Up Among The Trees

29/08/2024 | 0 comments

By Roz Hartley

I was lucky enough to wake up in a treehouse this morning.
Not a kid’s treehouse with mud pies and pirate flags, secret passwords and dirty knees. I’m talking a proper bona fide adult tree house with copper rolled-top bath, fluffy white towels, china plates and even a little wood-burning stove.

My behaviour was pretty childish, however, as I climbed up the wooden steps into the canopy of the large oak tree which surrounds the little house and squealed with delight at the sight of the leaves through every glorious window. I opened the fridge and was even more excited to see a welcoming bottle of prosecco rather than the Blyton-esque ginger beer one expects in such an abode!

We unpacked, went for a little walk, popped the bottle and settled on the expansive sofa. Oh! No TV. No Sky. No Netflix. No Amazon Prime. Well, this was going to be interesting. Conversation and board games, here we come!

Just as the world around us is realising the damage that smart phones are having on the younger generation, it is also rather wonderful to take a break from it all as an adult, to turn off the phone, to close the laptop and stare into the flames of a wood burner rather than a 55-inch telly.

It was lovely just to chat and play a dog-eared, well-loved quiz game of “MR and MRS” and reveal just how well we knew each other, to discuss the past and plan the future. Fizz in hand (!), we worked out our finance dreams and mapped out our healthy eating resolutions and exercise plans before filling the copper bath and having a good soak.

I woke rested and refreshed. I didn’t reach for my phone first thing but watched a squirrel dashing around in the oak tree, looking for early acorns. I felt like I had pressed “reboot”.

A healthy breakfast of fruit and yoghurt on the balcony amongst the branches and it was time to get back to reality. Time to go to work. Time to write a newsletter. I packed up my bits and bobs, lovingly stroked the edge of the copper bath and drove home, by-passing the coffee shop (that wasn’t part of our finance plan) and giving the golden arches the cold shoulder (healthy eating, healthy eating!).

If my resolve weakens over the coming weeks, you may find me lying on the grass looking up at the sky through imaginary branches or on the laptop googling “tree house accommodation near you” … at least until this little specimen gets a little bigger!