20 Wendy Houses for the Peter Pan in You

May 21, 2021

Some of you may find this article choice a little too “twee”, but I can’t even help myself. I want a Wendy House. Better yet, I want someone to build me a Wendy House. Before we get started, let’s just be clear on what exactly a Wendy House is. Made for Wendy Darling in J. M. Barrie’s play, Peter Pan, after she was accidentally shot in Neverland, Peter Pan and the Lost Boys built the small house around her where she had fallen. The idea was inspired by the wash-house behind the playwright’s childhood home. Today, it’s the affectionate name for a playhouse, large enough for one or more children (at heart) …

1. A College Campus Wendy House

Shepherd College built this house in the late 1920s as a class project to attract youngsters to summer courses. The project built a one-acre miniature farm modeled after the farms in the Shenandoah Valley, complete with a Dutch Colonial Revival style house an barn. The bedroom, stairs, kitchen– everything is miniature. Photographed in Shepherdstown, West Virginia, August 1948. Photograph by Walter Meayers Edwards, from the National Geographic. More information on the Little House here (it’s still there on the campus).

2. A Wendy House fit for a Queen

In March 1932, on the occasion of Princess Elizabeth’s sixth birthday, when the Duke and Duchess of York had started work on the grounds of Royal Lodge, a little straw-thatched cottage, ‘Y Bwthyn Bach’, (The Little House), was presented to Princess Elizabeth and Princess Margaret in the name of the people of Wales. The gift was received by The Duke and Duchess of York in a ceremony at Cardiff on behalf of the young princesses. It was subsequently re-erected in the gardens of Royal Lodge in April 1932 and was furnished both inside and out. It had its own front garden with scaled down hedges and flower borders. The cottage survives to this day much to the delight of royal children visiting Royal Lodge.

Princess Elizabeth and Princess Margaret sat on the front steps of the Y Bwythn Bach Lodge.

I definitely recommend taking a tour of the house below…

3. A Botanical Wendy House

The children’s playhouse at the Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens, open daily year-round from 9 a.m.–5 p.m.

4. Wendy goes Retro

By Orla Kiely Designs for the Chelsea Garden Show 2012

5. A Winter Wonderland Wendy House

The Wendy house at Castle Drogo, Dartmoor

6. The Fairytale (complete with stained-glass windows)

Built from scratch complete with stained glass windows by artist Dave Henderson via Squidoo.

7. The White Picket Fence Wendy House

By Sandstone Design

8. The Wonky Wendy House

This house floating around the internet is apparently in Georgia, USA.

Photo by Jason Brooks, plenty of crooked, wonky and whimsical playhouses for sale here.

9. A Gypsy Wendy House

At the Hotel des Messugues Saint-Paul in France, photos by DanHeller.com

10. Wendy opens a Restaurant (under the Stairs)

There’s no rule that says a Wendy House can’t be indoors (with central heating). This beauty was built by Marcie and her husband for their kids. Apparently it is absolutely the best restaurant in their small town. See more photos on Marcie’s blog Mossy

11. Wendy’s Cabin in the Woods

This Wendy cabin from fiber artist Laurie Ceesay, made by her husband using recycled materials such as weathered wood, windows from an old milking barn, old rust hinges, old chair, old bear trap on the wall, old garden tools, old door, a rusty horse shoe to hook the door etc.

12. Wendy’s Humpty Dumpty-inspired House

A Wendy House set into the brickwork in the north-west corner of the Walled Garden of the Parham House and Gardens in Sussex, England. Built in 1928 by Clive Pearson for his three daughters, it is a miniature two-storey cottage complete with oak front door, wrought iron balcony and a fireplace. Once a year, Clive’s great-grandaughter, Lady Emma Barnard and her children will light the fire inside and tell stories.