This article first appears in Volume
32: Homegrown.

When

When
Princess Elizabeth clambered into Treetops Hotel in Kenya’s
Aberdare National Park in 1952, she had no idea she’d climb down as

Queen. She was sleeping among the branches when the news broke
that her father had died. Some 400 years prior, her predecessor,
Queen Elizabeth I, dined in the canopy in a house that could be
dismantled so as to not stunt the tree’s growth. History has
credited the Tudors with a lot of things (the flushing loo, for
instance), but who knew they were such pioneers of
sustainability?

Despite its historic royal roots, most of us probably associate
the tree house with more humble beginnings. It was our childhood
kingdom, those ramshackle planks and MDF boards strung together by
ambitious (or perhaps exasperated) grown-ups.

Today, many of us cling on to that desire to seek sanctuary in
the canopy. Whether you’re five or 55, tree houses present an
escape from the mundane. It doesn’t matter if you were lucky enough
to have a treetop den in your garden as a child. There’s something
about these retreats that, as adults, kindle feelings of nostalgia.
They’re a chance to switch off. Putting distance between us and
that which grounds us, they immerse us in a simpler world governed
by birds, bees and branches.

Back to nature doesn’t have to mean back to basics, however.
Forget rusty nails and ropey ladders; a forest of design-driven
dwellings are taking root across the UK.
Thanks to the addition of turrets and trapdoors, al fresco bathtubs
and views across bucolic pastures, going off-grid has never been
more attractive. Enid Blyton’s Faraway Tree pales in
comparison.

Instead, these sprawling tree houses pander to our penchants for
Scandi-minimalism, foraging experiences and delivered-to-the-door
hampers. It’s no wonder that the tree-house trend is growing.
According to Canopy & Stars, a booking platform which brings
together a curated selection of some of the UK’s best tree-house
holidays, online searches have soared over the last decade – a
67-per-cent increase in the last year alone.

Yet it’s not just the outdoor tubs that draw us to these
arboreal abodes. Unlike many fleeting travel trends, this is one
you can feel good about climbing on, thanks to a raft of
eco-credentials. Many tree houses are built in harmony with the
landscape, harnessing the local crop of sustainable materials and
using methods such as prefabrication and special screws that
protect the plants while keeping carbon footprints low.

Simon Parfett is considered the messiah of tree-house
construction, having built award-winning structures across the
globe – including one constructed around a crane on Bristol’s
Harbourside. His creative process is one that reflects and protects
the landscape. Sitting in the space ahead of design is like asking
for permission, he says. “When built correctly, it should be
impossible to see how the tree house was placed in its location.”
Using computer-aided design, he pre-manufactures the majority of
the elements in his workshop, alleviating any need for heavy
machinery which could damage the tree.

As long as innovative architects and eco-conscious hoteliers
continue to build whimsical tree houses that pull on our
heartstrings, we’ll keep shouting from the tree tops that luxury
travel doesn’t have to cost the Earth.