Starnook started with a simple question: where can you still see the stars properly? I wasn't alone in this search, so a few of us starting driving out, searching online and finding places away from the city, drifting away from the glow of towns and cities. A place where the evening didn't end when the sun went down. Finding those places was harder than we expected.
Every accommodation website used the same words. Remote, secluded and hidden.
But, we didn’t know what really meant when it comes to stargazing.
I’m sure you’ve experienced a remote place with a bright orange sky above it, but if we look at the light pollution map over the last decade, you’ll find it’s slowly creeping into the isolated parts of the UK.
Luckily we have protected skies.
What this is
Starnook is a collection of cabins, cottages, lodges and retreats across Britain chosen for their surroundings, their atmosphere, and the quality of the night sky above them.
From Northumberland to Galloway, from forests to open countryside, we search for places where stepping outside after dark becomes part of the experience.
We're not trying to list everywhere. We're looking for the places that make you stop, look up, and remember how much is still above us.
How it works
We don't want to be another booking marketplace.
Bookings go directly to the owner. We don't handle your money, and we don't sit between you and the person welcoming you to their property.
Every place is added carefully. We look at the location, surroundings, lighting, and the conditions that make a night beneath the stars genuinely memorable. Starnook is built by a small group of people who love exploring, discovering hidden places, and finding the clearest skies we can.
The name
Around 1910, a company sold something called a Starnook: a small timber sleeping compartment designed to sit outside a home. With sides that opened and a roof that could be drawn back, it allowed people to lie beneath the open sky and watch the stars from bed.
Their pamphlet was titled A Call to the Open.
More than a century later, the idea still feels the same: creating spaces where people can reconnect with the night sky.