If this looks large to you, imagine how big it would seem to someone half your size or smaller. Like some childrens picture-book come to life, this ‘Enchanted Forest‘ wooden tree house may look a bit kitsch to us as adults from a design perspective – but for kids it is one very cool combination of fairy tale magic and real-life adventure.

Held up by a combination of wooden beams and actual tree trunks, a spiral staircase connects this series of interdependent levels to effectively create a single (narrative) structure out of a number of semi-autonomous rooms and floors along the way. Each platform affords places to play as well as increasingly interesting views of the surrounding treescapes.

Part of a larger theme park in the rural old-growth forests of British Columbia, this tree house is part of a sizable fantasy-themed environment that blends natural wonders, wild animals and folklore classics both old and new in a kid-friendly resort setting.

This unusual tree building at the heart of the experience holds the record for the largest (and tallest) tree house in BC, Canada. If you have plans to be in the area and are content with the faux-historical concept, there is even a castle hotel in another part of the complex.

Doris Needham was an artist in Revelstoke, BC during the 1950’s. She made unusual fairy tale figurines from cement by shaping her creations by hand, without the use of molds or forms. Desiring to find the perfect setting for her handiwork, she searched for two years and finally chose this unique but isolated location between Sicamous and Revelstoke, British Columbia. This endeavour turned into a retirement project, which Doris and her husband Ernest named their ‘Enchanted Forest.'”

“The Needhams were very isolated in those early years. However, their love of nature and trust in God kept them at their chosen work. During the next 10 years, they developed eight of the forest’s 40 acres, and purchased the property originally leased from the Crown.”

“The trails were cleared by hand, their only tools being shovels, picks and a crosscut saw. With a labour of love Ernest built the ‘Candy Cane’  house in which they lived and constructed the rock walls along the property. Utilizing the waterfall across the highway, a gravity water system was installed that is still in use today.”