Ever wanted to live in a tree?

I have always thought that a tree house would be the ultimate place to live.

I played in a variety of tree houses as a kid, some were pretty elaborate with windows and trapdoors, some were just a spot in a tree with an imaginary house around me.

I remember being fascinated with the idea of tribes in Irian Jaya living in tree houses way up in the forest canopy.

I fell in love with the Ewok tree houses in Star Wars.

Only recently have I put two and two together to realise just how often tree houses appear in stories I read as a kid, from the Swiss Family Robinson to Owl’s home in Winnie-the-Pooh to the Lord of the Rings.

And now as an adult, I can relive those dreams with lots of cool books full of tree houses, from Victorian Garden tree houses to tree houses in French public parks, to family homes in Ethiopia to tree hotels in Costa Rica. If you want to be inspired, try these two books for starters :

• Treehouses by Paula Henderson and Adam Mornement
• Exceptional treehouses by Alain Laurens

Or you could even do your kids a favour and build them their own tree house!