Treelodge is a little paradise in the heart of Kempen nature. In our privéforest in Retie, we built - with our own hands and the help of fantastic people - three special tree houses: Chiffchaff, Tawny Owl and Buzzard. Here you will sleep among the trees, wake up to the chirping of birds and enjoy peace, space and everything you need for a fantastic holiday in the countryside.
We are Bram & Karen (and George, Thelma and Suzanne). Dreamers, doers, outdoorsmen. Treelodge was born from our shared dream of building a place where people can slow down, connect and re-breathe.
We built everything ourselves. From the first shovel in the ground to the last cushion in the seat. With lots of love, wood, patience, doubt, joy, and gallons of coffee.
With lots of love, wood, patience, doubt, joy, and gallons of coffee.
For us, holiday is: a hammock in the sun, a fire crackling, something tasty on the table and music in the background. We want to share that feeling with those who stay with us. That's why Treelodge is a warm place. One where you can have adventures and enjoy nature, fire and each other.
“My favourite game as a child? That was building camps. We had a woodshed at home and I was allowed to convert a piece of it into my own little house - complete with windows, shutters and a door. One week it was a restaurant, the next a school or a hotel. Building everything, playing with it, and then modifying it again – I loved that.
During my student job as a monitor for Sporta, my love for adventure grew. Being outside all day and ’ing around the campfire at night, eating and sharing stories … at that place in the Ardennes, the idea of one day running such’a place myself, for other people to enjoy.
When I met Bram, it soon became clear that we shared the same love for nature and adventure. We went on road trips together in our self-built campervan and dreamed aloud of something like Treelodge. On a trip through Brittany - with our 5-week-old son - we spent hours fantasising and brainstorming. And we also made concrete plans.
With a lot of perseverance, hundreds of phone calls and plans and re-plans, Treelodge came to be. The grounds, the camps, our treehouses – therein lies everything Bram and I are and want. It really has become the place we envisioned: a place in the middle of nature where everyone is welcome to enjoy our forest, each other, the silence.
We continue to build on our story rock hard, together with our three children and everyone who comes to visit us.”
“I have always been passionate about wood. As a child, I spent hours building my own treehouse village with my friends. And camp building – and fire making – were also central in Scouts. When I got a bit older, mopeds and vintage cars took the place of that wood (for a while) and I could spend days tinkering with them, in my parents' driveway. But wood
remained my first and greatest love.
When years later I met Karen on a snowboarding trip, it clicked immediately. We became a couple and took up the challenge of building our own house together. She drew the plans, I hammered away. And a year later, our dream house was there. Completely built by ourselves. That felt great!
I had meanwhile become an arborist and wanted one day to do ‘in real’life what I had loved as a child: building tree houses. Our first child was born, we wanted to follow our passion én at the same time be able to have time for our family.
On 1 August 2019, we put the first shovel in the ground, in ‘our forest’. Our dream came true – after héél many phone calls, conversations, brainstorms and adjustments to the drawings, we were allowed to start building. The next few months were hard work, but also wonderful.
And then…just before we were due to open, the world went into lockdown. Gulping for a moment, but then moving on again. We used the time we were given to build another treehouse. This allowed us to launch three unique treehouses a little later. In the end, Treelodge opened on 9 June 2020. And with success.
It is so satisfying to now live the dream we had in real life. I still get to work with wood, my creativity gets space and together Karen and I continue to build Treelodge little by little.”
Treelodge is located in the middle of our own little patch of forest in Retie. Where it is écht really quiet and you can ’see the stars at night. The forest also lives with the seasons. In spring you can smell the fresh green, in summer you can enjoy the shade, in autumn the leaves turn golden yellow and in winter you can hear the freezing cold crunching under your feet with every step.
We share our woodland superlatives.
We super enjoy sharing our forest with our guests. To walk in, play, cook in our Fire Shed or just to be. Anything goes, nothing must.
Treelodge is a beautiful treehouse accommodation with three tree houses in our own privéforest in the Kempen. A place to slow down, enjoy peace and quiet, nature and each other. You stay in a stylish, comfortably furnished treehouse, with a hot tub on your terrace and the Fire Barn as a cosy meeting place in the woods.
Come and stay in our tree houses
Do you want a tree house yourself, in your own garden, forest (or somewhere abroad 😊)?
Send us a message and we will be happy to see what is possible with you.
