GARDEN: Outside, Jo and a friend tackled the landscaping themselves, using a fi ve tonne digger to level the garden and lay paving


up to eaves height at the south-west corner of the building, forming an impressive chimney stack which anchors the house to its site while protecting it from prevailing south-westerly winds. “We were determined to use local materials


wherever possible, although the roof slate is Spanish,” says Louise. “We’d have loved local slate, but the cost was eye watering.” Naturally derived material choices were complemented by a series of renewable and low carbon technologies, including a ground source heat pump and a ground mounted photovoltaic panel array. A new borehole supplies water to the house, avoiding complications with the old private water supply which passed through neighbouring land, and three additional boreholes supply the ground source heating system. “We already had solar panels and electric cars, so this made sense,” explains Jo. “We also installed a sewage treatment plant, but being green isn’t cheap. All these systems need maintenance and have ongoing costs.” Inside, the feature staircase leads to a mezzanine library and the main bedroom. “I wanted a spiral staircase originally, but it just wouldn’t have worked,” Jo admits. “The new design fi ts perfectly, and  still get to keep my old boudoir grand piano downstairs. That was non-negotiable.” Throughout the house, a soft pigeon blue runs across the kitchen, windows, joinery and metalwork – a colour drawn straight from Luke’s original concept sketches. “We spent hours with RAL charts getting the shade right,” says Louise. “We didn’t want everything to be oak. We’d have been oaked out. The blue cools everything


24


down a little.”


The kitchen itself was designed and fi tted by the same family fi rm that had supplied their previous kitchen. “We literally drew out the layout on the fl oor using masking tape to check the sizes,” laughs Louise. “They listened to what we wanted and got it spot on.” A small utility room keeps cooking smells


away from the main open plan space, while the bathrooms were carefully sourced from a single supplier in Dorset to simplify the overwhelming range of options. Louise adds: “It’s easy to get carried away, but you have to keep one eye on the budget. We also tried to buy British wherever possible.”


Thoughtful lighting, devised by a lighting designer, highlights the oak frame, but the couple decided against a costly automated system, opting instead for simple, practical switches. They also installed a mesh network to tackle patchy Wi-Fi inside the well-insulated structure. The house features several bespoke touches


from local artisans, including a fused glass fi sh mural by Cornish artist Jo Downs, and a silver birch glass kitchen window by Steve Robinson, designed to obscure an unsightly boundary and with a matching splashback. The build took around 15 months to complete, with a few unexpected costs along the way, from a fourfi gure bill to relocate an unrecorded telecoms cable to the underfl oor heating company going bust mid-project. “There are always curveballs,” says Jo. “You need a healthy contingency and a good architect who’ll fi ght your corner. Now, we wake up every day and look out at the view. We honestly can’t believe our luck living here.”


GARDEN DOORS ID Systems (Vistaline slide and turn) idsystems.co.uk


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52