These off grid yet luxurious cabins combine epic location with an array of health and well-being benefits. From location and build to the delivery of the customer experience, Tiny Home Borders is fully committed to sustainable and responsible tourism.

Tiny Home Borders is off grid, these solar eco-cabins have 240v sockets, plenty of indoor and outdoor lighting, a fridge, gas cooker and to keep guests cosy indoors, a log burning stove. As well as outdoor barbecue and pizza oven and the option to purchase delicious venison, beef and lamb all reared on the farm.​ With outdoor woodfired bath, indoor shower, eco cleaning products and luxury toiletries, as well as ‘local heroes’, products all sourced from within a 16-mile radius of the farm.

Tiny Home Borders is a 12-month operation and bookings are taken for a minimum of 3 nights at weekends and many guests stay longer.  Tiny Home Borders is dog friendly addressing the desire of dog owners to take their pets on holiday whilst enjoying a truly one-off luxury experience.  Located in a rural location, visitors are encouraged to access the many walks from Tiny Home to the extent that many cars do not even leave the car parking space provided. We are also very happy to arrange transport pick-ups for guests who are travelling by public transport.

Each with its own private lochan for wild swimming and paddleboarding, amazing walks and activities on the doorstep, stargazing and wildlife watching, we encourage guests to make the most of what is here.

Tiny Home is off grid, and we work hard to be as sustainable as we can. But we are always seeking to make improvements and learn from feedback and others.

OUR SUSTAINABILITY POLICY

Here is our sustainability policy within Tiny Home Borders, extending to the wider Hallrule Farm.

Energy efficiency

Tiny Home Borders is off grid, we have a 4kw of solar panels feeding 15kw of battery storage. This gives 100% renewable energy through the summer months, however through the winter and a lack of sunlight this drops to about 40%, so we do have to back this up with a generator during the 3 darkest months of winter. There is a further 17kw of solar on the farm supporting various applications.

We have installed energy efficient products within the cabins, but we do ask guests to bear energy efficiency in mind by turning off lights whenever they go out. We supply a cold air hairdryer because hot air hairdryers can overload the system and blow the power, resulting in a call out to fix it.

Water

Water comes from the hill above you and is backed up by a bore hole during dry summer months. The water runs into collection tanks to supply Tiny Home and the excess feeds into a separate tank which then feeds all the deer around you. The water is run through a filter and treated with a UV light. Where possible we would ask guests to think about where they can save water during the summer months.

The rest of the farm is all fed directly from the bore hole with no water being sourced from the mains.

We hope you notice how much better the water tastes.

Recycle

Naturally, we recycle as much as possible and ask guests to separate plastics, paper, cans and glass within the bins supplied.

Laundry/Cleaning Products

At Tiny Home Borders we use Bright Earth cleaning products, which are cruelty-free cleaning products which are made in the UK using naturally derived, plant based, vegan and biodegradable ingredients. 

This forward-thinking sustainable cleaning brand offer their products in recycled and recyclable contains and donate 10% of their profits to charity. And good news, all Bright Earth products are safe for use with septic tanks.

Toilet paper is all from recycled paper from the apply named ‘Who gives a crap’.

Local heroes

Of course, succulent venison, beef and lamb which is reared on the farm along with superb locally sourced breakfast boxes, provide guests with a very special taste of the Borders. But we have also handpicked some true ‘Local Heroes’ too, all of which can be pre-ordered and ready for guests on arrival or supplied at just the right time!  #shoplocal #supportlocal

Kitchen essentials

Guest will all arrive to a few extra goodies:

• Eggs from the garden hens, when they are laying!
• Biscuits and goodies from the farmhouse kitchen.
• Claire’s homemade granola.
• Sourdough bread made just a couple of miles away.
• Locally made jams and marmalade.
• Locally sourced goods/products from within a 16-mile radius.
• Fruit and vegetables from the garden when in season.

Wellbeing

We offer guests looking to escape from the noise and stress of everyday life and having a bit of a digital detox, spending time at this stunning hillside retreat in one of the iconic locations in the south of Scotland.

​Each with its own private lochan, guests love wild swimming and with 2 boards available, they can also try their hand at paddleboarding. The woodfired hot tub easily fits 2 people and creates a totally unique outdoor bathing experience. No noise, flashing lights or bubbles just a genuine off-grid hot tub heated by its own log fire.

Hemp insulation

We are proud to shine a light on our partnership with innovative local insulation mill IndiNature, which uses traditional industrial hemp crops, right here in the Scottish Borders.

Hemp is a natural plant that gets harvested once a year. It is baled on the farm and taken to a factory in Jedburgh for processing into insulation blocks. This hemp insulation has been used within the build of Tiny Home Two.          

Industrial hemp is making a comeback around the world as a core material to make breathable natural fibre insulation and other products. Built on ‘Deep Green Principles’, the IndiNature Mill in Jedburgh is a high-capacity insulation factory that they call their ‘Hempworks’.

Warm in winter and cool in summer, and unlike other insulation which produce huge amounts of carbon in production, industrial hemp actually stores carbon. Made with hemp and flax grown on UK farms such as ours, this natural fibre will play an important part in a natural industrial revolution – creating positive impacts on the climate, communities and the environment.   

As local farmers who have created a luxurious and award winning off-grid eco cabin, we are proud to support this exceptionally sustainable crop in the build of Tiny Home Two. Not only does it match our own ethos perfectly but the fact that such an innovative and visionary product and company are located on our doorstep, this really was a perfect match.

Tiny Home Borders, greener inside and out.                     

Firewood

The timber is all grown on the farm and is all from trees that have fallen through age or storms. The kindling is all from untreated timber off cuts from the building of Tiny Home and a barn conversion.  Firelighters are environmentally friendly, made from wood and wax.

Tiny Home Two canopy plus finishings

The oak for Tiny Home Two has been supplied by David’s parents, who live just one and a half miles away. The oak came from trees brought down by Storm Arwen. We moved three x 6 metre tree butts, weighing about 3 tonnes each, down to Real Wood at Monteviot (7 miles away), where they were cut to our specification for use in the build of Tiny Home Two.

Wild bird seed

On the farm 8.3 hectares of wild bird seed is grown each year. This habitat supports grubs and insects during the summer and in winter, the seeds support the wild birds. It also in turn gives a habitat for field mice to live in which also gives a source of food for owls, however that is nature.

Grass margins

Grass margins located at the edges of arable fields of a lot of the arable fields provide important cover and food for birds and small mammals, as well as flowers for pollinating insects.

They can also help improve water quality by preventing soil erosion, intercepting surface water run-off. If you are on the River Walk you will walk round some of these.

Water margins/ditches

We have spent a lot of time fencing off water margins and ditches with a further 2000 metres fenced off last year. This can help improve water quality by preventing soil erosion from livestock going into the water as well intercepting surface water run-off.

Water margins can also provide cover and food for birds and small mammals as well as flowers for pollinating insects and are important for connecting habitats as well as creating wildlife corridors.

Hedges

Over the last fifteen years we have planted 12 kilometres of hedges, this equates to 72,000 hedge plants. A further 1400 metres of hedge was planted two years ago.

These hedges provide valuable food and cover for a variety of birds, insects and small mammals, and can act as an important corridor between all our habitats which birds and mammals can travel.

They also help prevent soil erosion and slows down our water run off which helps minimise flooding.

Green manure

This option covers the whole cropping year and will provide food and cover for birds, pollinating insects, and other invertebrates.

Green manure also protects the soil and improves soil biodiversity, fertility, carbon content and structure and if you are here mid summer these fields are purple in colour then turning yellow when the sunflowers flower in late July.

Semi natural woodland (as seen on the Brown Walk)

We have a beautiful dean made up of a patchwork or mosaic of traditional semi-natural habitats. These are areas that we control and limit the number of livestock in them and prevent over grazing.

These mosaics may include wetland, wet grassland, species-rich grassland, tall-herb communities, scrub, heathland and scattered pockets of woodland or wood pasture amongst others. They support a range of important wildlife and birds.

We permanently take regular walks through here as we find them magical.

Wader Grazed Grassland

At the west side of the farm, we have grassland that is for the benefit of breeding ground nesting birds in Spring and Summer, particularly waders such as lapwing, redshank, snipe and curlew.

We reduce the number of livestock in these fields where birds are nesting as this will reduce the risk of damage to their eggs and fledglings from trampling by livestock.

Woodland (As seen on the Yellow Walk)

We have planted a further 5 hectares of new woodland. This is predominantly different hard woods with some scotch pine intermixed. This should give lots of different types of trees which will support different types of mammals and birds as well as providing rich and interesting textures and colours.

AGRICULTURE AND TOURISM

We are proud supporters of Agritourism in Scotland and advocates of sustainable and responsible tourism.

Sustainable tourism is holidaying in an eco, green and environmentally friendly way.

Responsible tourism is considering the wider impact your trip could have on the country you’re visiting, and the world.

Your choice to travel responsibly can help:

• protect the landscape
• boost the local economy
• and provide funding for new and innovative projects

The Scottish Agritourism 2030 is the strategy for sustainable growth for a shared vision for the sector. The vision aims to:

• Sustainably develop the rural economy.
• Protect family farms for future generations.
• Build consumer awareness and loyalty towards local produce.
• Celebrate the history and heritage of these important Scottish communities.

The South of Scotland Destinations Alliance (SSDA) aspiration for the region is to be a year-round destination; forward-looking and built on the values and needs of its businesses and communities. Bringing tourism spend to the region through collaborative, strategic development.

One of the key objectives of the SSDA Marketing activity is to: Establish the South of Scotland as a year-round visitor destination of choice by highlighting the uniqueness of each season.

Tiny Home Borders has affiliations with both organisations above and in partnership with them we will continue to deliver our tourism operation to meet the needs our existing and future visitors.  Tiny Home Borders is already experiencing year-round occupancy and returning visitors to enjoy a different season.

We are proud members and supporters of:

• Scottish Agritourism
• South of Scotland Destination Alliance
• VisitScotland