Branching out with luxury treehouses

By Julie Clothier for CNN

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(CNN) -- A treehouse is a small hut, built or placed up in the branches of a tree for children to play in, right?

Not in the south of France, where four specially built treehouses are big enough for adults and have all the trappings of a luxury hotel room, including wooden baths, open massage showers and even an Internet cable connection if you need it.

The brainchild of Diane Van den Berge, the rooms are part of her bed and breakfast in Saint-Paul de Vence between Cannes and Nice.

A keen traveler, Diane left her native Belgium almost four years ago for the small village near the Cote d'Azur where she bought an old farmhouse on a large plot of land.

Soon after buying the property she began leafing through design magazines and stumbled across a guesthouse in India where people stayed in treehouses. She knew she'd found an idea to develop her own place.

The next challenge was to find someone who could build such a structure. She thought she would need to seek help abroad, but through Internet research found a suitable builder 200 kilometers away in France.

The first house was complete in July 2004.

"Once the treehouse was standing there it looked so lovely. The landscape was too beautiful to build with stone so we kept going," she says.

The smallest house is 20 square meters (215 square feet) and stands five meters (16.5 feet) off the ground. The biggest is 40 square meters (430 square feet). Each has its own name, all after characters out of "The Jungle Book" stories.

Staying in the buildings is quite an experience, Diane says, and the red cedar the huts are made from gives off an amazing perfume to inspire the deepest of sleeps.

"People are curious, happy, amazed. It gives such a different feeling. Being away from the ground makes you feel free, away from being realistic, pragmatic. It's a different feeling," she says.

Her bed and breakfast attracts all types of guests, from families, to couples looking for a romantic getaway, to "almost-burnt-out executives."

One of Diane's favorite parts of the property is the self-cleaning natural swimming pool, which requires no chemicals to maintain it because of a sophisticated natural system of gravel and aquatic plant filtration.

"It attracts dragon flies and frogs and all sorts of flora and fauna. It's like swimming in a lake. The first one I came across was in Switzerland. It's like recreating a mountain lake."

Her 20-year-old daughter Aina now helps manage the business. This means Diane has more time to focus on her other work as an independent coach and change consultant.

And while she dreams of adding a fifth treehouse to the property, she doesn't want to spoil the ratio between greenery and houses and is keen for the business not to get too big.

"We've created a little paradise here," she says.

Prices start from 180 euros for two people including breakfast during the peak season.

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