Drovers' Bough, Herefordshire​

 

Architect's Journal Small Projects Award 2022 

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The house adopts the familiar language of local agricultural buildings in the area, with a long and narrow form which responds to the site, an old drover's path. Rather than being physically attached to any trees, it is instead raised off the ground on green oak stilts. It is accessed via a long staircase that takes you from the drover's path up into the canopies with views out to the Black Mountains.

 

Internally there is a double height living space with a large opening looking over a sun terrace to the south. A mezzanine floor provides a small raised bedroom with a kitchen and bathroom tucked below. Carefully composed small windows provide ventilation and glimpses of the countryside as you ascend the internal space. Two east/west facing windows fully fold back, allowing you to open out the space to nature and touch adjacent trees.

 

Almost no earth was disturbed or excavated in its construction, with metal screw pile foundations attached to each stilt. The majority of materials were locally sourced, using a combination of larch, oak, natural plaster and a huge found piece of slate which forms the first step of the external stair. The Treehouse is powered by a grid of solar panels on the farm, and fresh water is sourced and pumped from a local spring in the field.

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Self Built by Mark Hamilton Furniture.

Internal lighting by Louis Jobst.

Photography by David Grandorge.