Ontario treetop hotel brings luxury comforts to the forest | Canada Voices

There are just three treehouses that make up Hartwood, a new hotel tucked into 15 acres of forest canopy near Minden, Ont. Yet, they make a statement.

These are not treehouses in name only. The structure for each of these houses is built right into the trunks of live sugar maple trees. Each glass-and-wood box floats 30-some feet up in the air, supported by – and surrounded by – trees.

The hotel, which opened at the beginning of this year, is the brainchild of Lauren and Cam Green. Cam grew up building treehouses during the summer at nearby Balsam Lake. But unlike the wooden shacks of his youth, each treehouse at Hartwood has all of the comforts you’d expect of a nice hotel – king-sized beds, plush towels and waterfall showers.

“It’s a place away from the distraction, where you can tap back into reality,” said Lauren. “We want people to arrive and just instantly feel like a weight has dropped.”

Why you should visit

It’s incredible what you notice with the silence.

There are no distractions here. No cars honking or street chatter. No screens on the walls or tablet on the counter. For entertainment, each unit is outfitted with only a fireplace and a record player. The point is to be present.

Shortly after arriving at Treehouse 001, a spacious two-bedroom space measuring more than 800 square feet, I settled into the sunken living room by the fireplace. I’d planned on reading, wedging myself up against the cozy alpaca pillows with my book. It was a buzzy new memoir, but after nearly two hours, I’d only made it to page 25.

I found myself entranced, constantly, by the forest scene. Almost the entire wall of the living room is made up of glass, giving a panoramic view of the forest. It’s impossible to look away. No matter where you’re sitting, no matter what you’re doing, the trees are there, preening for your attention.

I found myself staring out the window for hours at a time, noticing everything. The sway of the birch trees. The sound of the wind rustling through the leaves. At one point, a small bird – maybe a sparrow – flew up and into a nearby tree, and I was so startled that I heard myself say, out loud, “Oh wow, a bird.”

Here at the Hartwood, the forest is the whole point. It’s what’s sometimes referred to as a “landscape hotel,” a place that adapts to and blends seamlessly into the environment around it.

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In Europe, there are already several luxury treehouse hotels (most notably the Tree Hotel in Sweden, and the Arctic Treehouse Hotel in Finland). But in Canada, the few treehouse hotels that exist lean more rustic. Nothing quite so luxe existed in Canada, until now.

A decade ago, the Greens learned about a treehouse-building workshop in Vermont. It immediately reminded Cam of his youth. “As soon as I learned it was a thing, I had to go,” he said.

The workshop opened up for him the world of sustainable treehouses. And Lauren was similarly taken.

“I thought, ‘we can do this, but we can do it in a high-design way, highly architectural way,’” she said.

In 2019, they built the Baltic, a treehouse with all the comforts of a condo, near Minden. They began renting it out, and it has been booked solid since.

A few years later, they found a 15-acre property just south of Minden. It was 30 minutes away from the Baltic, and bordering on the Dahl Forest, a 500-acre nature reserve.

With the help of Toronto-based architects studio ksa, they began building the Hartwood in summer of 2024, and completed construction of the treehouses and a central space late last year.

Room for improvement

That communal area, the Hydda, features a café and wine bar. They serve snacks, and host one-off dining events with visiting chefs. But it’s not a full-service restaurant.

Instead, each treehouse is equipped with a full kitchen. For an additional cost, guests are offered prepared meal kits, and encouraged to try cooking on their outdoor firepit.

But in order to truly relax, I would have preferred not to cook. A wider range of dining options – either a full-service restaurant or other delivery options would have been ideal.

Since you’re in the neighbourhood

The point of Hartwood is the woods. So why would you leave?

On my first afternoon, I went for a hike around the property. I smelled the wet wood and felt the earth beneath my feet. More than once, I thought to myself, ‘what is that sound’? before realizing it was silence.

The hotel also offers in-room massages (at an additional cost). So for my second afternoon, I booked a visit from Lesley MacGregor, a masseuse from Minden, Ont., at my treehouse. Between her excellent massage and the stunning backdrop, it was the best possible way to spend an afternoon.

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The takeaway

Laying in bed after my first full day, I realized it was the first time in a long, long time I hadn’t gone to bed with my head in a fog. Where I wasn’t simply giving in to a blur of exhaustion.

Instead, my mind felt crystal-clear. And that clarity, in that moment, is one I’ll revisit time and time again.

Hartwood at Fort Treehouse Co. is located in the Haliburton Highlands, about 15 minutes south of Minden, Ont., and about 2.5 hours from Toronto. There are three treehouses available at Hartwood, starting at $595 a night. forttreehouseco.com

The writer was a guest of the hotel, which did not review or approve this article. Stories are based on merit; The Globe does not guarantee coverage.