About

Our Story

In the summer of 2008, we decided we wanted a handier way to enjoy the river on which our farm sits. We thought a yurt might work, but the river floods once or twice a year, often unexpectedly, and we weren't keen on packing the yurt in and out. Yes, we know that's the thing about a yurt.

But then we were struck by the idea of setting the "yurt" above the floodline.
We are carpenters here, so we made it of leftover building materials. We started with the platform.
We put a tent on the platform for the first season, then built the house and the suspension bridge.

In 2012, we booked a room in Brooklyn, NY, through Airbnb. It was a fantastic experience, but when we jumped aboard by listing the treehouse, we expected no one would come. We are hours from cities in a non-touristy area. The treehouse had no electricity, and, of greater concern to many, no plumbing. Of even greater concern? No wifi.
You needed to carry your stuff a kilometre on a footpath. In winter, you needed to build a fire in the woodstove and keep it going in the night if you liked being warm at all...

What we didn't count on was the fact that there were lots of people like us: hikers/canoeists who looked for time off the grid, who understood how to function sustainably there, who enjoyed being self-sufficient.
Our best guests were leave-no-trace campers who left the place as they found it, who packed out what they packed in, who usee the firewood frugally, who respected the wildlife, and who didn't mind what the weather threw at them.
In 2022 we closed the treehouse calendar. Our schedules didn't allow us to host. Then in 2023 the river rose to a historic high and destroyed the treehouse.
It's okay. We had a good run!

T H E T E A M

Your hosts

The primary host

Lawrene is an actor and copywriter. Her work takes her to Toronto often, but not every day. She helped build the treehouse, managed the bookings and communication, cut and stacked the firewood, trimmed the grass, maintained the trail, cleaned, laundered, and restocked between guests.

The carpenter

Harry is the reason the treehouse, its porch, its bridge, and the outhouse are soundly built. He has worked as a master carpenter for over 50 years. He did repairs as needed, trimmed the grass, maintained the trail, and manages the beehives down the road. Ask him at Treehouse Harry Honey if you wish some honey or soap.

View On Airbnb River Treehouse on the Sydenham