The Art of Escape is our way of exploring the stories behind the places that stay with you – and the people who bring them to life.
In this first chapter, we spent time with Harriet and Matt, the duo behind The Quist, to understand how a treehouse hidden deep within 100 acres of Herefordshire woodland became something far more than a place to stay.
Harriet: The idea to build a treehouse kind of came out of timing, the stage that we were at in our lives and our combined skillset.
Matt: Harriet had this growing interest in interior design, a real natural talent – she’s really good – and I was desperately trying to make a living out of carpentry. So it made sense to make a house in the trees!
Matt: It’s the only building within 100 acres up here, so we have a meadow just behind us, and the rest of the 100 acres is the trees surrounding that meadow on the hill and the treehouse sits within the woodland on the edge of that hill so we’re 100 metres up in this kind of little oasis.
Harriet: It probably takes people a little while to get used to the difference in the sound here, but also we did really intentionally set up the living space with this huge opening and we wanted people to feel like the deck was part of the sitting room.
Matt: The TV is in front of this sofa and it’s a load of oak trees and an incredible view.
Harriet: I just wanted all the windows to be like beautiful pictures and that sense of the outside being super close.
Matt: You’re here to connect with the outdoors so therefore we need invitations to the outdoors everywhere, and they’re the windows – they’re the invitations.
Harriet: For people coming from busy city lives, to come and have that reset is especially nourishing. I remember seeing something in the guest book once where the guest observed that lots of the entries in the guest book described a stay here as being a break from reality, and he said, I don’t think that’s right – I think here you actually do come to reality, and that’s the break, that’s the amazing experience of it. And I thought that was perfect and really moving to read.
Matt: So when we were building, we were thinking we’re going to build this place once, so why don’t we build it with two large bedrooms, so at least a family of four can come and have a luxurious stay in nature.
A lot of families have dogs and the people who come and stay at the Quist have access to 100 acres that they’re bang in the middle of so it’s just dog paradise.
Harriet: Because the bare bones of it are really humble, wherever we could we picked the luxury option. I like that juxtaposition of those two things, and I think other people do as well. You don’t want to sleep on like a hemp mattress with a sheepskin to warm your cockles all night – you know, you have to be realistic about what people are used to. And then go above and beyond and hopefully give them those touchpoints and those experiences that are more luxurious than they’ve got at home. I did quite carefully choose that bath because I looked at a lot of ceramic and just nothing felt right for a treehouse.
Matt: And it mirrors what you would find, the only stone you would find in the woodland, might be like a spring. So I think it was the only sensible place to put stone in the build.
Harriet: The instancy of the hot shower outside was just a nice moment.
Matt: It’s a friendly way of coaxing people out of their comfort zone.
And I think a lot of people who would never step out of the door in their pants or naked or swimmers probably a lot of people have done it for the first time here, you know, uncomfortably in the morning and then to stand under a hot shower outside with the view under the trees, instantly is a bit of a revelation for a lot of people.
Harriet: We really did take this thing seriously, it’s not just a holiday let, it is an experience.
Matt: It’s a real product of craft, it’s art and application working together, really.
Harriet: Not to like, blow our own trumpet too much, we haven’t split the atom.
(Laughs)
Matt: Haha, no we haven’t, it’s a glorified shed that’s really nice.
And perhaps that’s the real magic of it…
Not something over-engineered or over-thought, but something made with care, intuition, and a deep understanding of how it feels to truly switch off. A place where craft meets landscape, where the outside is always within reach, and where the pace of things gently recalibrates.
These are the places we’re drawn to – the ones that stay with you long after you’ve left.
The Quist is most definitely one of those places.
