Once the tent was up I sat inside it, my weight anchoring it to the ground, and made a hot chocolate on my camping stove.
The cottage is elegant and eco-friendly, with its under-floor geothermal heating and wood-burning stove.
I had my own canvas room and a proper bed, and was anticipating a good night's sleep after cycling about 50 miles, but regretted not having built up the wood-burning stove before going to bed, as it was freezing cold.
But perhaps Kulter's true accomplishment is the creation of a relaxed and homely atmosphere, right down to the servings of bread and homemade soup on the stove at openings.
And there was one golden nugget of advice: filling my drink container with the remaining water from the stove to use as a makeshift hot water bottle.
They simply load the stove with fresh organic matter and light a conventional fire just long enough to get the material hot enough to release gases, which the stove can then burn to release even more heat.
The rate includes breakfast, after which you can opt to self-cater or eat meals cooked by a local chef on a mud stove and log fire.
Public bickering between club and coach has boiled over in the past week but the pot's been on the stove since mid-2014, the point at which Carlton might have made motions towards extending Malthouse's initial three-year contract beyond this 2015 season.
It can be carried out in a small household stove, or it can be an industrial operation.
And because a pyrolysis stove doesn't produce much smoke, it releases very little carbon dioxide or soot.
Their verdict ruled out a gruesome reminder of an infamous serial killer, the cooking stove on which Dennis Nilsen boiled down parts of the bodies of young men he murdered in the 1970s and 80s.
