What is it about a tree house that beckons us so alluringly? A structure much loved over the years, one feels it promises so much, to step amongst the tree-tops, reach ever so slightly closer to the sky, feel the sense of mystical as one, for once, gazes down upon the earth.
The tree-house this morning was handily equipped with sturdy steps and railings, no need to clamber through twisted branches, avoiding bare sticks ready to blind and scratch. Handy yet not quite so adventurous!
Inside the magical tree house, a large branch spiked its way into the centre of the surprisingly spacious wooden crow’s nest and I danced around a little, pausing to admire the view. Before the wood was fully grown one would have been able to look out for over fifteen miles but I did not mind the retreat, nestled and surrounded by many more trees. Safe and secure up here, cosy within Nature’s richness!
Down on the ground the sense of a time warp continued; I left my childhood self playing in the tree house, while my adult being, back on terra firma, wallowed in the immersive tranquility of the gardens. Stepping away from the busyness of everyday life to utter peace, the haven was an abundance of treasures!
I scrunched a path across the deep pile of gravel to absorb the quiet and beauty of the restored Italian Garden.
A heron majestically flew across the lake at the far end of the gardens.
The silence in the walled garden was only interrupted by the flitting of the butterflies.
I stopped to talk to a volunteer gardener about their fragile guests and he said how these numbers were nothing compared to the previous week when he was surrounded by a cloud of butterflies!
My imagination played riot with this event, conjuring up the wonder of walking among a cloud of butterflies, the sight, the sound and no doubt the sensation of the wings! The picture is still in my mind! I took many photos on this little outing but the image engrained in my brain is from this one line. May I return in time next year to experience this incredible encounter!
After a grey and unusually cool summer in England, the September heatwave was a stunning surprise and an opportunity to enjoy the sunshine. A week later it is time to bid adieu to the summer for real, a tentative cool has swept in, the tart morning chill a fresh and welcome start to the day.
It is that sweet time of year, the flowers still clinging on to some of their resplendence; I’m thankful for the beauty and colour before the starkness of winter.
Note: The photos feature from a visit to The Forgotten Gardens of Easton Lodge, near Dunmow, Essex mid-September which is only open to visitors every Thursday and one Sunday a month.
Annika Perry 
What gloriousness. Forest bathing haven
Aww to be surrounded by a cloud of butterflies. Heavenly!
Selma, thank you do much for sharing in my magical day! 😀I know, the cloud of butterflies line conjures up such a beautiful image and I will be going back this year to try and experience for myself!
I’m sure I read this post in September, although I can’t find my comment. No matter, it’s so nice to smell the roses here now, pretend to be up in that verdant treehouse, while now in December, the sun settles for night way too soon, and the temps hover at 32 degrees. Hope you’re staying warm, Annika!
Pam, bless! Thank you for persevering and writing again! I checked spam and couldn’t even find a comment from you in there!
Haha! Yes, it might be a bit chilly for the tree house at the moment but the imagination will carry us there and oh yes, to the days of blooming roses! Not too cold here yet, a balmy 10 Celsius / 50 Fahrenheit while super snug in my writing studio! hugs xx
Hi Dear Annika, I don’t know when it is too late to comment on a post. I am overdue with responding to you, yet I want to make sure I did not miss one of your posts. The word “tranquility” beckons to me, especially with all that is going on in the world.
Equipped with sturdy steps is a big draw for me. This amazing tree house is quite the find for young and old(er).
You brought me with you, through your eyes to the gardens and the silence. I cannot even imagine a cloud of butterflies. Your photos are stunning!
Thank you for sharing this…a balm for my soul. Much love from my neck of the woods.💕 Erica
Erica, it’s never too late to answer on any of my posts and it’s wonderful to read your comment – thank you so much! 🙏
Balm is just the word for the gardens and I am glad you felt this through my words and photos. It is heavenly to experience these moments of utter tranquility and I agree we all seem to need them more than ever – the world is in such a state of flux.
It was such a surprise to come across the tree house and re-awakened the child within me – I was up those stairs in a flash! 😀
Lovely to have you along for the outing, my dear friend! Love & hugs xx 💖
Nice pics 😌
Many thanks! 😀
Peace and childlike fun and innocence. 🙂
Absolutely – a terrific combination for an outing!
I love these pictures!
I appreciate that very much – thank you!😀
A sense of calm and joy just enveloped me as I read your lovely post, Annika. Thank you for sharing the joy! ❤
Khaya, that’s wonderful and I’m delighted you could feel the tranquility of the gardens! Thank you so much! Hope all is well with you. hugs xx
What peace and calm I felt as I explored the tree house. Thanks for the lovely post, Annika. oxox
Mary Ann, thank you so much and it was a joy to share the serenity of the gardens and especially of the tree house – it was great fun exploring and revisiting my childhood self!
Memories are rewarding! ox
I am transported, Annika, to your world, to the Magic Treehouse (my children grew up on Mary Pope Osborne’s series). I am huddled with you in this spectacular specimen.
Ju-Lyn, thank you so much for mentioning what sounds like a magical set of books – and ones I have never heard of! They look fantastic and I’m sure my son and I would have loved to share these! So glad my post brought these to mind and you enjoyed my post – and the tree house! It is very special!
I grew up on a diet of Enid Blyton myself, but my kiddies had access to so many other resources!
As I read your beautiful words, again and again, I also start feeling enveloped with peace. Walking with you in this garden is inspiring, healing and joyful.
I stop at all places. Dream in the Tree house we all had even if it looked different. Letting dreams dreams in; Just be. The beautiful Italian garden is so serene and who cannot be enchanted by the Cloud of Butterflies. I feel a poemcoming on.
Now the Heron, I love their calm and majestic flight. So powerful wings.
May our spirits at times fly like that.
The tribute to all summer flowers is so beautiful and shows us how to smile.
Thank you Annika for this wonderful post you shared.
love x
Miriam
Miriam, bless you for your beautiful poetic comment! ❤️ Now, I hope you write a poem about the cloud of butterflies – it’s an image waiting to be explored in poetry! It makes me happy that you also feel enveloped by the serenity as you read my post, feel its healing strength and pure quiet joy.
Awww … I love how the heron photo inspired your reflections about our spirits soaring likewise – may it be so!😀
I know, the flowers are still stunning this time of year and I’m savouring them more than ever as I feel autumn begin to slowly fall upon us and their days are numbered for this year. Having said that, the temperatures are still very mild in the East of England which is a blessing!
Wishing you all well, my friend! hugs xx 🌻❤️
Great post Annika. It sounds an idyllic place, and I particularly like the Italian garden (which must have taken a a lot of work to restore), and that you managed to get a photo of the heron. Sounds just the place to visit on a sunny afternoon. Oh yes, and the tree house looks great – I can’t believe that members of the public are allowed up there on their own!
Mike
Thank you so much, Mike. The Italian Gardens are heavenly, so serene and beautiful filled with borders of flowers. Yes, there was a display of before photos and the place is barely recognisable, filled with dirt and over-run with ivy and weeds. The restoration is incredible! The heron photo was taken very quickly and a matter of lifting the camera and clicking – hoping for the best! They are such majestic birds. haha! For a moment I was worried I wouldn’t be allowed up the tree house as workers stood by the steps – I would have been SO disappointed! No fear, they were just preparing for the Sunday event. The steps are steep but sturdy so quite safe! It was a lot of fun being up in that crow’s nest.
Gosh, I could gaze at those beautiful photos all day! How lovely and serene. Blessings back Annika, ❤
Ellie, that’s wonderful and thank you so much! I do enjoy taking photos and always find it tricky to choose just a few to share here! The serenity was enthralling and a peace I could take home with me! Wishing you well.
How wonderful, from the treehouse, to flowers, to feeling like a child once again. Thank you, Annika.
Jennie, more than most you appreciate embracing that inner child and never letting go – it is such a richness to feel that innate sense of freedom and adventure! I didn’t want to move on from the tree-house but so much more beckoned within the gardens!
How serene and peaceful this writing and photos make me feel! A lovely post.
Layla, bless! That means a lot to me as I very much want to share the serenity of the gardens! Thank you! 🙏
Thanks for sharing this wonderful tour of nature with us Annika. That tree house looks like the perfect refuge for a great escape and much food for writing thought. The butterflies visions were magical. Thanks for bringing it all to life for us. Hugs xx
Debby, I know, I wondered if that tree house wouldn’t be the perfect writing hide-out!😀 Inspiration galore up there and such peace within! Oh my, that butterfuly image is one that will stay with me and just imagine if I have a chance to experience it for myself next year! I will write a post just about that and become very emotional and lyrical, I’m sure! It’s wonderful you enjoyed this nature outing, Debby – it truly is healing! hugs xx ❤️
For sure Annika, that tree house is the perfect getaway! As for the butterflies. I do hope you get to see them next year, and I will love to see those photos! ❤ xx
I was right behind you stepping up to the tree house, eyes reaching up to the sky and then returning to the ground. Oh, a cloud of butterflies! Just the thought of it excites me. Thank you for sharing your trip me me, Annika!
Miriam, I thought I could hear someone on the steps behind me! 😀 Luckily not a very steep climb! 😀 Seriously, so glad you enjoyed joining me at these beautiful gardens, albeit from afar! Hopefully, we will experience a cloud of butterflies one day! hugs xx ❤️
I was glad the steps were manageable, Annika! 🤩 I love butterflies and always love to visit butterfly sanctuary. 🦋🦋
What a wonderful post!!! I so enjoyed reading about ‘clouds of butterflies’ and a tree house adventure. It sounds marvelous! The photos are awesome also!!! 🙂
Linda, thank you so much for your lovely comment and it was indeed marvelous! I’m glad you like the photos – a mix of my camera and phone!
I love joining you on these outings, Annika. Your writing is so rich with beauty and serenity, and I can’t help but feel the peace. Beautiful photos and a tranquil reflection on the changing season. Hugs.
Diana, thank you so much and it’s lovely that my writings and photos reflect the incredible sense of peace. I do love seasons on the cusp of change, so much promise, expectation and always a bit unnerving exactly what will happen. Just heading over to read about your adventures in Canada – serene doesn’t seem to cover it, perhaps ethereal? hugs xx ❤️
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As kids, we never had a tree house, but there was one tree in particular I climbed regularly and hung out in. I always imagined its branches holding a little house for me. You are right; something about being closer to the sky ignites our imaginations and sets us free. I’m sorry your summer was so cool; however, I am thrilled you’re getting one last warm kick at the can and are out and about discovering beautiful things. A cloud of butterflies sounds absolutely magical, Annika. Your photos are gorgeous, as always, and I’m so glad you shared them with us. Have a fabulous weekend, my friend. 💕🦋
Tanya, I saw your like but no comment so went looking in pending. Nothing there! Then I headed to spam and found your wonderful reflections, saved! 😀 Thank you so much! I love the sound of your tree hide-out and the ‘home’ you imagined there! I hope it was lots of fun. Being high up is an amazing sense of escape and freedom and something we all seem to innately crave. The phrase cloud of butterflies has conjured up such a magical mystical image and one I had to share here! Next year I hope to experience this for myself and take photos galore.
My friend, I wish you a great weekend too! Are you still on your amazing adventures or back home? hugs xx ❤️
I’ve said some things that have absolutely earned me a trip to the spam department, but this wasn’t one of them! Haha. I’m happy you tracked down my comment, Annika.
I’m home but set to leave for Europe on Oct 16th, and I’m starting off in Poland! I’m getting ready and making a list of what I need. I’ve become a carry-on traveller only, which is a bit trickier with it being winter. But I’ll manage! I’ll try to post more updates this time. Lots of love and hugs to you, Annika. ❤️
I’m glad to hear you’ll be leaving for Europe again, Tanya! We like to go with carry-on only also. Safe travel and enjoy yourself!
Tanya, wishing you a fabulous trip. Have you been to Poland before? My brother-in-law’s wife is Polish and they are a lot of fun, always enjoying a bit of a party and I love how they just break into song at gatherings! I’m impressed you manage with only carry-on for a trans-Atlantic journey. Even for just a few days away I end up taking a suitcase and I blame that on the unpredictable weather! hugs xx ❤️
So this is where you’ve been hiding out – within the treetops. I’ll bet you came home inspired and ready to create, Annika!
Laura, I’ve been caught out now!!😀😀 I was definitely inspired and felt rejuvenated after this all-too-brief visit to the tree house and gardens!
I can feel your rejuvenation and enthusiasm for life from way over here across the pond…It’s infectious, thank you!
hugs
Tree houses, yay! Wonderful places for the child in us all or monkey!
Haha! The way I’ve seen some children climb trees I have wondered if there was a bit of monkey?! 😀 I realise my fascination with tree houses has not waned in the slightest – and happy about that!
I have a plan to build at least a platform in an old chestnut, nothing elaborate!
That sounds exciting… but are you building steps up too? I wouldn’t even dare climb a tree now, especially after breaking my shoulder last year!
Oh dear, shoulder injuries are painful. Hope you have recovered. I won’t ride horses now for similar reason!
Yes, thank you, I am all good now! I’ve only ridden horses a couple of times and that was scary enough.You might have come across somes articles by Melaine Reid and she had started walking a bit after her spinal injury following a horse-riding fall – when she went riding again and fell badly again. This time there was no hope of recovery alas.
Grim and sad but some do love their horses and I guess it is quite a high risk hobby.
The tree house is awesome, but I was most captivated, as you were too, by the thought of a cloud of butterflies.
Norah, it is incredible how we don’t always have to see something to be thoroughly enthralled by it – our imagination is truly remarkable and who knows, maybe next year I will be in the midst of that wondrous cloud of butterflies! I’ll probably head over every Thursday! 😀😀
Oh yes! How wonderful. 🙂
I hope you don’t mind if I use that phrase ‘a cloud of butterflies’ in my 99 word story.
Norah, of course not and I look forward to reading it! 😀 I seriously think ‘a cloud of butterflies’ would make a great book title!
Thanks so much, Annika.
I agree with you about the book title. Surprisingly, I found another reference to ‘a cloud of butterflies’ in an online article. 🙂 I would have read it years ago but it hadn’t stuck the way it did from your article.
The perfect season. Wonderful post, Annika.
Thank you so much, Anneli! I do love that cusp of Autumn, still warmish, a beautiful light and reminders of the summer as it wanes!
And the warm days are tolerable.
What a beautiful and magical tree house, Annika. I love the images. Such beautiful writing.
Jan, thank you so much! I enjoyed writing about the outing and choosing the photos to accompany it! Oh, the tree house was amazing and even more as unexpected and hidden away off the main route! Truly magical and I could have stayed for ages! Btw. I just read your excellent piece about senses in ones writing on Chris’s blog and realise how remiss I am myself with this – Autumn fragrances are so poignant and would have gone well in here! Thanks for the reminder!
Such beautiful memories and magic in your beautiful tree house post Annika. There is allure and so much wonderment in your writing and your pictures are amazing. 💕
Bless! Cindy, it means a lot that you enjoyed the writing and my photos here … the sense of wonderment and peace reflects my exact emotions of the gardens! Wishing you a wonderful weekend! Xx ❤️
Oh you’re so very welcome. It was delightful! that is so lovely.. thanks and you have a good one too.. xo ❤️
I wholeheartedly agree about the magical allure of treehouses. They bring with them an instant yearning for days gone by!
Absolutely, Donna and such a delightful surprise tucked away in the gardens! I realised my childhood self was only just below the surface – and that felt good!
I’ve always had the same fascination with tree houses. As you say, there is something magical about them. I would love to visit those gardens, but I’ll happily settle for the virtual experience with you.
Liz, I totally agree and always thought of tree houses as the ultimate escape! Even better if they had a pull-up ladder! 😀 I think some of my interest in them hearkens from my childhood reading which seemed to feature these – and although we never had one at home I loved to climb trees, the garage roof, etc. I’m so glad you enjoyed this virtual visit to Easton Lodge Gardens, Liz!
My brother attempted to build one at our family’s camp in these. He build it to his own height, but by the time it neared completion, he’d grown too tall for it. It was fun anyway!
❤️😀
I love your post, Annika. What a dreamy tree house with such a tranquil view. And the photos of the garden and flowers are filled with such joyful energy. Thank you, Annika for sharing your beautiful September heatwave. Your words and photos warmed my heart. ❤
Thank you so much and it is great you experienced so much from my post – I love the expression ‘joyful energy’ and sums up my emotions about the gardens! A joy to share here!
Such a beautiful post, Annika! Your photos and lyrical descriptions of this lovely garden brought me along with you. Thank you.
Lynette, thank you so much and just wonderful that you came along through my photos and words (& the ‘lyrical descriptions’ has me smiling!) ❤️
What fun to go up in that treehouse. It all looks so lovely. So glad the nice day landed on a Thursday for you to go explore those gardens.
Lori, I think the years fell from me with each step and I was a child by the time I reached the top! 😀😀 Such pure sense of fun and freedom. I must admit this was the third time this year we tried to go but something else usually came up on the Thursday- glad we made it. Now, if it was the week before we’d have experienced that cloud of butterflies- but there is always next year! 😀
Too bad you missed the butterflies, but the weather was nice. We went to a butterfly house about a month ago. There were so many, they were landing all over us. I posted a little paragraph about it back in August.
Butterfly houses are great and It must have felt an amazing experience. I look forward to heading over to your post later today and reading more! Xx
The butterflies were only a brief mention in my post last month. But, if you’re interested, here’s the link. 🦋🙂
I’ve seen tree houses for rent–as overnight stays. There’s something appealing about that. Love the cloud of butterflies.
Sign me up! 😀 Jacqui, that would be quite something to stay overnight in a tree-house, especially in warmer climes! Have you been tempted to give it a go? I’ve seen lighthouses as travel accommodation and thought that would be fun. I know, the phrase and image of a cloud of butterflies is imprinted on my brain!
What a lovely spot. I agree, there is something about tree houses. We didn’t have one growing but that could have been because we didn’t have any trees! I did have a playhouse that Dad built for me with a small table, chairs, stove and fridge. I loved it and pretended it was my own house. Maybe that’s it, a bit of independence for kids. That may be what makes these places so special.
Darlene, I think you’re right, it is place of independence, something magically outside the grown-up domain. I love the sound of your doll’s house and how you imagined it as your own home. They are special and I remember the home built one I had with great fondness, oh the drama witnessed in that doll’s house! 😀
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Greetings. Fine essay. It brought back memories of a treehouse my father built for me and my brother. He built it circa 1960. I hadn’t thought about it in years.
Thanks, Neil and bless! 😀 Glad my post brought back the memories of yours and your brother’s tree house. I bet you both got up to some fun adventures there!
I have never had a treehouse, Annika, but I still spent much of my childhood in treetops. Once we lived next to our church which had a gigantic magnolia tree in the churchyard. From the top of that tree, we looked out on the fields of tobacco, cotton, and peanuts that surrounded our small town. I used to take a snack and climb up there to sit and think.
This beautiful post brought back memories. What a wonderful place to visit! Thank you for sharing it! ❤
Cheryl, your lovely comment brought back some of memories for me too – thank you! It must have been amazing to climb a magnolia tree and what a view and peace to sit and meditate upon life, although as young we never realise that is what we are doing! 😀 My grandparents had two big pear trees at the front of their house and my brother would climb up one very high and of course, I just had to have a go too! It felt so high up, remote and such a an uplifting emotion just sitting there, looking down on the world passing below us! Xx ❤️
Glad to know you are a fellow tree climber, Annika! ❤
HI Annika, I always wanted a tree house as a girl but we never had one. I played on the roof of our garden shed instead (eek!). I had a treehouse built for my sons, but they were never that interested in it. I love the idea of the cloud of butterflies.
Haha! 😀 Robbie, isn’t ’t that typical, you build a tree house for your sons and they weren’t too interested in it. I hope you had some enjoyment and found some peace there yourself. I recognise myself when you say about playing on a garden shed roof; I used to do just that on our garage flat roof which must have been a bit safer and more robust! I know, that image of a cloud of butterflies feels almost divine and the gardener spoke of the experience with such reverence. I’ll go there earlier next year! 😀
I did like the treehouse. We took it down last year as the planks started to rot. I fell off the garage roof (luckily onto a high grass covered hillock) so I was banned from that roof. My mom had two babies at the time so didn’t know I moved to the shed 😅😂
What a glorious start to the day! A garden where to can be inspired, collect one’s thoughts and re- energize.
Amanda, absolutely annd I hadn’t expected it to so tranquil and rejuvenating – we enjoyed a picnic lunch by the lake and then coffee and cake under the trees at the small cafe. There is no mains electricity or water so I am especially impressed with the gardens as the water comes from a well (hand-pumped!).
It can be quite theraupeutic going without mod cons and nature is the place to do it!
Exactly! During our breaks in Sweden we go for weeks without WiFi, computer or TV – and I really never miss these! The mind totally changes gear!
It sounds idyllic going for weeks without wifi or TV – but my husband would go mental!
These photos are so amazing. Anita
Thank you so much, Anita – a lovely place to take photographs and I love that September sunlight!
Not often open, that must make it all the more precious and what fun to have a tree house. I have this desire to climb trees again, but think I might look a bit stupid or get stuck so I think there should be wood play areas for adults. We didn’t have a tree house, our local wild park was full / overtaken by rhododendrons which made natural caves for us to have camps.
Only opening once a week does make it more special and also requires forward planning! Climbing trees is a lark and wonderful sense of freedom but not something I would try again! I like the sound of making camp amongst the rhododendron bushes – nature is a real wonder!
Even here the weather has stumbled a bit, Annika. I have no complaints but we had planned supper outdoors, entertained by a couple of great guitarists. We have friends here just for a week, but I’m afraid they’ll be disappointed tonight because there’s a threat of rain and it’s been cancelled. Still 22C and there are plenty of other restaurants. I enjoyed your peaceful ramble.
Jo, a pity that your special evening of music was cancelled – have you heard the guitarists play before? Hope you and your friends still have a great time together and oh, 22C is just perfect! 17 today so not bad at all and able to sit outside at the local pub …. just before the next downpour! 😀 Aww … I like the phrase ‘peaceful ramble’ – sums up the outing exactly! Thank you! Xx ❤️
Yes, I’ve seen the guitarists before, Annika. They have a regular Thursday slot, but my friends go home next Wednesday. It was lovely to spend the evening chatting to them and we had a nice meal, so everyone was happy, thanks.
Lovely pictures! What a beautiful place Annika! No wonder it evoked such poetic prose! Thanks for sharing your walk with the “cloud of butterflies”… wow! I love that expression.
Bless, thank you so much, Balroop and that means a lot to me! I know, the phrase and notion are extraordinary and not ones I will forget – don’t you think it would be a great book title?!
Thank you for the beautiful tour and musings Annika. Treehouses are so fun and feel different to be nestled up amongst the canopy. I’m with you on enjoying the last hurrah of flowers and color. Happy Autumn!
Brad, we seem to treasure the flowers and colours more than ever these last few weeks of summer – I make a ‘pilgrimage’ of the garden every morning (when sunny!) to say hello to them and give thanks! How true about that snug different feeling among the trees canopies- a wonderful sense of freedom and peace that we can’t seem to find at times with our feet in the ground! Thank you for your lovely comment, Brad and hope you’re doing okay.
You’re most welcome and yes, I’m doing okay.
That tree house is the epitome of childhood freedom. I like your photos of it and the flowers. I’m sure I’d find tranquility in this garden, too.
Ally, you are so right! Tree houses are the epitome of childhood and it was a wonderful surprise to come upon it, hidden in the woods! The tranquility seemed to seep into my whole body and spirit – the peace mesmerising and also rather surprising as the gardens are not too far from a major airport! So glad you enjoyed my post!
Your photos are very tranquil.
Thank you so much, Anne – they reflect the peace of this very special place!
What a gorgeous place, Annika. I love that tree house and seeing a heron is always a delight. Thank you for taking us there with your beautiful words and pictures.
Natalie, thank you so much and the tree house was such a surprise! As usual, I’d read about the gardens beforehand but nowhere did they mention the tree house! There were some workers by it so I was a bit worried in case it was closed for the day. Phew, not the case at all! I only spotted the heron at the last moment so glad to take a photo of this most majestic of birds but wish it could have been more in focus! I’m so glad you enjoyed my post!🙏