What I look at before placing a cabin on a hillside

Every hillside asks the same first question: where does the water go? Before I think about views, I walk the slope after rain if I can, or read the ground for where it has been. Gullies, softer patches, the line of greener grass — these tell you where not to build long before a survey does.

Then the sun. A cabin that catches morning light on the deck and shade in the afternoon feels different to live in from one that does the opposite, and the difference costs nothing if you decide it early.

Only then do I look at the view. Views are seductive and they make people put buildings in the wrong place. A slightly shorter view from a stable, dry, well-lit position is almost always the better cabin.

Finally, the trees. I mark the ones that must stay before anyone draws a line. It changes the plan, and it should.