The Brief
As with many great ideas, it was Alastair Sawday’s frustration when searching for a tree house to stay in that inspired the creation Canopy and Stars. It has grown from seven spaces to six hundred, in the UK, through to Ireland, France, Spain, Portugal and Italy. Their team genuinely stay in and approve each and every site.
The Solution
It is really pleasing to count up how many Plankbridge huts have been purchased for glamping sites across the country. It is also really interesting to see the fun names that the owners have come up with. From Blencathra, Carrock and Skiddaw shepherd’s huts in the Lake District to Laverstock’s Everdene and Herdwick in West Dorset. Also in Dorset there are the Pleasant Pheasant and the Happy Hare shepherd’s huts at Colber Farm and Fallow and Sikka at Warmwell House. The wonderful Wriggly Tin shepherd’s huts in Hampshire has several of our huts, with names including Butser and Barrow. In Somerset there is the Nancy Blackett, which sits on an island in a lake and falls into our custom made bracket with Siberian larch cladding and a deck at the end. In Kent there is Elmley Nature Reserve who have several familiar shepherd’s huts and three custom made contemporary structures, the Saltbox, Ferryman’s and Damson. In Derbyshire there is Brampton Barn shepherd’s hut, a popular place with equestrians. In all there are over twenty Plankbridge huts and cabins on the Canopy and Stars website. And we are always keen to help design and make many more and very happy to think outside the box if you are!
Summary
Plankbridge created the huts for one of the first Canopy & Stars places that we launched the collection with back in 2010. At that stage we had just ten places across the UK and the Plankbridge huts at Scales Plantation were there at the start of our journey……. today we have over six hundred places across the UK and Europe. It’s been really exciting to see how Plankbridge has grown over the last few years and we’ve continued to add more of their beautiful cabins and shepherd’s huts. The craftsmanship and passion for what Richard and the team do really stands out. We love working with them and look forward to discovering and sharing more of the spaces they build.
Tom Dixon, MD
