NEW "treehouse" accommodation could be coming to a Herefordshire farm.

Chanstone Court Farm in Vowchurch, which has been owned by the same family since 1913, has been run as a mixed farm with four business operations: sheep and arable farming, timber production and glamping. The glamping was opened in 2018 and has been an environmentally sustainable venture.

The farm has now applied for planning permission for a treehouse cabin raised on a pile of foundations which will have disabled access and parking.

A report accompanying the application said the plans were "the best way to diversify in a sustainable and ecologically sensitive way” due to their proposed use of unproductive land that cannot be farmed in the rural spot between Hereford and Hay-on-Wye.

It has been designed to attract families and small groups, sleeping a maximum of eight people, helping them to meet “the new and emerging tourism demand for this glamping style of accommodation”.   

To be as sustainable as possible, it will be built with untreated timber which is grown and milled on site helping them to achieve a low carbon footprint. A biomass boiler is expected to be installed to produce renewable energy to power and heat the units. There will also be water-saving fittings and appliances used throughout to further limit their carbon footprint.

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Some 0.5 hectares of arable fields will be removed from production for woodland recolonisation and 10 bat and bird boxes will be erected. This will help them align with the “local and national aims to promote sustainable tourism”, as written in the report.

It is predicted that the new accommodation will generate spending in the local economy with an estimation of £102,711 per year if there is 60 per cent occupancy with seven visitors staying at £67 per head per day.  

Previously, Chanstone Court Farm applied for permission to build another timber-built treehouse, but this was rejected in February 2023. This was partly due to the site being located outside of any identified settlement and as it was deemed “inherently unsustainable” by Herefordshire Council.