A unique piece of furniture made with care & attention
We came across Woodside Cat Trees after an internet search for handmade cat trees; after a long phone chat with Ady & Theresa we came away thinking this is just what we are looking for - someone in the UK who makes cat trees using proper natural branches and with care and attention to the needs of our cats, unlike *anything* you could ever find from an online store.
We measured the space we had for the tree and they spoke to us about what they could do to best use the space, including everything from the light from windows, height of surroundings, where the cats liked to sit normally, how high the cats could jump, position & angles for best views - both for cats and us! Our requirements changed a little in the early stages as we spoke with them more and discovered some of the new "add-ons" they were developing, which we knew our cats would love and which we had to order!
Gradually the design came together and we got to see pictures of the fur for the platforms, the chosen branches, mock-ups and finally the tree as it was assembled. This process took a little time but we weren't expecting a bespoke piece of furniture to be quick and we knew it was going to be worthwhile!
As we lived 4 hours away but were visiting family locally, we picked up the tree ourselves. Seeing it in its finished state, we were stunned how amazing (and big!) it looked, we were lost for words... after we got our voices back, it took Ady about 5 minutes to take the tree apart so we could load it into our car. All the connections were labelled for us to put it together again at the other end. Theresa had also thoughtfully made some small catnip toys for our cats from left-over material used on the tree (a *beautiful* long faux-fur in a swirly "Almond" colour.) We couldn't wait to get home to see what our cats thought.
After returning home it took less than 30 minutes to put the whole thing together, mostly just one of us doing the work. I really, really appreciated the quality of the fittings Woodside used, it made the construction so easy and I can tell this thing will *last* ! Though our cats were initially wary of "the new thing", they were climbing to the top within a few hours. They have since spent plenty of time on their new tree *every* day for the last few months and we are so happy!
TL;DR we went looking for a homemade cat tree but what we ended up with is beyond anything we ever imagined; we love this tree and we can tell our cats love it just as much ! There is so much for them to do and places to sleep and we think they will use it in different ways depending on the time of year. It is really a unique piece of furniture, the branches are beautiful (and lovely to touch) and we are so happy with it. Thank you Ady and Theresa for making this happen.
- Kaspar & Lenka + humans
18 April 2022
Unprompted review