TONY PITHERS AND GORDON CRAIG OWNERS OF
KAYWANA HALL T
he first time tony and Gordon saw Kaywana Hall they fell in love with the place. ten years
and a total rebuild later, the couple now run a luxury B&B from the stunning Kingswear residence and are very happy there. tony said: “there’s no light pollution and we can hear the owls and foxes outside. We go to bed when it’s dark and wake when it’s light. It’s such a great way to live. “We loved Kaywana Hall as soon as
we saw it. I’m quite psychic and knew the house had a comfortable feel to it and we would be very happy here. And we are.” Kaywana Hall is one of four ‘butter- fly’ buildings, designed by south Devon architect Mervyn seal. It became the architect’s family home after it was built in 1962 and also home to many parties in the 60s and 70s. said to be inspired by the American
architect Frank Lloyd Wright, the distinctive design features cantilevered cubes of glass under a dramatic inverted roof, with the two butterfly wing-like pitches tilting upwards to form an asymmetric V. It is certainly a beautiful, idyllic place and the B&B guests are very happy, returning time and time again.
tony said: “some guests come back
three times a year. Other guests have loved it so much they have bought places in Kingswear.” the other ‘butterfly’ houses are in Brixham, Churston and Babbacombe. the Brixham place is now a listed building. Kaywana means ‘little stream’ in Guyanese. the original designer named it, inspired by edgar Mittelholzer’s Kaywana trilogy – a series of racy novels from the 1940s. tony Pithers, Gordon Craig and
Kaywana Hall, were recently featured on Channel 4’s Homes by the Sea and subsequently in the sunday times. they moved into the house from London ten years ago, in May 2004. tony said: “We first saw it in the
February before we moved, while we were staying with friends in slapton. On a wet, miserable day we went to Marchand Petit estate agents in totnes and thought it looked amazing. We decided to be nosey and just take a look but fell in love with it. the timing was a bit unfortunate, as we weren’t planning to move down here. But then we decided to go for it.” Gordon added: “We had a five year plan to move out of London and run a B&B but after seeing Kaywana it
An interview by Kate Cotton
happened sooner than expected. “We’d looked at a 14-bedroomed hotel in scotland as I’m from edinburgh and have a brother who’s still in scotland. “But you can’t beat Devon – the light, the colours, the sea and the hills. It’s so beautiful here.” Gordon trained in medicine at Manchester university then moved to London as a GP. He worked at a practice in Bethnal Green for 10 years before moving down to Devon. He now works at a practice in torquay. Gordon and tony met at a London
gym 25 years ago. they lived together in Clerkenwell, Islington, for 15 years before moving to Kaywana. they became civil partners five years ago. Gordon said: “We had slight anxiety about moving from London into a small village as a gay couple, but every- one has been exceptionally welcoming. We couldn’t have asked for more. “Kingswear is a great, eclectic place – a lot of people here have been somewhere and moved back. We quickly became friends with Kit and Penny noble of nonsuch and have got to know a lot of people in the village.” Kaywana Hall cost the pair £600,000 to buy, just under the £630,000 selling price of their London apartment.
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