A Multi-Million Dollar Tree House

As children, most of us remember either owning or enviously knowing someone with a treehouse. At the time there couldn't have been a more magical place on earth but the reality was that they were little more than a wooden safety hazard, dangerously nailed to a few branches on a mediocre tree in the garden. Perhaps you were one of the lucky ones and your treehouse had a roof, a door or god forbid, electricity. But chances are that no dad would bother spending much time, money or effort on something that was to be inevitably trashed by the kids and ultimately abandoned.

If you are the Duchess of Northumberland you do things a little differently and splash out over 3 million pounds on a giant, five storey, elevated mansion suspended across dozens of trees. The duchess commissioned the leviathan to be constructed in the grounds of her Alnwick park, a setting commonly used for the filming of Harry Potter. The park has a selection of themed gardens and is open to the public all year round.

The architect of the treehouse maintains that the entire structure can be accessed by wheelchair accessible and is open to all ages. The Duchess says, "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." The Duchess is mother to four children and remembers being an accomplished tree climber as a child.

The whole structure is laid out over 6,000 sq ft and connected via 4,000 sq ft of walkways and bridges and suspended 56 feet in the air between lime trees. Within it is a 120-seat restaurant, several classrooms, three conference rooms and a cafe. Despite what you might think about health and safety, it even has an open fireplace. The entire construction was undertaken by professionals using timber imported from around the world, the building is permanent and has been designed to accommodate for the growth of the trees. It was built as part of the largest garden projects Britain has ever seen.

In the last twelve months, over 500,000 people have visited the garden which makes it the north-east's top paid attraction and now one of the most popular gardens in the country. It has created over 300 new jobs and half of the funding for the project came from the public sector. The money provided by the council 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.