Boardwalk, Deck and Roof Complete
Photos: 24 September 2015
Text: 31 October 2022
It's Thursday evening and almost a fortnight after the wedding. Both Roger and the Green Team have completed their work on the Tree House. The boardwalk now has a step to one side just before it ends from which four further steps rise, at an angle, to the Tree House floor.
At the northern end of the Tree House platform the base aligns with the hexagonal roof. while at the southern end the floor is square. The idea behind that was to allow a BBQ to be sited on the outer edge just beyond the line of the roof so not too much smoke would be trapped under it.
You'll notice that Roger's large tool box is still on site and was to be picked up later.
The square floor at the southern end also means the roof overhangs the floor at that point and, to accommodate one of the nearby birch trees, the roof had to have a hole left in it.
One of the features of the Tree House that is hard to spot unless you are looking for it is its cap. The way the rafters are arranged to support each other there is inevitable a hole in the centre and this needs a separate structure to cover it. The Green Team felt inspired and were pleased their their creation that includes a small branch that looks like a malformed lightning conductor.
We are, of course, still to furnish the Tree House. Although, in fantasy mode, I might wonder how feasible it might be to use the Tree House as a stage for an audience seated on the cottage lawns, that is never going to happen. More practically, we do have in mind erecting some reed screens on the eastern side of the Tree House to provide privacy when we are having a BBQ.
One of the few larger plants that remain near the Tree House is a honeysuckle. If we do order some reed panels we may well have at least one made of trellis rather than reed, and allow the honeysuckle to grow up it.
One of the effects of having the Tree House constructed is that large buddleia bush is gone, along with much of the nettle and other weed that stapped any view of the cottages when seated on the Ruston Bench. Aart from the planned screens, over time, we are expecting much of the vegetation to re-grow and once again hide the cottages from our favourite seating places.
