CREAM teas and a tour of a rather special treehouse was the treat of the day on Sunday when a young teenager from Chiddingfold opened up her unique mushroom house for a bit of fundraising.
Built by her dad Ben, the shed won Channel 4’s Amazing Spaces Shed of the Year competition last summer, beating almost 3,000 applicants for the prestigious prize.
Eloise Swanborough, aged 14, from Petworth Road – who is a pupil of Bohunt School, in Liphook – donned a pinny and served up cream teas with the help of parents Ben and Samantha to raise funds for her school trip to the Himalayas next summer.
Hoping to raise £3,500, three sittings of teas raised £102 towards Eloise’s trip of a lifetime in the Nepalese mountain range.
With plenty of fun ways to raise money for the trip one under consideration is renting out the desirable residence for Airbnb.
“It was a lot of hard work and we we are very busy,” said Mrs Swanborough who thanked those who had contributed to the event.
Garden designer Ben was persuaded to build the iconic treehouse for his daughter after she had saved £500 from her own money towards it
Taking a year to build over weekends and evenings the building was entered in the cabin and summerhouse shed category, and it was a nail biting time after going head-to-head with other category winners.
He received a cheque for £1,000 and other prizes.
Included in Eloise’s ‘mushroom’ is a small kitchen area and a glass floor which looks down to the river below.
Downstairs has a storage area, steps and a climbing wall up to the top area through a trap door.