There were many things I could have given my wife as a present for our fifth “wood” wedding anniversary – a chopping board, engraved cedar hearts, some timber furniture for the front room. Instead, I went on to cottages.com and found something truly special: a weekend break in a treehouse.
I kept it as a surprise until our visit last November. The arrival was spectacular enough: Bensfield Treehouse, in the East Sussex countryside near Wadhurst, was sheathed by stunning golden browns and red late-autumn foliage. My wife, Melanie, stepped on to the treehouses’s wobbling I’m A Celebrity-style rope bridge, looking a little confused. But the second she walked inside the front door, it was clear I couldn’t have chosen a better present: there was a fully-fitted kitchen, roll-top bathtub on the sundeck and a giant mature oak tree shooting up in the middle of the room. I’ve been in her good books for months since.
