Cabinfevermagazine

Back to basics.

A quieter place.

Hot coffee on a cold day.

Sit in silence.

Travel and experience.

Listen to the environment.

Warmth given from cold.

Beauty born out of simplicity.

Crafted by hand.

Cared for once before and now.

Captured through a lens.

There are stories in everything.

Issue 01 Simple living and the outdoors

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Cabin Fever Issue 01

They say it’s essential to relax, and to take time for yourself. Perhaps this may include going ‘back to basics’, and taking a rest from the infringements that technology and a modern day lifestyle can implement. Though rather than look at how technology can effect our lives in adverse ways, we should look at how living a simpler life can benefit it. Cabin Fever doesn’t aim to romanticise a basic lifestyle, nor does it wish to promote any kind of hobby, but will simply give insight into a life led with less. It poses a large risk of giving a truthful peek into a world that is easily within reach, and will display all of the symptoms of a fulfilling existence. Not without questioning particular subjects such as outdoor pursuits, travel and simple living, Cabin Fever addresses these topics head on, giving an uncoated opinion. Saying all of this, we designed this magazine so that it would also be a visual pleasure too. Cabin Fever really does have good looks and a great personality.

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Contents 04 Abandoned buildings that have stories to tell 08 Reclaiming your Home get your craft on 12 The Emotive Value of the Outdoors the pursuit of the mind 16 Van Life something between home and adventure

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20 Flatpack a viable and sustainable option 24 The Weekenders escape to a spontaneous place 30 No Excuses get out of bed while the world outside awaits 34 Simply Does It style or substance?

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Abandoned

buildings that have stories to tell

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Every abandoned building has a story to tell. With any amount of exploring we do, it is inevitable that we will eventually come across a single, isolated building. The idea of finding an abandoned building no matterhow dilapidated evokes romance, and history. As we explore on our adventures and travels we remain to come across old buildings and huts, that all have something to say, even if they cannot speak.

Words by Emma Johnson

Every abandoned building has a story to tell. With any amount of exploring we do, it is inevitable that we will eventually come across a single, isolated building.

The idea of finding an abandoned building no matter how dilapidated evokes romance, and history.

As we explore on our adventures and travels we remain to come across old buildings and huts, that all have something to say, even if they cannot speak.

All of these buildings would have once served a purpose, and in the early 19th century up until the 20th century, many small dwellings were used by shepherds in lambing season or for

fertilising.

Shepherding was a hard job, and required living in a single room, and the hut functioned as a sitting room, bedroom, kitchen and storeroom all at the same time. The old huts would have a hearth, with a stove in either the centre or the corner for warmth, cooking and washing, with windows overlooking the flock from where ever he would be sat.

The designs, and construction of the huts varied in quality, but provided simple and durable living. The door would be positioned away from the howling wind, and many huts would have wheels so they could be moved from field to field.

In the later 20th century, machinery and technology took away the need for the huts, and the tradition left with the industrial age. In a contemporary world there is not a need for small holdings, and traditional ways of working and living. Many huts are simply abandoned, and remain to be things of dilapidated beauty, however in the UK old huts have been turned into bothy’s in which weary traveller’s can shelter for a nights rest, and even use the stove to get warm and cook a hearty meal.

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Reclaiming your Home

get your craft on

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Words by Emma Johnson

The idea of reclaming your own home, in this sense is about the reclamation of materials. There are a plethora of cleverly branded companies out therethat are quite happy to create and produce beautiful objects, for us to spend a pretty penny on.

From high end, bespoke design led functional objects, such as lighting, and furniture, to cheap accessories from IKEA, made for the everyman. The availability of a ready made interior style is there for those willing to spend the money, though this is the easy way surely?

Today, persuasive branding tends to sway the minds of many, but there are plenty of places to look for alternatives that are both inexpensive, customisable or free.

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When we think about customising, often the term DIY comes to mind. This bares some negative connotation, and could perhaps make people think of dodgy crafts, and wonky looking attempts.

The only obvious compromise is that customising something requires graft, and a bit of savvy thinking. The easy option of spending money on a set of shelves, or a chair sounds appealing, but this risks the home looking like everyone else’s, without personality and without love. It certainly isn’t for everyone, but a lick of paint, or a basic At the end of the day, level of woodwork can home decor can be bought transform an object, and this process cannot from a shop, and there are be accused of not being some very well designed just a little bit fun. objects out there too, but

there would be a void of

Crates and pallets are any personal touch, available, everywhere. saved money and most Literally, every company uses them, importantly, love. and when they are surplus for commercial use, then they are easily attainable with a few asks and very few pennies. They are so versatile and are a perfect blank canvas, ready to be made into a wide range of functional, beautiful objects.

Shelving units, tables and bed frames are probably the easiest of pieces to be made from crates and pallets alike. If attainable, wooden stumps, or discs can also be made lovely chopping boards, stools, book ends or small tables. With any raw wood, really the main consideration is the finish.

This could be in the form of a butchers wax, or a pop of painted colour.

Perhaps a more feminine set of customisable ideas come in the form of flower vases, candles, and wall decor, though anything can transcend gender specific aesthetic, of course. Lighting can be slightly more complicated, and may require someone with basic skill in attaching a wire to a bulb fitting.

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The Emotive Value of the Outdoors the pursuit of the mind

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So whilst it is never going to rain money on your next hill walk and you aren’t going to get that promotion you’ve been after at work for walking up that hill, what you are getting is an invisible bag full of feelings which will see you through the next week and maybe longer.

Words by John Stevenson

The outdoors is a different thing to different people. For some, it is an arena to seek their adrenaline rushes, to others it is a place to achieve personal goals, to reflect on life or simply somewhere to admire natural beauty and to breathe in a gulp of fresh air. But why do we do this? Apart from the obvious attractions what are the deeper reasons that motivate us to continually return to these environments to do the things we love?

The outdoors gives us the opportunity to fulfil our ambitions but it gives us very little actual physical gains apart from better health and the occasional suntan. The real gains are in the emotional, mental and holistic benefits that it gives us. The outdoors will not make your work life any easier and it won’t get rid of your personal problems but it might just take you away from it all long enough for you to enjoy the moment and put it all into perspective and may even inspire a solution.

It’s these feelings we get from these experiences that help add value to our normal existence.

The outdoors is a means of breaking up the monotony of everyday life. It is when we are stressed in the week that we look for these feelings again and we take ourselves away in our heads, to the parks, rivers and the mountains where we first experienced them and we look forward to the next time. That is what keeps us going. Without these feelings the annual statistics for sick days would sky rocket.

Stop the mountain biker from riding his favourite route or the hill walker from going up his favourite peak and watch the chaos ensue.

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To receive this payment you have to invest varying amounts of time, money, motivation, sweat, energy and commitment. The outdoors pays back in memories and emotions, in lessons and satisfaction. These things cannot be seen but they are stored somewhere internally for when they are required.

Why do these feelings strike such a chord with us and give us such profound happiness?

Well we are naturally hunter gatherers. We were designed to move and not to live such a sedentary lifestyle. Our love of the outdoors may come from the involuntary suppression of our natural instincts. Maybe the short pleasurable time we spend in the outdoor environment reconnects us with our true selves. It allows us to be real human beings free of wires and 3G, away from machines and manmade clutter.

Instead of throwing spears and rocks all day at animals we now throw ourselves down cliffs and rivers and watch the animals from a distance.The outdoors has a value but no price.

It cannot be bought on eBay or amazon. It can only be earned by going out and finding it and how much you receive depends on how much you invest in it. The only difference is this investment is unlikely to be an unwise one and it will likely pay dividends when you need it most. So get out into these places and find what it is that gives you these feelings. It is these simple but most valuable of feelings which can carry us through the most monotonous and trying of times.

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Van Life

something between home and adventure

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Words by John Stevenson

Years ago I when I first started to really appreciate and enjoy the outdoors, I told people I had a plan. I told people than when I had enough money I was going to own a log cabin somewhere remote in the mountains.

It would have a porch where I would sit and cook whilst admiring the amazing view after a memorable day in the hills. When I got older and wiser I reluctantly accepted that this dream would never materialise. Despite this, the essence of the dream stayed with me.

Then I found another way and a realistic one.

I bought a van.

Whilst a van may not have the rustic features or natural charm of a log cabin it offers something different. A log cabin is fixed to the ground and faces the same direction always. I can sleep in the back of my van and wake up anywhere, from the ocean waves to towering peaks, from smelly cities to flowing rivers. Instead of me going to the log cabin, I can take the log cabin with me.

My window can be a daily changing watercolour painting.

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When I have the rear door open, my stove sizzling away underneath it as the rain bounces against the metal roof and I sit admiring the next landscape that the van has brought me to.

A good friend once told me that sometimes late at night when he’s stressed or has a head full of thoughts, he gets in his car and blasts through the back country for a while and when he gets back he feels reinvigorated. He said this was what he loved most about having a set of wheels. I understood exactly what he meant. I love being able to get in my van and change my surroundings. The difference with a van is the ability to go anywhere, take anything, and be self-contained and self-sufficient. Owning a van isn’t just about owning a mode of transport it encompasses a lifestyle. For myself, the more I drive mine, the more I feel our relationship grow. It’s a mutual understanding. I feed her, she keeps me warm. I keep her clean, she keeps me dry. When I park up and look back sometimes I can sense her asking me when the next adventure is happening, like a petulant child wanting to go to the playground.

Depending on what delights I fill her with, she becomes like a transformer but instead of an intergalactic war machine she becomes a kitchen filled with the smell of methylated spirits and belly warming nutrition. Then she can turn into a comfy living room filled with warm air and the smell of an old book. Most importantly she can be a bedroom with a soft inviting sleeping bag and rucksack used as a pillow. A lot of the time she just transforms into a spare room filled with random objects like ropes, bikes, car park receipts and other outdoor paraphernalia.

I realise I may not have the log cabin that I wanted years ago but instead I have a means of fulfilment and a lifestyle that I never knew existed. Sometimes the best things are the things you discover by accident. And that is exactly what a van allows you to do

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Flatpack

a viable and sustainable option?

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Words by Emma Johnson

Ă baton, a Spanish architectural firm have designed and built an affordable, pre-designed, pre-built home available to buy and move straight into.

Not only is a a flat pack home, it is also portable. A 290 square foot house costs around ÂŁ25,700 and compared to the much higher prices of regular homes, this is far more cost effective than building from scratch, though may simply be an alternative for those

that choose to buy a first time property. The company call this house Ă PH80, and is divided into three sections, with a bathroom, bedroom, and living space with kitchenette. The exterior of the cabin is made with cement treated wood, to give the house durability and protection against bad weather, though this will age and take on a rugged feel over time.

This type of building has a utopian air to it, and could connote a kind of ideal way to buy a home and live in a small, functional space. Though utopian as it comes, the house has the potential to either be kept to the same aesthetics to how it was made, but could also be made into a personal home too.

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The exterior and interior can both be made custom, and this type of home can be decorated to any amount of personal touches.

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Overall perhaps this is the future for first time buyers, where property is becoming ever more expensive.

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The Weekenders

escape to a spontaneous place

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Words by Emma Johnson

Taking advantage of the time we have on earth will always be my bias. Ever since having the time and opportunity (and the money) to travel, I have become hooked. I love everything about the entire process of planning, mulling over maps of Europe, Asia and the Americas, dreaming of where my money could potentially take me. The idea of travel sometimes feel more tangible than actually being away and on a trip. The process of planning makes me feel as though there are endless possibilities, of places, cultures and landscapes to visit and experience. Recently, however I have decided to become far more spontaneous, taking opportunities to go on any kind of trip, wether it be a local bike ride, or further afield, say Scotland.

The whole idea of going away somewhere in itself should be exciting, though it would seem that the idea of a weekend in Wales may bring up images of rain and grey skies, trodding up a muddy hill in the cold. Unfortunately, yes the British Isles are generally cool and wet in climate, and the terrain may be familiar, to the point of being boring. The saying, ‘only boring people are boring’ is becoming ever truer for me personally, and I find that negativity surrounding the idea of going on a trip here at home astounding. Surely by dismissing the world outside your own doorstep stunts any kind of potential to be happy with what you already have. Avoiding going on trips all year in order to hold out for that yearly trip to a foreign beach has to be the most stunting thing a person can do to themselves.

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Overall, the main aspect I take from the idea of going somewhere and doing something is to experience life, and appreciating what you already have.

Holding out for things can be well worth it, but I find that the balance between taking a big trip once a year and not doing anything on your day off can often be out of whack for a lot of people. Wether we work hard to save money for that two week holiday, or work sporadically throughout the year to take multiple mini trips, we all have to ask one

fundamental question: ‘is it all worth it?’ If the trip comes at the cost of spending the rest of the year working without taking the time and effort to enjoy the things that already surround you, then perhaps the answer might be to spend less on one holiday, and just take small day trips, along with weekends where available.

Taking a weekend, or the

equivalent amount of time to give yourself room to think, and to experience something new is important to me. To see a new place, or visit an old famillair place, a sense of catharsis is prevelent, and psycologically, it won’t feel as though you have spent all year working hard to take a trip that you simply must enjoy.

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No Excuses

get out of bed while the world out there awaits

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So whilst you’re in bed, enjoying your lie in, theres will always be something that you could be doing that could be really great, but then why do we feel guilt for lying in when the sun is shining brightly, and sometimes we can even feel a sense of expectation from a day out.

Words by John Stevenson

Most of us enjoy a long lie in, and especially when we have been working hard, although on our days off we can fall into a slump of monotony, where a routine of getting up late, switching the telly on a lounging around may occur. Those of us that enjoy travelling, exploring and getting into the outdoors may feel that extra pressure when we feel tired from a working week to get up and get out, and on those shorter days, an early start is required.

Even if we don’t have busy working lives, that inner laziness can nag at us when we are comfy and warm wrapped in our duvets. That nagging sensation is that feeling that the outdoors pulls on, telling us that there aren’t going to be this many sunny days this year, or that the peak feels lonely without you. So, where does motivation come from? For different people, in inevitably derives from different places.

For myself, motivation comes from that place in my brain where I feel a sense of achievement, organised, gratified. When I feel that I am pursuing the outdoors, and doing something extra with my life it can definitely add something to my life, though putting my finger on that feeling is quite hard to do sometimes. Wether I feel stressed with my work, or that I simply need to brush the cobwebs away, I always feel good when I have got out of bed early in the morning and have gotten out climbing or walking. Wether motivation comes in the form of the promise of a healthy body, or to clear your head, it needs to exist for us to say to ourselves, ‘there are no excuses’, get out and do something. The guarantee is there, but the the motivation isn’t always. Getting out, and doing something fun does however run the risk of feeling brilliant at the end of the day.

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Simply Does It

style or substance?

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Simplicity can define itself in different ways, and means different things to different people. Of course this could be said for most one word statements. If something is simple, then it could perhaps mean that it is without frills, or it could also mean that something is classic or timeless. A simple type of pleasure manifests the meaning of the work simplicity into activities and actions. A simple pleasure could be the smell of fresh coffee in the morning, or it could mean a trip to a high end sushi restaurant. So we have established that simple, isn’t so simple to universally define. In terms of simple pleasures, we can draw on our experiences that we go back to time and time again.

This may be riding a bike on a beautiful trail, or something more challenging such as fell running a hill in the dales.

From a more philosophical standpoint, the type of simplicity that could leave you room to think and and grow would be that of leading a minimal lifestyle. Owning less, doing more. This could be in the form of living well within your means, and not overspending on objects and food you do not need. A step up from this kind of simplicity, could be living in a very small home, or even living out of a van.

This type of simple living requires a certain lifestyle too, inevitably, this is not for everyone. Living out of a vehicle takes a large degree of determination and sacrifice, and that kind of life would probably be a non functional option for anyone working in a full time job that would need to appear presentable. Living out of a van for a weekend, or even whilst travelling however, can be a fun and rewarding option for getting back to basics and having time to think

A quote from Patagonia founder Yvon Chouinard, “One of the things I really believed in is the idea of simplicity, that life should always be moving towards more simplicity rather than more complexity.” without the distractions of the home. Taking yourself away from the use of technology can additionally take you back to a basic way of life.

Communicating to people face to face or writing a letter are the only options available for those without the use of a computer, and without that temptation to check our social networking sites. Why would the void of technology and things make us feel better?

It could be that we are becoming ever more detached from human contact, and some of us would rather express our digital personality over a real life one.

For some of us, the use of the internet and social media sites could easily be blamed for narcissistic and self hating tendancies, however on the flipside, great inspiration can be found online, and the web can be a great resource for finding things to do, and places to go.

Internet aside, what are the core ways to live in a simpler way? In order to live simply, and to reap the rewards from this lifestyle, I would say that the real reasons lie in our own expectations. When we take away luxuries, or clutter, or whatever makes our lives simpler, we do not need to worry about wether we stand up to our peers in financial, or social terms. We don’t need to worry about having the latest phone, we should think more about having a great personality. Not dictated by money, and the drive to aquire lots of nice things leaves out that stress of meeting invisible standards that some people choose to live by. It leaves us with that sense of self, and that we are comfortable in our own skin, living a life with small pleasures, adventures, curiosities, and the potential for new experiences. It doesn’t need to be a romanticised ideal when simplicity is clearly within our reach.

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Publication design Emma Johnson

Words Emma Johnson John Stevenson

Photographs 09 - 11 Pinterest 21 - 23 Abaton All other images are original photographs

Cabin Fever Š 2014