WIN the Ultimate Off-Grid Escape for 2022

Fancy winning the ultimate off-grid escape for you and 5 friends? We’ve teamed up with Glen Dye to offer one lucky winner a boutique cottage stay, plus £350 to spend at Trouva.

Our winner will be staying at North Lodge, built in the 1890s and originally home to the caretakers who tended Glen Dye Lodge. A private footpath winds its way alongside the River Dye to your own outdoor haven, kitted out with everything you need for a week in the wilderness, from cold-water swimming to cooking on the wood burning stove. It also has its own Swedish wood-fired hot tub in floodlit woodland.

As a guest at North Lodge, you’ll have full access to The Glen Dye Arms, a BYOB pub complete with roaring log fire, and endless vegetables and eggs for you to purchase from Glen Dye’s garden.

Glen Dye is a private estate of boutique cabins and cottages surrounded by 15,000 acres of forest and woodlands, nestled on the banks of the River Dye.

Among the majestic Douglas firs and towering sequoia trees, Glen Dye sits at the centre of some of Scotland’s most wild and rugged landscapes, from the Cairn o’Mount to the Highland boundary, all watched over by the fabled granite tor of Clachnaben.

A home away from home, Glen Dye offers cosy stays, campfire cookouts and wood-fired hot tubs; rural retreats set against the backdrop of awe-inspiring scenery, making for the most unique of staycations - all year round.

Chef, seasonal grower and sustainability advocate Xanthe Gladstone is also Director of Food at Glen Dye Cabins & Cottages. Xanthe curates and develops the menus, oversees food and product sourcing, and strives to help Glen Dye run as environmentally-friendly as possible. To celebrate our competition, Xanthe created an exclusive winter stew recipe especially for us.

Serves 4

Ingredients 1/2 medium red onion; 1 carrot; 2 sticks of celery; 1 stick of rosemary; 1/4 red cabbage; 2 large potatoes; 400g chickpeas ; 300ml vegetable stock; 2 tbsp apple cider vinegar; 3 tbsp virgin olive oil; salt and black pepper

Method

1. Dice the onion, carrot and celery, and cook on a low heat in the olive oil with the rosemary leaves taken off the stalk. Let the vegetables cook for about 10 minutes until they have softened.
2. Peel the potatoes and dice them into 1-2cm pieces and cut the cabbage into long thin strands. Add the vegetable stock to the cooked onion, carrot and celery, followed by the potatoes. Put a lid on the pan and let this cook for about 5-10 minutes until the potatoes start to soften. Season with a pinch of sea salt and black pepper.
3. Once the potatoes have started to soften, add the cabbage, drained chickpeas, and apple cider vinegar. Replace the lid and let it cook for a further 10 minutes. Your stew is ready when the potatoes have softened and the lovely colour from the cabbage has spilt over into the other vegetables.
4. Enjoy with a big spoonful of yogurt or cream and some fresh rosemary on top.