WHO says there is no such thing as a money tree?

More than £500,000 worth of orders have poured in over just three days for luxury tree houses being marketed by a York entrepreneur.

Simon Aldrich, co-founder of the Osbaldwick-based £4 million turnover expatshopping.com, launched his new company, Twiga, which designs super tree houses for the mega-rich at the annual Royal Horticultural Society's Flower Show at Tatton Park, Knutsford, on July 21.

A two-storey £25,000 showhouse version of his product, built on stilts surrounding a tree trunk, including three rooms, a home office, LCD screens and a 20ft elevated deck, was visited by more than 50,000 people during the show and 800 potential buyers queued for viewings.

The result was that the new company, started by Simon and his brother, Marcus, a former North Yorkshire motorcycle policeman, took orders for 18 installations, ranging in value from between £20,000 and £45,000.

Now a show home is being planned in Harrogate later this summer to interest North Yorkshire customers in the tree house which is fully powered and plumbed and for which the company will organise planning permission.

Another 35 home visits to conduct surveys have been booked by "seriously interested" customers and this, Simon estimates, could yield another £1 million in orders.

Simon said: "The interest from the public has been significantly higher than we anticipated, and we have sold our full year's target in just one week, which is beyond even our wildest expectations.

Updated: 11:12 Wednesday, August 04, 2004