Country estate offers holidays with a difference
A country estate in Gloucestershire is opening to holiday guests for the first time this year with designer accommodation on offer in six new high-end treehouses.
The treehouses are set in Park Covert Woods and their opening in late spring is timed for the first guests to enjoy carpets of bluebells and other wild flowers and countryside rambles.
Each treehouse operates as a self-catering holiday let, is totally separate from its neighbours and accessed by private board walks and sizeable decks from which guests can enjoy views across the wetlands and beyond.
Elmore Court has been the Guise family seat for nearly 750 years. Current owner Anselm Guise inherited the property from his uncle in 2007.
The treehouses are part of Anselm’s nature recovery programme and desire to open the estate to give guests the opportunity to sleep and relax within nature and experience how it is possible to increase biodiversity and breathe positivity back into the environment by rewilding.
In 2020 he set aside 250 of the1000-acre estate to rewilding, ceasing to cultivate that land and allowing nature to flourish as well adopting regenerative farming methods for food production on another portion of the estate.
As part of this process the land directly in front of the treehouses is undergoing a gentle return to the wetland status it would have originally been and forms part of the wider restoration of the Severn and Avon Vale floodplains.
Each uniquely crafted treehouse features an electric car charging point, zig-zagging boardwalk entrances through the woods, British cedar cladding with corrugated roof, cork flooring and poplar ply walls. The clever design means they are maximally insulated as well as gaining energy from both the sun and occupants.
Other features include a modern brazier with wood store on the seated decking and even an outdoor bath to soak up the incredible views.
High spec outside kitchens with hob, combi-ovens, fridge and dining all under shelter optimise time spent al fresco. All treehouse dining areas have outdoor heating.
The interior design sees another cousin of Anselm’s, Tracey Boyd, in charge. Tracey is a well-respected fashion and homewares designer with clients including Anthropologie, At Home and Sonder.
Each treehouse will be different using similar materials such as wood, metal and glass with Scandinavian sleek lines, interrupted by splashes of colours and textures. Each treehouse will have a its own colour palate.
The treehouses sit separately from Elmore’s other venture, the wedding and events business which operates out of the 13th Century Court as well as the Gillyflower ballroom which was built 10 years ago from rammed earth.
