to scale it up and make an A-frame cabin with multiple rooms for me to live in one day.”
The Drift Farm Triangle is available to hire via Airbnb (prices from £216 for three nights); heatherscott.org.uk
Helen Cunningham, 60, and husband Frazer, 64, of Tiny Homes Holidays near Cowes on the Isle of Wight recently built two wooden A-frame lodges The couple have four off-grid, ecofriendly wooden lodges – two of them A-frames – set in a natural meadow.
“We love our retro A-frames, which have woodburners and a ladder leading to the bedroom mezzanine, which has a pallet wood bed and rope swing seat,” says Helen Cunningham.
“The shape reminds me of branches leant together to make a shelter and gives an instinctive feeling of comfort. Waking up in an apex bedroom is special. We made triangular shutters faced in vintage wallpaper to accentuate the shape: you can hook them back and feel like you are lying in the treetops.”
Prices from £110 per night; tinyhomesholidays.com
Facebook groups such as Log Cabin Ideas are a great place to get tips should you fancy commissioning (or even self-building) an A-frame structure of your own. At the moment, no UK firms specialise in prefabricated or bespoke A-frames, according to Wells.
“To get blueprints, you would need to commission an A-frame build,” says Wells. “You would need to go to an architect, carpenter or draughtsman with some idea of what you want – the shape, height, materials and how many rooms. The price of the drawings could range from £300 to £7,000 and up, depending on scale.
“You can also find basic prototype drawings and inspiration for free on websites such as Pinterest or by asking around on Facebook groups and online self-build forums such as BuildHub [forum.buildhub.org.uk]. It’s worth contacting other people who have built ones that you like, whether in the UK or abroad. I get a lot of inspiration online, and follow an American YouTuber called Jeff Barron, who recently constructed a two-storey A-frame.”
Armed with the drawings, you can then either approach a builder or carpenter – Wells says to expect a quote of £15,000-£25,000 – or tackle the construction yourself. “A lot will depend on exactly what it is you want to build, what size and to what standard, but to build a simple, garden-shed-sized A-frame yourself, you might be able to do it for slightly less than the average off-the-shelf shed or summer house, perhaps for as little as £2,000.”
Is it feasible for someone with no experience to embark on a self-build? “You’d need some level of carpentry experience, woodworking and joinery skills, a good eye, an understanding of engineering and a full set of good tools – from electric saws to nail guns – but it wouldn’t take anyone with some experience too much difficulty to design and build one,” says Wells. “You could learn as you go, but you’d have to take it slowly. If you’ve got tools, time, skills and a little bit of knowledge… go for it!”
He advises getting help for more ambitious projects, however. “If you want to build a two-storey, almost house-sized A-frame, I’d strongly advise going to an architect. For taller, larger structures, you’ll need planning permission from your local authority and a structural engineer.”
In the US, a number of companies specialise in DIY A-frame “kits”, which can be shipped worldwide. Check out Avrame (avrame.com; prices depend on design), Backcountry Hut Company (thebackcountryhutcompany.com; from £39,500) and New York-based design studio Den (denoutdoors.com; about £20,500 for a 168 sq ft cabin).
This Scandinavian-style, three-bedroom dwelling sits in a secluded copse half a mile inland from the coastal village of Weybourne, not far from trendy Blakeney Harbour (famed for seal–spotting). It sleeps up to six guests and two dogs.
From £290 per night for three nights; norfolkhideaways.co.uk
A dog-friendly, two-bedroom lodge with angled steps and an open-plan lounge, Triangle Lodge is ideal for walkers and is a stone’s throw from the Cotswolds villages of Ashtonunder-Hill and Bredon Hill.
From £358 for four nights; hostunusual.com
A woodland retreat on the 97-acre Clowance Estate run by the Hurley family, the Glass Lodge is filled with natural light courtesy of floor-to-ceiling glass windows and has three en-suite bedrooms. “It feels like an escape from a normal square house,” says Jack Hurley.
Sleeps 6, from £500 for two nights; luxurylodges.com
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