A FAMILY from North Oxfordshire is celebrating after their garden treehouse was selected as a finalist in a national competition.

Nick Brown and his son William, eight, built the wooden structure in their back garden in North Newington to find a use for a pine tree which had to be cut down due to sickness.

The pair, along with Nick's wife Jess, spent about two months working on the treehouse which now includes a double-length slide and cargo net.

Now their creation has been named in the top 10 in Center Parcs' nationwide search to find the country's top treehouse.

Mr Brown, who works as an engineer for F1 team Mercedes, said: "When we moved in the tree was very overgrown but we decided that we didn't want to cut it down all the way. I was going to make it into a climbing pole and put in a pulley system before we decided to go with a treehouse.

"It has meant a lot of trips to Wickes and we were also inspired by the treetop adventures at Centre Parcs Longleat.

"We wanted it to be big enough so we could sleep in it as a family but it was meant to be a space for William to play rather than an actual room.

"William loves it and has had some great times in it with his mates.

"You can always see them outside running up the ladders and then jumping down the slides."

The family entered the competition after Mr Brown's mum spotted the advert online and encouraged them to enter.

The 51-year-old said: "We were all pretty overjoyed to find out we had made the shortlist. I just hope we get lucky when they are all judged.

"We loved building the treehouse as a family and watching William enjoy it and let his imagination run wild up in the treetops is reward in itself.

"But to know that it’s been chosen as the country's top treehouse would be the icing on the cake."

The head judge for the competition will be wildlife presenter and adventurer Steve Backshall, best known for the BBC show Deadly 60.

Mr Backshall said: "It’s amazing to see how creative families have been when building their treehouses, and it shows you don’t need to have huge budgets or gardens to produce something great.

"This treehouse was a particular favourite because it really shows the personality of the Brown family, as they all built it together."

Entries can be viewed on Twitter using the hashtag #UKTopTreehouse and on Center Parcs UK Facebook page.