Enjoy a high life among the treetops

AT the end of a country road, high in the hills and hidden by the trees, lies a gem of a family home.

Tree Tops, on Barnhill

Estate on the outskirts of

Perth, has some of the best views over the city, which is why current owner Roy Mitchell snapped it up.

“The location is wonderful,” he explains. “It is incredibly private and yet a 10 to 15 minute walk will take you in to the city.

“And the views are fantastic.”

Another big draw for Roy and his wife

Pamela was the walk-in condition of Tree Tops when they first spotted it nine years ago. The same will be true for the new owners, as the Mitchells have maintained and preserved the house beautifully – inside and out.

“We had to do very little to the house, which appealed to us,” says Roy. “The gardens are beautiful too – those were my wife’s domain.”

Tree Tops is one of four houses at the top of the road up to Barnhill Estate, but it is surrounded by around 12 acres of its own woodlands and garden grounds, and as a result, is secluded and private.

It was built in 1974 and extended later, designed to make the very best of its extraordinary views which extend over the top of Perth to the distant hills.

Glass is everywhere, from big picture windows and glass sliding doors to the glazedon-all-sides conservatory, and light fills every room. A beautiful French oak floor flows through all the rooms on the ground floor, adding warmth and character to the main reception rooms.

The sitting room, which has extensive builtin shelving and a woodburning stove, has a wall of sliding glass doors which open on to a balcony with a barbeque area and space for outdoor furniture. This is a fantastic room for entertaining.

The dining room is open plan to the kitchen, separated by a shelved peninsula, and both rooms have large picture windows. The dining room connects to the conservatory which has a spiral staircase leading to the lower ground floor.

The entrance hall also leads to the master bedroom suite, two further bedrooms (currently being used as offices), a utility room, a bathroom and a cloakroom with WC.

The master bedroom has a Juliet balcony and space for comfortable seating, plus a spacious dressing room, large walk-in shower, a bath and double wash basins.

From the utility room, it is possible to access a large, partially-floored loft, and an external back door.

A spiral staircase from the upper conservatory leads down to the gym with arguably the best view in Perth.

There are three further bedrooms beyond the gym, including a double with an en suite shower room and access to a pretty south facing terrace in the garden.

There is a satisfying amount of storage on the lower ground floor with built in cupboards, a large shelved store room, a garden store and a wine cellar.

Tree Tops is a flexible house, explains Roy, with plenty of scope for the new owners to change things around to suit.

Glass is everywhere with big picture windows filling rooms with light