A farm in Herefordshire’s Golden Valley plans to put up a “treehouse” that can accommodate up to eight holidaymakers at a time.

The plan submitted by Nic Cox of the 570-acre Chanstone Court Farm, Vowchurch, is for a cabin on steel posts up to 3.5 metres high, on what is currently farmland beside Chanstone Woods, a designated site of special scientific interest (SSSI).

The elevated structure would minimise impact on ground plants, allow free drainage and give guests extensive views, the planning application says, adding that there will be “natural colonisation of trees and shrubs from the adjoining wood” on the field around the cabin over time.

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Built with untreated timber sourced and milled at the farm, with a corrugated metal roof, the “bespoke high-end accommodation” would attract families and groups to the farm and surrounding area.

This would “help fund ongoing sustainable and sensitive woodland and land management” at the farm, the application says.

It adds that permission is likely to restrict use of the cabin to a maximum of 28 days at a time or 156 days a year per group, adding: “The treehouse does not have storage and facilities one would expect from a permanent dwelling house.”

It would include parking space for four cars and eight bikes. The farm already has two holiday rental properties in the form of smaller wooden cabins.

Comments on the application, numbered 223920, can be made until February 2.

UPDATE: This application was refused, on the grounds that it “would deliver development tantamount to a dwellinghouse in a location without adequate access to services”.

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