West Sussex, United Kingdom

Tree House Retreats

Price per night from$397.59

Price information

If you haven’t entered any dates, the rate shown is provided directly by the hotel and represents the cheapest double room (inclusive of taxes and fees) available in the next 60 days.

Prices have been converted from the hotel’s local currency (GBP297.50), via openexchangerates.org, using today’s exchange rate.

Tree House Retreats Photos

Style

The trees-y life

Setting

Ancient English woodland

Explore

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The Tree House Retreats are a modern addition to a rather storied estate. You’ll find more than 500 years of history packed within this ancient slice of England which spans 16 acres of forest, farmland, and polo grounds. Wake up to birdsong each morning as light filters in through the treetops, before tucking into a farm-fresh breakfast cooked with ingredients straight from the on-site shop. Fill your days with pub-hopping, badger-spotting, forest-bathing or guided foraging, or cosy-up with fleecy blankets, simply admiring the woodland view. And, there’s no better place for a sundowner than the terrace’s secluded alfresco bath tub.

Smith Extra

Get this when you book through us:

Buggy hire for the duration of your stay

Facilities

Photos Tree House Retreats facilities

Need to know

Rooms

Four self-catered treehouses.

Check–Out

10am, but flexible, subject to availability. Earliest check-in, 3pm.

More details

Rates don’t include breakfast. A minimum stay of two nights is required, with check-in available on Monday, Wednesday and Friday only.

Also

One of the treehouses (Buzzard) has been adapted for those with reduced mobility.

At the hotel

Farm shop, ancient woodland and electric buggies. In rooms: terrace with a wooden bath tub; under-floor heating; yoga mat; books; board games; picnic blankets; Smeg kettle and coffee-making kit; smart TV with streaming apps; Freight, Bower Collective and Ila bath products; bathrobes, and free WiFi.

Our favourite rooms

Each of the four treehouses are individually designed, but all have a cosy double bedroom, living area, kitchenette and wooden, wrap-around decking. Our favourite part? The outdoor soaking tub, tucked strategically away from the neighbours so you can lather away with only the woodland as your witness. If you're travelling with little Smiths, two treehouses also have single sofa beds.

Spa

Set in another picturesque green patch of the estate are the Cowdray Therapy Rooms, where you can book in with specialists for shiatsu and sports massage, reflexology, acupuncture and even nutritional therapies.

Packing tips

Due to its low light pollution, the estate is one of the best spots in the UK for stargazing – bring your binoculars for some crystal-clear, cosmic viewing.

Also

Before being burnt down in 1793, the romantic ruins you spot from your terrace were once part of England’s most important Tudor manors, which was visited by both King Henry VIII and Queen Elizabeth I.

Pet‐friendly

With advance notice, up to two small- to medium-sized (and well-behaved) pups are welcome in treehouses for an additional charge of £40 a pet. See more pet-friendly hotels in West Sussex.

Children

Welcome, extra beds can be added for £50 for the length of your stay, though these particular tree-top romps are more suited to grown-ups.

Food and Drink

Photos Tree House Retreats food and drink

Top Table

Out on your forest-facing terrace, preferably wrapped in a cloud of fluffy blankets.

Dress Code

Sweats and slippers.

Hotel restaurant

The Tree House Retreats are fully self-catered so there’s no restaurant, but with fully-equipped kitchens in each treehouse, you won’t miss it. At the on-site farm shop you’ll find everything you need to rustle up your favourites; fresh fruit and vegetables, a traditional butchery counter, a cheese deli and a bakery with freshly baked breads, cakes, pies, quiches and pastries. And for days when you don’t feel like cooking, order a picnic for lunch and (in the summer months) pick up a wood-fired pizza topped with homemade passata and creamy mozzarella. Cowdray Café is also just a few minutes' walk away, and there's a gastro pub within walking distance.

Hotel bar

Be your own bar; depending on your poison of choice the Crafty Pint Shop or Fairview Wines are great, nearby options for stocking up. Your welcome hamper is also stocked with local wines or pre-mixed Moth cocktails.

Last orders

The farm shop is open seven days a week from 9am to 5pm.

Location

Photos Tree House Retreats location
Address
Tree House Retreats
Cowdray Estate Easebourne
Midhurst
GU29 0AJ
United Kingdom

You’ll find the Tree House Retreats at Cowdray nestled within 16-acres of storied woodland on the edge of the South Downs close to the thriving market town of Midhurst.

Planes

London Gatwick is the closest travel hub, around 45 minutes away by car. From here, transfers can be arranged for £75 each way. International travellers may be better served by London Heathrow, a one-hour drive away, transfers from here will set you back £130 each way.

Trains

South Western Railway has direct trains from London Waterloo to the neighbouring village of Haslemere, which take about an hour. From here, the retreats are a 10- to15-minute drive, transfers can be arranged for an additional charge.

Automobiles

You have everything you need within the estate, so you’re unlikely to need a car. But if wheels are your non-negotiable, there’s free private parking for guests. The bad news? Due to the size of the estate it's a five- to 10-minute walk from the tree houses. The good news? Well, it should be hitting your step count, but steering your own electric buggy (no need for a full driving license) from the carpark to your door is a perk, too.

Worth getting out of bed for

We’re not about to suggest you saddle up and start swishing a mallet around, but you could take an introduction to polo from the experts at the famous Cowdray Park Polo Club, it’s the home of British polo, after all. Or, for something a little more interactive, try your hand at clay-pigeon shooting at the nearby Hownhall Shooting school. The less competitive among you should opt for more passive pleasures; a mindfulness and wellbeing workshop, say, or forest-bathing – the estate has their own guide who can assist in your soothing sink into nature. Speaking of which, the estate has 16 acres to explore, so dust off those walking shoes. Each of the Tree House Retreats has walking maps and guides, so you can choose a trail that suits your mood. Wildlife-lovers should go badger-spotting on a three-hour wildlife tour, while botanists will go bonkers for one of the many foraging tours available with Cowdray’s resident expert George Linklater, who guides guests through the different habitats and flavours of the forest. And, for when you feel like venturing outside the Cowdray bubble, you’re surrounded by pretty English villages and pubs. One of the loveliest is Petworth, a picturesque town chock-full with independent galleries and antique shops. While you’re out that way, pop into Petworth House, a National Trust property nestled in a deer park which is also home to a pleasure garden, café and one of the country’s finest art collections, including work by the likes of Van Dyck, Turner and Gainsborough.

Local restaurants

If an Anglophile was tasked with designing the perfect country pub, they’d probably use the Duke of Cumberland as the blueprint. This traditional eatery in Henley sources all its produce locally; meat from nearby farms, fresh fish from the southern coast and veggies plucked straight from the pub’s own patch. Menus change regularly but you can expect home-cooked, hearty favourites like wild-mushroom fettuccine; pan-fried, herb-crusted seabass fillet; or sirloin steak with roasted tomatoes, chunky chips and peppercorn sauce. Petworth’s E Street Bar and Grill is housed in a restored 17th-century building, and has a similar locally-focused philosophy when it comes to food. Here, you’ll find dishes like tenderloin of pork served with celeriac and apple rösti, crackling, beetroot purée, cavolo nero and pickled apples, or Lebanese spiced falafel and preserved-lemon pastilla with za’atar aubergine and pesto for the veggies among you. Whatever you choose, East Street’s sommelier will be on hand to help you choose something suitable to wash it down with. 

Local cafés

Right next door to the Cowdray ruins, you’ll find Fitzcanes, a cute Midhurst café specialising in locally-roasted coffee alongside paninis, bagels, ice-cream and their signature affogato. 

Local bars

After a spot of shopping in Petworth, pop into the Cricketers, a16th-century pub with a lovely lawn come summer, and some cosy crannies to curl up in during winter. And, when you start to feel like an extra in The Holiday, shake it up with a visit to Spanish-themed Faustino’s Wine & Tapas Bar, where weekly quizzes and live music are accompanied by handmade cocktails, a heated beer garden and enough patatas bravas to keep the cerveza rounds on an even keel.

Reviews

Photos Tree House Retreats reviews
Pip Durell

Anonymous review

By Pip Durell, Keeping our shirts on

There is something to be said for the January staycation. Staycations generally, really. No airport parking. No excess-baggage charges. And no delayed flights to worry about. Just a weekend bag and, in the case of the Tree House Retreats at Cowdray, a short golf-buggy ride.

Having welcomed our baby four months ago, we wanted a weekend away that was low maintenance and high relaxation. The brief was simple: a countryside escape a short drive from London, self-catered for ease, and pet-friendly so that our labrador could come too. 

The Tree House Retreats are the newest addition to the Cowdray Estate — a family pile with 500 years of history, sitting in 16,000 acres of verdant forest, farmland and polo pitches. The treehouses are located in the middle of the woodland, round a meandering tree-lined path. We grinned like excited kids as we pulled up to our own stilted wooden cabin — who doesn’t love the magic of sleeping under the stars, or a home surrounded by nature for a night or two? Even better, this was a five-star treehouse, with beautiful, luxurious bedrooms, snug living areas and a bath tub on the deck. That's the sort of camping I’m talking about. 
It’s an English-countryside version of a lavish African safari lodge, with muted, nature-inspired decor, tons of texture and whimsical accents, and wood-panelled walls that bring the outside in. The cabin aesthetic keeps you feeling cosseted and cocooned — it’s cosycore at its finest.

Then there’s the outdoor tub, strategically placed to ensure no unwanted indecency. Some of us unwound in it, appreciating the total blissful silence of the surroundings with a glass of red — while others treated themselves to a post-run ice bath. Each to their own…

A rather unfortunate accident in the week preceding (ending in A&E with a sprained ankle) meant I was out of the running for all of the activities the estate had to offer, but my husband enjoyed daily jogs around the grounds, among the deer and the historic ruins. The perfectly manicured polo pitches, all of which guests have access to, will have you reaching for your Jilly Cooper novels; and the soaring redwood trees in the surrounding forests make you feel you could be in the national parks of California, rather than West Sussex.

My time, on the other hand, was spent enjoying the plethora of treats we had picked up from the Cowdray Farm Shop, which is famous for a reason and makes Whole Foods look like Walmart. From homemade pies to juicy locally grown fruit and a cheese counter the French would be proud of, it's a very dangerous little spot. With my basket full of delicious nibbles and copious amounts of wine — selected with the help of the utterly charming staff — I was not in the least bit sad to be missing out on the more dynamic activities.

Cowdray’s on-site café, five minutes away in a golf buggy, was also an admirable experience, with more charming staff (there’s a theme) and more delicious food. We went there for lunch, but I hear the full English breakfast is top notch, too.

The South Downs have so much to offer — and not only in the summer. We were blessed with both cosy-making storms and blissful blue skies on our trip, allowing us to venture out to the local towns. Petworth and Tillington are both a stone’s throw away and we had been recommended the Horse Guards Inn in the latter. As a good Kentish girl, I was raised in pubs and can truly say this was one of the best experiences in memory. Decor, ambience, staff and food were all excellent, and I can say with assurance that we will be back.

Petworth gave Stow-on-the-Wold a run for its money with the incredible array of antique shops — some affordable and some very much not. They were a joy to peruse either way, as were the impressive wine shop and excellent delis — Petworth was the perfect place for a Saturday of pottering.

But back to our treehouse. While it would have been the perfect couple’s getaway too, from a family perspective, it could not have been easier. We arrived to both the crib and dog bed set up, and there was underfloor heating for all four of us to appreciate. Afternoons were spent with wine on the balcony or staying cosy in the sitting room, and we had long mornings in bed, enjoying the views of the surrounding woods. Our search for relaxation en famille? Completed. 

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Price per night from $397.59

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