The Treehouse

Lots of people asking about the new treehouse, so here’s the rundown…

Winter 2025 Update.

First off – the treehouse is now finished. There are still lots of things that we will continue to do as it evolves over the coming year but in principle, after 3 1/2 years, it is now done and renting out.

Called the Zero Zero Treehouse, ( yes the others will be 01 02 and 03) it’s the first of four luxurious Net Zero elevated villas, based around our own passions of Nature, Well-Being, Food & Wine and Art & Culture.

This one is dedicated to Health and Wellbeing and is a super-contemporary building, clad in coreten steel and blackened timbers with its own private mini-gym and spa.

It’s built high up in the canopy between a big walnut tree and a set of beech trees on the perimeter of the Dome Garden site. For those that have been here it’s above where the Superdome once was.

It’s not actually be attached to any trees but at its highest point, it reaches up almost 11m so the upper decks nestle right in amongst the branches of the trees next door.

It was built using ultra-low energy technology, along passivhaus principles, so is super eco-efficient. That sits in with the rest of the Dome Garden eco-strategy and is crucial as we head towards a net-zero future.

There’s currently lots of scepticism about net zero and how the building industry is going to take 30 more years to adjust. Well, we don’t understand that, because we’re doing it – right here, right now. And the funny thing about high performance buildings like this is not only do they eke out their energy use and do their bit for saving the planet but they are lovely to be in as well.

Inside the Zero Treehouse there is one main bedroom with an ensuite wet room and a snazzy Japanese wc – as well as an outside shower on the deck. Then there’s a lounge with fabulous views right into the forest and a fully-fitted kitchen with everything from wine coolers to an instant boiling water tap!

There are be three cabin beds hidden in the walls of the hallway so it easily accommodates a family of four (and even a fifth one as long as they can squeeze into a 5’3″ bunk!)

For the brave, next spring there will also be the SKYBED – open to the sky on the roof and perched a metre out over the drop into the pool below – it’s a vertiginous lair for sleeping out under the stars when the weather, and your spirits, permit.

Downstairs, amongst clusters of timber stilts and coreten screens is a mini-spa with a sauna, a steam room, rowing machine, a big bath tub and an outdoor, freezing cold-water plunge pool in the middle of a small infinity pond, lined with lillies and crocosmia.

The Treehouse is more expensive than the domes – from £450 up to £525 per night in the absolute peak periods – and you can only book it in blocks of 2 nights from Mondays or Wednesdays and 3 nights from Fridays.

We’ve been having enormous fun designing this and it’s so nice to see how well it turned out. SO we think it’s more than worth the extra outlay.

On the plus side it does come with free bottles of wine for the adults!

Autumn Update

All the delays have been swept aside as the council finally got their act together and all the remaining pieces we need finally arrived this week. Full steam ahead now. Think we missed Christmas but Easter is a cert! (he said, crossing his fingers!)

Spring Update

Delays have occurred, due to a massive uplift of covid in China and the war in Ukraine, which has meant supplies for some of the key parts haven’t been available. But I think, in both countries, they’re all having such a terrible time we just have to put our first-world problems in perspective and be a little patient.

However, the delay has given us a chance to tinker and finally, finalise the final version of the final plan.

We’ve started building the infinity pond that will surround the freezing water plunge pool – which is being welded as I write. We’ve also been glued to the second series of Bridgerton so have stolen some planting ideas for circular ponds. We’ve also re-cycled the old Superdome wood fired water-heating system. So now you will be able to transform the freezing, cold-water plunge pool into lovely warm-water bath under the stars.

The amazing birch ply staircase is looking – amazing – but we’ve added another storey so its become a rather bigger task than we originally thought, and we’ve had to draft in additional help – or we’ll still be doing it at Christmas.

Our May deadline has fallen away, unfortunately, so we’ve had to think that out again but as soon as we see the main panels on site we’ll know where we stand.

We’ve also added the latest sketches and plans onto this page. These are the final, finalised versions now so they won’t change now – well, at least not much!!

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