Our tree house so far.

There is something very special about having a hideout high up in a tree. You feel slightly removed from all worldly worries and commitments. You can climb up your ladder to rest, dream and spend some time suspended between the sky and the ground.  When we moved into our cottage almost five years ago, all boundaries were planted with laylandii trees that blocked out light and prevented the hazels, oaks, hollies and rowans from thriving.

We cut them all down and were left with four high posts in the corner of our lands next to a magnificent rowan. We decided that they would make a perfect foundation for a platform and some walls, recycled windows, a door and small balcony…

It all started in the summer of 2014. We wanted the four kids to be involved in building it and they had a lot of fun measuring, calculating and cutting wood for it. They did a lot of the hammering as well. At the end of the summer we had a roof on our structure and could paint it before the Autumn rains came lashing down. The tree house was built using a technique often seen in Sweden where you make the walls and roof from planks and put thinner planks across the joint. This makes for a sturdy and waterproof structure. It is often used on fishing huts and sheds in Scandinavia.

Since then we have been busy with various garden and building projects and the tree-house has been used as a place to sit under in swinging chairs and sometimes for escaping the real world for a while. All children that visit want to climb up the ladder and explore the space.

We are planning to insulate, put up inner walls and add some boards to the underside so it can be used all year around. We are also planning to add pages from an old children’s encyclopedia to all the walls instead of wallpaper. Hopefully we will have time to do it this year, but if not it will be a lovely project for spring.

There are curtains to make and cot beds to build and after it is all finished we are looking forward to spending a night or two out there. How lovely it will be to fall asleep with the sound of the wind rustling in the trees just outside the door.

We grow hops up one side and all across the balcony. On the south corner we have planted an old climbing rose. By the end of each summer the hops cover most of the structure and it feels like you are in the middle of a jungle.

In the years to come, if the posts start to disintegrate we are planning to add some other ones and make small concrete bases for them like we did for our gazebo. These new posts can be put in next to the old ones. A tree house is a relatively easy project to embark on and we can highly recommend it.