One man’s castle
Treehouse is hideaway, fortress, place to play and a home not far from home
Robbers have holed up there, and army guys, too. Jungle explorers have passed through and a kidnapping once took place inside its four walls. On one occasion, it had to be defended from sword-wielding enemies. On another, it was fighting zombies that were invading. Inside, there’s a night telescope for nighttime telescoping and a magicerase board for leaving messages, although, frankly, the walkie-talkies are way cooler.
And on quieter days, when friends such as Ashby, Caleb and Wynn aren’t around and the army’s doing exercises somewhere else and the robbers and kidnappers are safely locked away in jail, it’s a pretty great place just to get away for a while and read a book. Heck, if Jake Hayduk had a sister, he’d probably close the windows and spend all his free time in his tree fort.
The 40-square-foot structure sits a couple of metres off the ground, just inside the woods in back of Hayduk’s Sainte-Cécile-de-Masham home, near Wakefield; a semi-free-standing structure of his and his father Darin’s design that allows the trees supporting it to grow and twist in the wind without destroying the structure.
It is, as is the nature of all tree forts, perhaps, both fully functioning and a work in progress: more or less begun and completed last fall, it would be nice to have a trap door in the floor, says nine-year-old Jake, but a front door is far more pressing, as ladderclimbing night predators such as spiders and bears are the only things keeping him from spending an entire night in it.
“It’s kind of a fun place to relax,” says Jake, who just finished reading Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone in his tree fort and also enjoys poring over Tin-Tin books there.
“I like to hang out and read and do some fun stuff. And sometimes when I have friends over and we play games, we use the fort as a hideout or a base.
“And sometimes you can imagine that it’s the winter, and you have to be sheltered from the snow and you need somewhere to live.”
For apart from the adventure-oriented accoutrements, Jake’s tree fort also boasts a number of homey touches that wouldn’t be out of place in an Interiors magazine spread: some bedding and pillows, a carpet and, in one corner, a small wooden chair that would be perfect for a baby cub to rest in after devouring whatever midnight snack it might find.
“You can have friends over and play in there,” adds Jake. “It’s a really good place to have; it’s like having your own house.”