Clavell Tower has variously stood on the Jurassic Coast in Dorset as a reverend’s folly, a way-marker for smugglers and most recently as a landmark for hikers along the South West Coast Path. The four-storey lighthouse that isn’t actually a lighthouse is today a cosy couple’s retreat. Built in 1830 by local landowner the Reverend John Richards Clavell, the tower had been a ruin when, in 2006, the Landmark Trust arranged for it to be moved 25m from the crumbling cliff edge and restored, brick by brick, as one of its quirkier holiday rentals. Guests must hike up a steep path from the tiny village of Kimmeridge to reach the tower, carrying their luggage on their backs. The reward: waking up to some of the best views and hiking in England.

At a secret spot on forested cliffs 130km outside Sydney, three transparent inflated domes offer perhaps the world’s best duvet views. The owners of the BubbleTents chose the off-grid spot above the Capertee Valley for its unmatched darkness and reveal its precise location only to guests. Each tent is secluded and includes a telescope and uninterrupted views of the night sky, as well as a rudimentary watering-can shower (or, for a premium in two of the tents, a wood-fired outdoor bathtub). Only the little attached bathrooms have opaque walls. By day, the views across the sweeping valley – the world’s second largest open canyon – are barely less captivating than the nighttime close-up of the Milky Way.

In the 1950s, stilted huts grew up above tree canopies across the US. They became manned lookouts for forest fires and icons of the great American outdoors. Technology, including drones, has rendered most of them redundant, but many of the survivors have been reimagined as retreats for those with a head for heights. The Crystal Peak Lookout in Fernwood, Idaho, sits in 13 acres of forest and was remodelled by interior designer Ms Kristie Wolfe in 2018. Guests will need a snowmobile or 4x4 to access the treehouse, depending on the season, and must be prepared to share their home with mountain bluebirds, owls and passing moose (don’t forget your binoculars). Accommodation is suitably snug and there’s a wood-burning stove. There’s also a ground-level sauna and, in the tradition of the American lookouts, an outhouse.

When the renowned Norwegian explorer Mr Børge Ousland isn’t reflecting on a remarkable life of adventure, he’s hanging out on his own private island in the fjords of northern Norway, just south of Lofoten. Manhausen used to be a fishing port, but since 2010 has been an eco-retreat made up of seven modernist eco cabins and a restored 18th century farmhouse. The glass-fronted cabins are cantilevered above the water, offering the illusion of seafaring in their Scandi-minimalist living areas. The old house has a restaurant and kitchen, where many of the ingredients, including pine shoots and sandwort, are foraged from the surrounding islands. There’s a library and, of course, a sauna. Go in winter to stand a chance of gawping at the northern lights.

The village and beach of Comporta has for many years developed a reputation as a low-key yet scruffily chic celebrity hangout just an hour south of Lisbon. As a result, the antidote to the Algarve is a little busier than it used to be, but there are plenty of pockets of peace in which to escape. Cabanas No Rio are two stripped-back little modernist fishermen’s cabins set back from the white sandy beaches on the banks of the river Sado. One cabin contains the living area; the bedroom and bathroom are in the other. It would be hard to imagine fewer frills – think white linen and untreated timber – but it would be hard to beat the cabins for simple good taste or access to solitude and natural thrills such as birdwatching or horse riding on the beach.

There are glorified cabins that come with hot tubs and WiFi – and there are cabins that genuinely encourage an escape from the stresses and turbulence of life. Getaway is the brainchild of two Harvard business graduates who parked their first cabins in woods outside Boston. Their sites, which now include prime rural hideaways outside more than a dozen big US cities, are close to stressed-out populations yet offer the isolation of more remote retreats. At Getaway New York, in the Catskills, less than two hours north of Manhattan, the simple but comfortable cabins include key-code entry, but that’s where the tech stops. There are lockboxes in which to put your phones and devices.

They call it “gumboot luxury” in the rolling hills of the Banks Peninsula at Annandale, on the rugged east coast of New Zealand’s South Island. Four well-appointed villas give the illusion of the remotest getaway just an hour’s drive from Christchurch, yet they spare nothing in the quality of their contemporary design. Seascape, the sleekest and cutest of the villas, is a modernist romantic idyll in concrete, rock, wood and glass accessible only by helicopter or 4x4 transfer. Perched on its own bay, a turf roof and huge glass façade suck in the outdoors. A vast bed looks across the deck, which has a sunken bath spa, out to sea. But for passing seals and visiting chefs (catering can be arranged), the privacy is total.