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TRAVELLER
GLAMP IT UP
THE TREEHOUSE AT HARPTREE
COURT
BRISTOL
Get back to nature with every comfort in this
upmarket treehouse.
F
rom£550 (€648) for
two nights; canopyandstars.co.uk
THEWRITER’S RETREAT,
CAZAUGITAT, GIRONDE
BORDEAUX
This 1971 Airstream trailer has been turned
into a creative bolthole.
From£950 (€1,120)
per week; canopyandstars.co.uk
THE HOOPOE YURT HOTEL
MALAGA
Shaded by cork trees and next to a river,
this yurt sleeps young families or couples
looking for a private getaway.
From£435
(€512) for three nights; canopyandstars.co.uk
Threemore designer boltholes for spring getaways…
which he doesn’t seem to “know a man” and his phone
constantly rings. He’s not afraid to get his hands dirty:
one of his contacts showed him how to build a yurt
(a Central Asian-style tent), so he built one, complete
with double bed and wood-fired stove, that he rents
out through “glamping” company Canopy & Stars.
He also erected a one-bed hut to be used as an artist’s
retreat for the Royal Scottish Academy.
It’s a bit of a change from his life in London, where
he made his living from dealing antiques – a kind
of boho Del Boy. There was, however, an emotional
motivation behind this strange career move.
Inshriach belonged to his maternal grandparents,
who bought it when Walter’s grandfather retired
from a high-ranking army position in the 1970s
and Walter spent his school holidays here. But then
his grandfather died, followed – five years ago – by
his grandmother, and the estate was left to Walter’s
mother and her two sisters. But while Walter’s aunts
were happy to sell it, his mother wanted to keep it. “We
couldn’t bear to let it go,” she says.
They needed to raise a huge amount of money
to buy her sisters’ share. Walter and his sister Molly
helped – Walter by selling his home in London,
his sister by taking in lodgers. Then they sold their
belongings, arranged a huge mortgage – and borrowed
and borrowed. Then came the difficult bit. Walter’s
sister stayed in London, but Walter and his mum
moved to Scotland to start restoring the main house.
“Most families probably wouldn’t have done it,” says
Walter. “Not unless they had a banker’s bonus so they
could do it as a luxury. That’s the sort of market you’re
in when you talk about Scottish estates. It’s a way
of spending millions of pounds that you have going
spare, not rifling through people’s pockets to buy it.”
It’s an unconventional life, but Walter and Lucy
are unconventional people. She attended a French
finishing school, is strikingly beautiful and very cool.
Divorced fromWalter’s dad, her main companions
PROPERTY
|
INVERNESS
A 1956 Commer
lorry, once used as a
fire truck, has been
converted into a
one-roomholiday
home for two,
complete with
parquet floor
PHOTOS © CANOPYAND STARS