A wendy house is one of the few things a child gets to call genuinely their own. Their front door. Their kitchen window. Their rules. Done well, it becomes the backdrop to years of outdoor, screen-free play — the sort your child remembers when they're grown up.
Done badly, it becomes a warped, mossy corner of the garden by the second winter. Here's how to tell the difference before you buy.
1. Size it for the child you have — and the one they'll be
The classic mistake is buying to fit a three-year-old. Two summers later, they're stooping to get through the door and the house has moved to the bottom of the garden. A wendy house your child can still stand up inside at age seven or eight will earn its keep several times over.
Look for internal head-height around 130–140 cm, and a footprint big enough for two children plus a small piece of furniture — a stool, a table, a toy kitchen. That's where the play actually happens.
2. Timber is the whole story
Cheap wooden playhouses often use thin pine cladding that cups and splits after a wet winter. What you want is pressure-treated or FSC-certified softwood at a reasonable thickness (12 mm+ for walls, thicker for the floor), with tongue-and-groove joins that don't leave gaps as the wood moves through the seasons.
A felt or shingled roof with proper overhang throws water clear of the walls. A raised floor keeps damp ground out. These are small details that decide whether the house is still standing at year five.
3. Safety details worth checking
- Rounded edges on every door and window frame — no sharp corners at head height.
- Safety-tested paint or stain (EN 71-3 for toys) so surfaces are safe for little hands and mouths.
- Perspex or open windows, never real glass.
- A door that latches but can't lock a child in — a simple magnetic catch is ideal.
4. Weatherproofing it once you get it home
Even a good wendy house needs a little care. Re-treat the timber every year or two with a child-safe wood stain. Keep it a few inches off the lawn on a level base — patio slabs, decking or a pressure-treated frame — so damp can't wick up from below. Sweep leaves off the roof in autumn. It's ten minutes twice a year for a house that lasts a decade.
5. What it becomes over time
A wendy house isn't really a single toy. In year one it's a shop, year two a fire station, year three a hideaway for two best friends and a book. Kids grow into it and past it and back into it. If it's well made, it outlasts a lot of the plastic toys that came the same Christmas.
That's the bit worth paying for.
Our own wendy houses — launching soon
We're building a small range of wooden wendy houses for the Play Tents garden collection — handcrafted timber, heritage paint, sized for real families. Join the waitlist and you'll be first to know when they land.
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