Time spent alone in this rainforest-inspired house, designed to usher in the uplifting energy of its tiered, tropical garden, is a restorative gift. For your chance to win this five bedroom Forest House, worth £2,500,000, along with £100,000 in cash, enter the Dorset House Draw supporting BBC Children in Need. And soon you could be spending blissful summer days here, luxuriating in this Idyllic House created to celebrate natural beauty.
As the dawn chorus escalates and daylight slowly finds its way through leafy branches, you wake in harmony with nature’s rhythm in a contoured cocoon bed, resting against a low wooden wall. Above floating bedside shelves, two glowing paper lights are like rounded seed pods drifting down to the forest floor. Monochrome, abstract paintings and a warm, neutral palette add to the simplicity of a room quietly ruled by calming views of thriving green foliage.
In your luxury en suite, charcoal grey walls and tiles are enlivened by mirrored, glass shelving and wooden panels. As a pure white, freestanding, eggshell bath fills with hot water, you light a candle on an elegant side table, striped with the slender shadows of an indoor fern. Hidden within steep, smooth walls, beneath a blanket of foam, you rest in your very own sanctuary; a tranquil retreat, just for you, where your only responsibility is to truly relax.
Your immaculate dressing room offers up rows and rails of perfectly placed garments like a helpful pair of hands, so dressing takes just one, effortless moment. Before heading downstairs, enjoy a peaceful pause in this light-filled, galleried snug, where the flowing forms of the sofa and table are a playful invitation to sit and let your mind wander. Fill a journal page with the morning’s free-roaming thoughts as layers of leaves screen you from the world.
Descend a staircase of cantilevered, wooden steps to the spectacular, open plan kitchen below - a minimalist masterpiece of bespoke cabinets the colour of coffee grounds with surfaces of natural wood and bitter chocolate Dekton. Earthen banks burgeoning with sun-dappled ground plants are a backdrop to a healthy, natural breakfast before you wander, with a steaming cup, to sink into a curved pebble sofa in the serenity of a dual aspect lounge.
You head down to the study; a white cube of contemplation enriched with the warm tones of a timber desk and shelves alongside an upholstered, burnt orange, velvet chair. Lose time immersed in your latest labour of love before opening the door to your adjoining home cinema to hand yourself over to a double bill of your all-time favourite films. Individual tables, brass lamps and forest green armchairs create maximum comfort and nostalgic, movie-theatre decadence.
After laughing, crying and finishing every popcorn kernel, it’s time for some fresh air. This slate grey, boot room neatly houses everything you need to step out and enjoy some green breathing space. Muted cabinets and timber shelves hold boots and woollen blankets and its benches are a place to sit and dust off bare feet after a summer’s day on the terrace. In the company of nearby trees, you watch delicate ferns basking in the evening sun, content in your stillness.
Dusk falls and the setting sun silhouettes tree trunks, branches and leaves as candlelit lanterns gently illuminate the terrace’s hardwood, wraparound decking. In front of you are the black timber slats of a wooden bridge enticing you up to your bedroom; a romantic homage to the canopy walkways of the rainforest. Soft light spilling out from the house emits the same golden glow as the fading sky high above it, in its final show of unity with nature for the day.
