Built for a family who clearly values their alone time, this treehouse castle compound in England is made up of two separate cabins, each designated for either grown-ups or children. Connected by a network of spindly rope bridges and canopy walkways, the architecture was constructed as a rather heavy-handed "reference to medieval architecture," with turreted rooms, conical roofs, and walls clad in hand-split oak shingles. Designed by the arboreal-minded British firm Blue Forest, the fortress is, in fact, second only to France's Châteaux Dans Les Arbres in woodsy whimsy.
Inside, the parent's little kingdom dwelling comes with a built-in kitchen (with temperature-controlled wine racks!) and a living room that centers around a sizable tree trunk, but otherwise looks much more like deluxe, full-sized amenities than the average sweet-but-shrunken down treehouse offerings. In the kiddie hut, a hatch leads to an upstairs game room, with flatscreen TV and—wait for it—an 80-yard zip line that leads to an "adventure play area." Between its archetypal fortress build, amusement park amenities, and lofty locale, the end result feels like the Middle Ages, reimagined by some very childish squirrels. Design Boom has the wacky full gallery, this way.
· British family is living the highlife in treehouses by blue forest [Design Boom]
· All Arboreal Architecture posts [Curbed National]
· All Outdoors Week 2014 posts [Curbed National]