- Title: Belgians holiday in trees as COVID-19 prompts staycations
- Date: 8th July 2020
- Summary: BORGLOON, BELGIUM (JULY 7, 2020) (REUTERS) TEAR DROP-SHAPED TENTS HANGING ON TREES VARIOUS OF VISITORS CHRIS D'HELDT AND WINNE TEUNKENS SITTING IN TENT VARIOUS OF D'HELDT AND TEUNKENS LOOKING FROM TENT WINDOW TENTS HANGING ON TREES (SOUNDBITE) (Dutch) VISITOR, CHRIS D'HELDT WITH GRANDDAUGHTER WINNE TEUNKENS, SAYING: "I think it's great. I had already seen it when I cycled past here with my husband and now I'm here with my granddaughter for three days. I thought that's really something to do with my granddaughter. It really makes me feel like camping, but in a special way. I thought it was a great idea. When we arrived here we didn't know what to expect, but we're really excited, we're really cosy here." VISITOR DRIES MOONS CLIMBING LADDER TO TENT MOONS OPENING TENT MOONS GETTING INSIDE TENT VARIOUS OF MOONS AND HIS GIRLFRIEND ELKE GIELEN PUTTING SLEEPING BAGS IN TENT (SOUNDBITE) (Dutch) VISITOR, DRIES MOONS, SAYING: "I like the way it's made, it looks different from other things, different than just a tent or a campsite. Also because of the limitation, that there are only four of these "drops" (the tents look like drops) hanging. I'm happy that it's so small and picturesque." VARIOUS OF MOONS AND GIELEN SITTING IN TENT MOONS AND GIELEN SITTING IN TENT / VIEW OF FIELDS NEXT TO TENTS DUTCH ARTIST DRE WAPENAAR WALKING, WATCHING HANGING TENT WAPENAAR WALKING BY HANGING TENT VARIOUS OF WAPENAAR GETTING IN TENT (SOUNDBITE) (English) ARTIST AND INVENTOR OF TEAR DROP-SHAPED TENTS, DRE WAPENAAR, SAYING: "I wanted to propose a project to tree activists, who chain themselves against the trunks of trees to try to protect them from being cut down. And I wanted to give them a comfortable stay and that's why I decided to design a tent for them and I came up with this." WAPENAAR SITTING IN TENT (SOUNDBITE) (English) ARTIST AND INVENTOR OF TEARS-SHAPED TENTS, DRE WAPENAAR, SAYING: "It (the tent) is hanging free in the air, it's relating to your childhood dreams, building a hut in your tree. It's related with privacy and public domains, it's in between that. So, you are like a parasite, hanging anywhere you want." MOONS AND GIELEN WALKING PAST HANGING TENTS VARIOUS OF HANGING TENTS
- Embargoed: 22nd July 2020 13:01
- Keywords: Dre Wapenaar Tree tent camping
- Location: BORGLOON, BELGIUM
- City: BORGLOON, BELGIUM
- Country: Belgium
- Topics: Arts / Culture / Entertainment
- Reuters ID: LVA001CLY99W9
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Rather than take a summer holiday abroad during the coronavirus pandemic, some Belgians are trying a novel camping experience at home, spending a night in a tear drop-shaped tent hanging from a tree.
The idea of Dutch artist Dre Wapenaar, the tree tents double as an art installation and are considered sculpture, rather than a commercially-produced tent.
The head of tourism for the eastern town of Borgloon, which has hosted four tents along a tree-lined field since 2011, said this year's bookings of the tents were faster than previously, likely because of the government's guidelines to favour holidays in Belgium over foreign countries.
Visitors included Chris d'Heldt and her granddaughter Winne Teunkens, who had booked for a three-night stay and said they felt really cosy in the tent.
At 70 euros ($79) a night, the tents sleep two people and include access to a bathroom and barbecue.
Designed in the 1990s to support environmental activists who sought to stop trees being felled, the tree tents have been exhibited in New York and across Europe.
"It's relating to your childhood dreams, building a hut in your tree," Wapenaar told Reuters.
Wapenaar has another four tents in the Belgian town of Bornem, near Antwerp, one in a sculpture park in the United States, another at a bed-and-breakfast in France and three at a camp site in the Netherlands.
(Production Bart Biesemans) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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