The Forest is your secluded, magical escape on 80 acres of private forest. Close (not too close) to Gimli, Manitoba down a long, private road. Waiting for you to restore and disconnect, enjoy the decks, walk the trails, or take in the healing medicine of the forest. Nestled in the spruce and aspen boreal forest, a woodstove, hammocks, fire pits, hiking trails, swimming pond, snowshoeing. And the vinyl collection. And As John Prine said we threw away the TV.
The space
Ah "the Forest"!
I love this place and I am sure you will too, mostly because it's pretty secluded and alone on 80 acres. Think a simple little cabin in the woods. I call it the "Forest" or the "Little Retreat".
There's a lot more info on our website (littleretreatintheforest dot com) and on our social media pages (IG is @littleretreatintheforest) and the House Manual. My cell is @2047912662 text me or call anytime.
It's rumoured as rumours go that it was once lived in by an old fella years ago or trapper or something but that's just rumours as it goes lol, that’s before it was renovated as a modern house but keeping the cabin the woods vibe.
Anyway it has everything you'll need since it's now essentially a house with everything. Think nice bedding, soaps and lotion, plush towels and a selection of herbal teas, coffees, and some medicinal herbs and teas for donation/purchase from Hollow Reed apothecary. And of course all the firewood you’ll need to stoke the ol’ woodstove.
Sharing it with you is part of the desire to share with you if you also need time some oasis time where time can almost stop, away from all the busyness and everything else, alone in the woods, this might be for you.
Oh and we’re pup friendly too, I think that’s why most people come.
It’s been 8 years on Airbnb!
Now that we have our own website and other fancy business stuff set up we are setting up for direct bookings as well which was my original goal :)
We do try and keep the prices reasonable - we haven't changed them in quite a few years. We did bump them up a bit to 275/215 weekends/weekdays as it’s been a few years of no increases... yep I hate increasing rates even though I know the costs of running this place have gone up.
So we introduced a whole bunch of cool discounts in 2025 to make it easier for all stays longer than 2 nights! (2 nights is way too short to really get the full benefits of how quiet and set away you are from everything, and all those Forest phyto chemicals, in my opinion!)
We also still pay that 15% Airbnb fee because I really don’t like hidden fees lol.
For fees what do we have?
A cleaning fee of $75 (we pay our cleaner from a nearby town $100 and buy soap and supplies and we clean throughout the month too that woodstove and living in the country is crazy messy).
And an extra guest fee of $25 a person per night above two people. An extra person only pays $50 for 2 nights! It’s better with just 2 people though haha it’s only a 700 sq ft cabin.
We do appreciate you keeping it tidy and do some very minimal stuff when you are leaving (you don't have to do anything with the bedding or anything like that we take care of everything).
Your stays help with expenses of having the place and the costs of projects... even ecological things we want to do to nurture the land like transplanting certain herbal medicines to re-wild the land.
Our place is perfect if you want a retreat spot to restore at in the forest, away from everything and just take a big 'ol break, sit in the geodesic dome in summer away from the bugs (there's lots of them in June and July!) or just sit and listen to the aspen and watch for birds or look at wildflowers on our trails AROUND THE 80 ACRES.
NOTE: if tall grasses, bugs and lots of pure nature (or cold in winter!) in a wild Forest and not a soul in sight aren't your thing then our place may not be what you want.
When you book a stay I will send you a detailed message closer to your stay with all kinds of information about it, so hopefully I will answer all your questions, but message me anytime before your stay with any kind of question though :). In the meantime please read the house manual and check out our social media pages.
I'm grateful for my travels like vintage off grid trailers by Joshua Tree national park, a hut in the desert near Slab City, CA (out of this world), an adobe home in Tucson, Arizona, a sailboat in downtown Vancouver, a yurt in the mountains of northern Arizona, a tent at Monument Valley, Utah, a float home on Vancouver Island, a school bus in Portland Oregon, an off grid Earthship in the high desert of Taos, New Mexico.
This cabin is basically a house with a cabin in the woods feel, we even added a basic espresso maker (new!). In summer guests love the outdoor tub and shower nestled in the woods 100 feet away from the cabin.
Use as much firewood as you like (within reason lol I have to cut and split it) and there's always some dry wood inside the cabin.
You will find rough trails I am working throughout the forest. If it's spring bring rubber boots, in winter we supply snowshoes :). You might see deer, owls, eagles, ravens, but hopefully not bears or coyotes but they are there - you'll hear the coyotes at night. Sometimes if you are lucky the aurora borealis.
You will find several ponds. One I made a small beach. It is swimmable. There's a couple canoes and a kayak. Clay bottom is gooey and soothing on the toes like the spa!
The house has all the modern day comforts but as John Prine said I threw out the TV :) We kept the guitar and banjo lol (seriously!). I did however, equip the house with good satellite Wifi and two WiFi networks in case you need it an you are outside the cabin. One works up to 400 feet away I am told, so much for disconnecting.
The Vinyl collection - there is also the old cabinet record player which plays awesome, so bring some of your vinyl! My old collection is there including some old Hank Williams, Talking Heads, Rolling Stones, Beatles, Bob Dylan, Van Morrison and other cool stuff.
Cleaning! The walls end up with black marks from people’s days there, which we try and wipe up between guests as much as possible, and we have a cleaner from a nearby town and it gets cleaned (beds made, rooms and floors vacuumed, water checked, holding tank checked, kitchen cleaned, bathroom cleaned, dusting and wiping and cleaning the fridge) regularly.
We ask you to please clean up after yourself, it's pretty much wash and put away your dishes, wipe after yourself, and tidy up - we clean but we don't wash the dishes between guests, that's for you to do.
Please bring in wood from the wood shelter for the next guests if you used it, same with the sauna please.
No fireworks... forest fires.
No parties.
No playing recorded or amplified music outside.
More info on our website!
CANCELLATION:
Our place is for people who love our place and look forward to a stay here for many months and we are grateful. :)
Our guests have totally been wonderful people, and I’m fully committed to keeping it available for folks who really want to come here and heal in nature.
If you need to change plans try and stay by the cancellation policy but I can always work something out with you if something comes up that is legitimate.
Also check out my Website, littleretreatintheforest dot com, and our IG page too at @littleretreatintheforest and the FB page. Airbnb won't let us say the full names of the social media sites on here or it blocks it, so you know where to look we are on it!
Guest access
The cabin, front and back decks and the back 60 acres of trails, the pond and the forest are all yours to explore.
I am slowly mapping out the land and making new trails, but the existing trails are all mapped out (you'll get a map).
I'm sure you are outdoorsy but a quick note of care, I have been turned around and freaked myself out back in the thick willow brush when I've gone off trail. Trust me on that on a grey cloudy day I’ve done it. Many times.
I love the place in summer or winter, in winter it is equally beautiful and great for snowshoeing - you can also drive the 3 miles to the well known ski trails of Camp Morton. In warmer months the trails from the Camp Morton provincial park are also pretty cool and some go north a ways. Or walk along the beach it's all public land as far as I know.
The drive to drive to Gimli for a coffee at Flatland or the MCC thrift store in Riverton are both close, or do the jaunt to Hecla Island after your stay it's only an hour away. Oh and the Arnes Farmers market 8-2 during warmer months is a must (check out the potter Kirk Creed he lives down our road a couple miles off grid say hi from me and buy some pottery that's how he lives).
Challenges in summer can include what you find in Manitoba and the boreal plans forest including mosquitoes and also wood ticks (they are not deer ticks which carry Lyme disease) just so you know. Mosquitoes of course are worst in the early evening only and then they go away. And of course they are everywhere in Manitoba and most of central Canada.
Other things to note
Walk the trails, be alone, leave a gift (a guest left a hand made wind chime it's by the tipi check it out), hug a tree, get out in nature, see the deer, check out the trails the VW bus or the dome or even take a look at our prospector tent (if I am out I'll even show it to you inside).
