A new ‘digital detox’ cabin has been built just outside Greater Manchester, where guests are invited to lock their phones in a box.
The holiday home comes from Unplugged, a company that already has a similar cabin in Cheshire as well as a more than a dozen more across the country.
The aim is to allow guests to full switch-off and reset, in beautiful countryside locations.
This particular new pet-friendly cabin, known as Peggy, is situated just off Cheshire’s ‘Sandstone Trail’ near Tarporley, and has lush countryside views.
Unplugged says it wants its guests to embrace a tech-free weekend, saying it can ‘improve problems associated with high screentime, such as brain fog, poor sleep quality, anxiety and lack of productivity’.
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The bathroom in Peggy. Credit: SuppliedThe kitchen area in Unplugged’s Peggy cabin. Credit: SuppliedPeggy by Unplugged is surrounded by countryside. Credit: Supplied
On the three-night digital detoxes, you’re encouraged to stash your devices in a lockbox, which are swapped for an old-school Nokia (with Snake), a physical map of the surroundings, an instant camera with film, and a cassette player.
But although there’s no tech, there are still enough creature comforts to keep it feeling like a holiday, including a hot shower, hotel-quality bedding, and a fully-equipped kitchen with a gas hob.
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The business was created by entrepreneurs, friends and co-founders, Hector Hughes and Ben Elliot, who themselves felt they were spending too much time behind a screen.
Hector said: “Since we introduced Luna to the Cheshire region last October, we’ve been at an almost full capacity. This demonstrates there’s a demand for accessible destinations to help people living in these areas resolve problems associated with burn out, stress, tiredness – and too often these come associated with too much screentime.
Panoramic windows inside Unplugged’s Peggy cabin. Credit: Supplied
“As well as the health benefits enjoyed, we’re also noticing an increase in people choosing to stay to help them reconnect with themselves, as well as their partners. Digital detoxes allow for quality time without the constant distraction of their devices, and we’ve even hosted a few engagements too! It was therefore an easy, natural decision to give Luna a sister, and we’re delighted to welcome Peggy this spring.”
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Peggy runs solely on solar panels, and has panoramic windows allowing guests to swap ‘blue light’ for ‘starlight’.
All escapes are on a three-night minimum, and start from £390 per cabin.
Chester Zoo named one of England’s most popular tourist attractions with 1.9m visitors
Emily Sergeant
Congratulations are in order, yet again, for Chester Zoo… as this time its been one of England’s most popular attractions.
Merely months after being named the UK’s best zoo for the second year running, thanks to receiving more than 11,000 ‘excellent’ reviews from TripAdvisor, Chester Zoo has now got itself another prestigious title, as a major VisitEngland (VE) report has ranked it the third most-visited ‘paid for’ attraction in England – and the most visited outside of London.
The national tourist board for England gathered information from a total of 1,373 attractions across the country, and ranked the UK’s biggest charity zoo as the third overall in terms of popularity, with a whopping 1.9 million visitors in 2024 alone.
The Tower of London took top spot with 2.9 million visitors, while the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew was second place with 2.3 million visitors.
When it comes to free attractions, on the other hand, it wad the British Museum that claimed the top spot with 6.5 million visitors, while the Natural History Museum (5.9 million visitors) took second place, and the Tate Modern (4.6 million visitors) got third.
So as you can see, the south and London in particular is a pretty dominating force in England’s tourism industry – which is why it’s even more impressive to see Chester Zoo ranked so highly.
The new VE title also comes after the zoo was recently given £4 million of lottery funding to help ‘transform’ the local environment and restore wildlife habitats across the Cheshire and wider North West region.
Not only that, but if course follows Chester Zoo’s unveiling of its new immersive experience named Heart of Africa, which is the the largest zoo habitat ever created in the UK and is home to 57 iconic African species.
Chester Zoo has been named one of England’s most popular tourist attractions with 1.9m visitors / Credit: Chester Zoo
“As a major international wildlife charity, everything we do is focused on supporting global conservation,” commented Chester Zoo’s Commercial Director, Dom Strange.
“Whether it’s caring for highly-threatened animals and plants, making scientific discoveries, influencing Government environmental policies, impacting the National Curriculum to better connect young people with nature, or our conservation efforts in around 20 countries, we’re fully committed to protecting endangered species for the future.
“But none of this would be possible without our visitors.
“Every person who comes to the zoo for a fun and inspiring day out is helping to fund our vital work, so we want to say a heartfelt thank you to everyone who has supported us and helped us to rank so highly in VisitEngland’s latest report.”
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Travel & Tourism
Ryanair introduces immediate £500 fines for ‘unruly’ passengers
Emily Sergeant
Ryanair is majorly clamping-down on passenger conduct by introducing a new immediate fining system.
In a bid to get onboard conduct to an acceptable level, Europe’s largest budget airline has today confirmed (12 June) that it has introduced a £500 fine for disruptive passengers whose unruly behaviour results in them being offloaded from the aircraft.
The airline – which prides itself on being one of the most ‘punctual’ in the continent – says passengers expect to travel in a ‘comfortable and stress-free environment’ that’s free from ‘unnecessary disruption’ caused by a tiny number of people travelling onboard the aircraft at the same time as them.
Ryanair has introduced immediate £500 fines for ‘unruly’ passengers / Credit: Wikimedia Commons
While it’s no secret that passenger disruption is a problem that’s increasingly affecting the airline industry as a whole, Ryanair says it’s ‘committed’ to tackling unruly behaviour for the benefit of its passengers and crew.
The company intends to continue to pursue disruptive passengers for civil damages, but at a minimum, they will now be issued with a £500 fine immediately.
“It is unacceptable that passengers are made suffer unnecessary disruption because of one unruly passenger’s behaviour,” a Ryanair spokesperson commented as the fines were announced today.
The airline says it’s committed to tackling this for the benefit of its passengers and crew / Credit: Pxhere
“To help ensure that our passengers and crew travel in a comfortable and stress-free environment, without unnecessary disruption caused by a tiny number of unruly passengers, we have introduced a £500 fine, which will be issued to any passengers offloaded from aircraft as a result of their misconduct.
“While these are isolated events which happen across all airlines, disruptive behaviour in such a confined shared space is unacceptable.
Daisy Jackson -
7th May 2023 
