The Bough House

Jess’s, up among the autumn leaves, with the tree growing up through the middle of it.

The tree was here first. The house was built round it, so the trunk comes up through the floor and goes out through the roof, and two of its limbs curl round the walls as if they were holding it up, which they are. It is autumn up here: the leaves have turned gold, rust and crimson, a few are still green, and the ones that have let go lie deep round the foot of the ladder. The last of the afternoon sun is still in the top of the grove after the ground below has gone into shade.

Whose this is

This is Jess’s. She founded GROVE and runs it: mentoring, interest groups and a programme called BEING ME, for Autistic young people, by Autistic adults, based in the UK and open to young people anywhere. A tree house in a grove, for somebody whose work is called one.

Visit GROVE at gr0ve.org

Ben

Ben is a tiny black dog, and this is his tree house too. He is on the platform in the drawing, by the door.

One song, on repeat

There is one record up here and it plays on repeat: press it once and it goes round, from the top every time it ends, until you stop it. Nothing plays until you press.

Let Me Touch You For Awhile, by Alison Krauss & Union Station, written by Robert Lee Castleman, from their album New Favorite (2001). 3:23, on YouTube, via AlisonKraussVEVO.

Down the pebble paths

From the foot of the ladder a pebble path runs across the grass, past a pond with swing seats beside it, one of them a platform swing a wheelchair can roll onto, a hammock, and a playground for pets, to the Faery Yurt, and another runs on across the field to the Solarpunk Hermitage. The pond and the playground are on the campground between the pitches, and belong to nobody’s: every home stays its own.

The neighbours on the campgrounds, down the pebble paths from the pond: Helen Edgar’s Faery Yurt at pitch 01 and Ryan Boren’s Solarpunk Hermitage at pitch 03. Go and visit.

Whose words these are

The brief is Jess’s, passed on by Helen Edgar on 2026-10-17: a tree house in a grove, with the tree growing up through it and wrapped round it, in autumn colours, Ben, one song on repeat, and a link to GROVE. The name was ours, chosen for a house in the boughs of a grove, and is Jess’s to change. The drawing and the words here were written for this room. What GROVE does was read off GROVE’s own site on 2026-10-17. The song’s title, artist and length were read off its own page on YouTube, and its writer and album off MusicBrainz, the same day. Set in Merienda, by Eduardo Tunni, and Overlock, by Dario Manuel Muhafara, both under the SIL Open Font License. Every source is in the liner notes.

Job marker — an acorn, dropped on the platform

You have found a job marker. The Adventurer’s Guild is a shopfront on the street, and it posts jobs that send you round these rooms. Take the code below to its board and that job is done. Nothing here is scored, nothing expires, and one is a perfectly good number of jobs to do.

The job: What is the tree house built round?

Before the code: What is the Bough House built round?

Hint 1

It is in the first paragraph under the drawing.

Hint 2

Look at what comes up through the floor.

Last hint

It was there before the house was.

Give me the answer

The answer is The tree. The tree: it was there first, so the trunk comes up through the floor and out of the roof, and two of its limbs curl round the walls.

Taking the answer is a real way through this, not a lesser one. Nothing is watching and nothing is written down.

Quest code: BOUGHS

Hand it in at the Adventurer’s Guild →

HOW LOUD DO YOU WANT IT?

Starts wherever your device says. Nothing moves, flashes, or plays until you say so — and in this tree house, the leaves fall only when you press Let the leaves fall, at any setting.