This week I did one thing that felt probably a bit batshit loopy and stayed, by myself, in a treehouse within the woods. I do know. The one who will get spooked in her personal backyard.

It’s testomony to only how desperately I wanted to take away myself from all noise and distraction (impending deadline that I nonetheless can’t discuss) that I ventured out into the wilds alone, risking potential Blair Witch Undertaking-style situations and with solely a small pair of nail scissors and a laptop computer charging cable (makeshift garrote) for defense. As somebody who barricades their lodge door from the within, even when there’s a reception desk two flooring down and a twenty-four hour concierge, I can’t fairly imagine that I willingly took myself off to the wilderness.

Advert information: press journey for overview functions

However look; I’ve made all of this sound a bit creepy. Clear your minds of the Blair Witch stuff, it was only a little bit of drama for the intro, for this treehouse, one of many Skylark Treehouses at KIP hideaways, was simply some of the phenomenally enjoyable, fantastically secluded locations that I’ve ever stayed. Wherever.

For those who crave solitude, should you lengthy for the sound of birdsong and the rustling of the timber, overlook the lodge break: two nights right here, with the outside bathtub and the on-deck fireplace pit and the key walkway that weaves by the woods…two nights right here and it’s as if you’ve had some sort of thoughts and soul reset. Three nights and also you overlook that there’s anything on the market, on the earth. You recognize whenever you simply have completely nothing to do? And there’s nothing you can do? So that you simply grow to be form of inert, as if you’re operating on standby mode reasonably than truly switched on?

That’s how Skylark made me really feel. And keep in mind, please, that it made me really feel like this regardless of the actual fact I used to be knocking out 4 thousand phrases a day on my laptop computer, mainlining natural tea and solely often getting as much as have a shake and a stretch. In precise truth it was the proper place to plough by my wordcount for the deadline-I-can’t-mention-yet as a result of it was simply so utterly, fantastically silent.

And although half of the treehouse was completely open-air, together with a tremendous – very photogenic – outside kitchen and the aforementioned bathtub and deck, the bed room and bathe room have been totally enclosed in a hyper-insulated, hermetically-sealed pod. Enormous home windows in every single place, large cozy mattress, however a correct secure little (totally lockable) hotel-style room with a kitchenette (tea, espresso, oven) and massive walk-in bathe in addition to one of many best-placed bits of loo glazing I’ve seen, excessive up on the wall in order that it framed the timber outdoors however retained whole privateness.

On the privateness factor: there are different treehouses (six homes altogether) however they’re fairly far aside. On arrival, my coronary heart did sink after I heard the faint, dulcet tones of another person’s kids (as a result of who desires to listen to different individuals’s kids once they’re attempting to chill out?) however after I leaned proper out to attempt to spot them and maybe scare them off with an evil glare the treehouse they have been in, my nearest neighbour, was actually fairly distant. In reality you possibly can inform how distant each is as a result of the parking areas on the lane, two for every home, are nicely spaced-out.

Right here’s the way it goes: you arrive to Skylark Treehouses through the doorway lane after which the parking for every treehouse is signposted with somewhat emblem. (They ship you all the data by e-mail earlier than you arrive.) Every little automobile park has an electrical charging level, which is massively useful should you’re an electrical car-haver and wish to recharge while you keep. (I’m a brand new electrical car-haver and nonetheless getting used to the truth that you possibly can’t simply pull into any outdated petrol station and replenish; having a charger at your vacation spot simply appears to be the last word, world-changing comfort at this level in my life. Extra thrilling, I believe, than even an outside bathtub.)

A personal walkway takes you down, Swallows and Amazons type, to the doorway of your treehouse (which is lockable, and lit) and the door opens onto probably the most attractive little outside camp, excessive up within the timber, completely personal and with a roof over the residing bits in order that it may be always in use. Once I say camp, that is nothing like tenting; it’s tenting, I suppose, for these (hi there!) who love the odor of the outside and like being surrounded by nature however who don’t wish to get trench foot and have to be inside ten metres of a completely flushing rest room always. It appears like the agricultural treehouse/tenting idyll, although a model of it you’d discover in Vogue, but it surely acts like a luxurious lodge. All the finest supplies, costly home equipment, a bin with buttons to open and shut (God how simply happy am I?) and that sensible, show-stopping outside tub. With solely the cows within the area to witness your soak.

There’s a woodburner contained in the sleeping suite, in addition to radiators, so I’m fairly positive this place could be toasty as something within the wintery months, however in summer season it’s doorways thrown broad open and outside fireplace pit on, only for the atmosphere, should you fancy it. I didn’t, as a result of I used to be there by myself and I’m an everlasting catastrophiser and imagined myself by accident setting fireplace to my very own hair and never having anybody to assist put it out. Nonetheless, it was good sitting there and listening to the near-silence, as soon as the birds had gone to sleep. With my Brixham Harbour fish pie, one of many ready-to-oven freshly-made meals the individuals at Skylark can ship to your treehouse to your arrival. It was scrumptious. And massively welcome as I’d determined upfront that I didn’t wish to should cook dinner, as a result of it might have been simply one other distraction, and so it saved me from consuming muesli for dinner three nights in a row.

So to recap: you need absolute peace and quiet. You need the luxurious really feel and a focus to element {that a} lodge may give, however you need one thing extra secluded and personal. You like the concept of a camp-style break however desire a good mattress, full plumbing and no sense of damp. You need the ever-Instagrammable “bathtub beneath the celebs” however don’t wish to hear one other soul while you lie in it and – lastly – you wish to benefit from the outside however really feel secure and safe.

Bingo! I don’t assume anybody would remorse a few nights right here for a complete reset. What I appreciated most was their very stern guidelines contract that you simply needed to conform to and signal, promising to not make noise and to respect different visitors. Bloody sensible. You actually do really feel as if you’re the one visitors there – and it was totally booked on the nights that I stayed.

Costs? From £250 per night time. Possibly barely greater than you’d anticipate should you went “glamping”, however this totally shouldn’t be glamping. It’s a full lodge suite that’s utterly personal, with the advantage of a giant outside area that can be utilized all 12 months spherical. (There’s heating above the eating desk and the entire area is considerately lit.) It’s nowhere close to as costly as a luxurious lodge suite however that’s what I’d examine it to; though the supplies contained in the sealed sleeping space have been left fairly rustic and pure, simply one of many many eco-measures right here, the fixtures and fittings have been of the very best high quality and no expense had been spared.

Had I not stayed alone, I genuinely assume that it might have been tough to ever go away. In precise truth, I booked one other night time on the tip of my two night time overview keep, so I believe that claims all of it. The mad factor was, I didn’t even enterprise out of the treehouse. I couldn’t let you know what was half a mile in any course, even an eighth of a mile. I simply wrote and wrote and wrote. In my escape pod. Which is strictly what it was.

Skylark Treehouses at KIP Hideaways