When you think of a tree house, you would probably think of something like Bart Simpson’s. A boxy wooden structure precariously nailed to the only large tree in the garden. With a bit of imagination you could shove a door on there, maybe some carpet, perhaps electricity? But it isn’t somewhere you live so why go to much effort? It’s only going to get trashed by the kids right?

How would you feel about splashing out 3.5 million pounds on a treehouse? Just think about how many rope ladders and cup-and-string phones you could buy for that! With that kind of money you could build a giant, five storey, elevated mansion suspended across dozens of trees. Well someone DID think about that and they DID build it. That someone is the Duchess of Northumberland, who commissioned the goliath to be built in the grounds of Alnwick Gardens which is used in the filming of Harry Potter.

The enormous Treehouse spreads across 6,000 sq ft with 4,000 sq ft of walkways and bridges and is suspended 56 feet in the air. It includes a 120-seat restaurant, three conference rooms, several classrooms, a cafe and countless turrets. It even has, despite the obvious safety issue, an open fireplace

The whole thing is held together by bolts, ropes and joints in what appears to be a purposefully messy configuration of shingles, beams and of course, branches. It was built as part of the largest garden projects Britain has ever seen.

Its designers claim you can get everywhere on a wheel chair and no matter how old or young. “There was a survey last year which found that a third of children aren’t allowed to climb trees, we want to provide that missing challenge, including an element of risk. And why shouldn’t the less able-bodied, of all ages, see life from the trees,” says the duchess, a mother of four who was a notable tree climber herself as a child.

The garden project has created 300 new jobs and attracted over half a million visitors in the last year making it the north-east’s top paid attraction. It is now the third most popular garden in the country. Just under 50% of the funding for the project was from the public sector which will be repaid with over 150 million pounds contribution to the local economy over the next 10 years. Alnwick’s next big attraction will be the artificial mist-shrouded Poison Garden, which opens in April.

In constructing the treehouse, the builders used imported materials from timber suppliers and hardwood suppliers around the world and used woods from Canadian Pine to Scandanavian Redwood.

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