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How’s this for a pitch? Shack up for the weekend (or longer) in a luxury, design-focused cabin right by the beach. The surrounding complex has its own spa, sauna, hot tub and pool complex. For your soundtrack, there’s just the softly-crashing waves of the English Channel. Your sights are streaking sunsets, seabirds riding the wind, a distant pulsating lighthouse. Not bad, eh?
All the above is promised at CABÜ by the Sea, the Kent outpost of a company that also has a site in Ireland’s Killykeen Forest Park and is set to open a new Oxfordshire Cotswolds venue in 2027. CABÜ’s Kent location was its first, and it has been open since 2019.
Self-catered and with a two-night minimum stay, CABÜ by the Sea doesn’t pretend to offer anything like the slick, in-and-out efficiency of a typical hotel. Guests are encouraged to use it to ‘relax and rewild’, making the most of the beach, pool, spa treatments and social areas.
What are the rooms like at CABÜ by the Sea?
The shepherd’s hut-style cabins range in size from one-bed studios to three-beds, and they’re all detached. I stayed in a one-bed ‘luxury’ cabin – one level above a one-bed studio – which had more than enough space for two people. A passion for design and ecology was on full-display through the accommodation, from ‘Cabin Porn’ books and flora prints on the walls to mid-century-ish furniture.
There was a lot to like. The tall ceilings were gorgeous but a log fire, thick blankets and board games ensured properly cosy cabin vibes. Important things weren’t overlooked: the wi-fi wasn’t just ‘fast for a cabin’ but genuinely speedy, the windows’ sound insulation meant other guests were never heard, and included in the room were silky Wild toiletries and a decent array of tea and coffee bags.
That said, CABÜ sells itself as ‘luxury’ but its cabins didn’t quite reach those heights. Plenty of basics were amiss. The kitchen’s plates, cutlery and microwave hadn’t been checked for cleanliness. The sofa was collapsed in the middle and dusty (a tad too shabby even for ‘shabby chic’). The curtains weren’t quite black out, so if your cabin faces the social area – as mine did, only a few CABÜ rooms look out into the beach – light streams in throughout the night. For all the talk of eco credentials, the tap dripped.
What are the facilities like at CABÜ?
All CABÜ guests get a complimentary hot tub and sauna session, as well as access to the heated baby blue-striped swimming pool, which is open March to September. These two features make CABÜ’s comparatively high price point (starting from just under £200 per night) seem a little more justified.
Optional extras at CABÜ include pretty much everything at the ‘nature spa’. These extras aren’t extremely expensive but they aren’t cheap either: a ‘deep tissue massage’ and ‘crystal rose facial’ were each the most affordable massage/facial option at £65 for 45 minutes. You can also pay to hire go-karts and bicycles.
What is the food and restaurant like at CABÜ?
CABÜ is self-catered, but there are a several added extras that make it less bare-boned. Rooms have a combo microwave-grill, while a social area called the Sitooterie had an outdoor kitchen with pizza ovens, barbecues and fire tables for toasting marshmallows. You get the feeling that it could, with the right combination of guests, be very sociable. During my stay, other guests tended to keep to themselves.
The CABÜ House reception building, open 8am to 9pm, contains a shop that sells a range of things to cook (pizzas, burgers), eat (cereals, biscuits), drink (wine) and do (kites). In the same building, the Cabin Club sells an alright selection of pastries and coffees in the mornings, then opens up as a bar in the evenings. Nothing in the shop, coffee and bar is unfairly priced.
What’s the area like around CABÜ?
The site itself is set within Romney Marsh, right up against the sea wall (and just a few steps from a pebbly beach). CABÜ’s foreshore habitat is a site of special scientific interest home to an array of butterflies, bees, birds and rabbits. A lot of rabbits – indeed, the ground is strewn with burrows, so watch your ankles.
The nearest town is St Mary’s Bay, which is an optional stop on the Romney, Hythe & Dymchurch Railway, a steam train that runs between Hythe and Dungeness (said steam train is a tad expensive to use as a transport option). There’s very little else in St Mary’s Bay, besides a couple of convenience stores and a Shepherd Neame pub called the Bailiffs Sergeant.
Major towns Dungeness and Hythe are a short drive – or long walk, at least two and a half hours – away, while Folkestone is another few miles east of Hythe.
DETAILS
Address: Dymchurch Rd, St Mary’s Bay, TN29 0HF.
Price per night: From £375 for two nights (one-bed studio).
Closest transport link: A bus stop links CABÜ to Hythe and Folkestone. Car parking on site.
Book now: Click here