I volunteered on a fantastic little site called Camp Spirit in Holland last year. It is a lovingly run, eco site on half of a small island (De Kluut) on the Lake Veluwe. The other half of the island is a nature reserve that campers can walk through and explore. The campsite is made up of around 8 Tipis, 2 Yurts and 3 Sahara tents, all carefully erected and taken down each summer season. They are spread apart, giving you space to camp in peace. The site also offers lots of activities and they run a small boat to and from the island twice a day. I had so much fun on the island, cleaning the tents out, doing some gardening in their vegetable patch and learning about how to run a campsite. Their passion for doing everything sustainably is great and left a real impression on the guests.
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| One of the smaller Tipis (own photo) |
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| Inside the main social Tipi (own photo) |
This morning I was reading the Guardian whilst sat in the sun and I read about this amazing new camping experience in Sweden. In tree houses! It looked fantastic! All the tree houses are different from each other, all designed by architects that are interested in the project. The site is called Tree Hotel and it is about 60km south of the Arctic Circle.
The idea for the site came about when the forest behind the guesthouse of Britta (one half of the owners of Treehotel) was bought for logging. Realising they needed to save the forest they bought the land back and with the help of designers and architects they built the treehouses to prove that this land was more than just timber and money.
Needles to say, everything was built sustainably and with nature in mind. One of the tree houses, The Mirrorcube, is basically what it claims to be, a room built from special mirrored glass, allowing the guest to see out but not be peered in on. But the simple addition of an extra material, an infrared film, makes the cube visible to birds so there are no airbourne injuries.
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| The Mirrorcube. Photo taken from website. |
The little houses are so beautifully designed; some with roof top terraces, some with electronic stepladders that emerge when a secret tree button is pressed, every little detail has been thought through.
The idea of staying way up high, looking out through the trees, all alone in your little safe tree pod is so fantastic. I don't know what would be better; to visit in the winter when the snow has settled over everything and you sit there in your warm, hanging house with the silence of snow, spending your days sledging and going on husky sararis, or visiting in summer with the green light and the energy of animals and creatures just centimeters away outside your windowed wall, canoeing down the river and walking around the picturesque villages.
Either way, I want to go!
