This substantial new house replaces a holiday bungalow which the owners used for many years before deciding to make this secluded and magical site their permanent address.

The house and outbuildings are set down into the sloping site.   With thick granite walls, grass roofs and oak joinery which will slowly weather to grey, they blend into the surrounding landscape of woods and farmland.   The granite for the walls is reclaimed from a previously abandoned local quarry;  oak felled and seasoned on the property has been used for joinery.   When an improved electricity supply is available it is proposed that heating and hot water will be provided via a heat-exchanger extracting heat from the surrounding ground.

Material from the demolished bungalow has been recycled and used in the new house including the chimneys and concrete foundations that were crushed and uses as hardcore fill.  The natural materials, high insulation levels, thermal inertia and ground-hugging profile all contribute toward a very low environmental impact.

This former rectory was substantially damaged by fire during its use as a hotel.  The site overlooks a Dartmoor village and out to the High Moor.  The new owner's brief was for the conversion and extension of the intact remains to a family residence with separate guest accommodation.  It was to provide simple and spacious accommodation taking maximum advantage of the gardens and moorland landscape to the South; it was also to provide a discrete and appropriate profile to the village of which it is a part.

The house and outbuildings have now been substantially rebuilt in glass, stainless steel and using stone reclaimed from the old house.  The colour, texture and form of the new buildings successfully integrate into their setting on the edge of a Conservation Area.  The use of plain and simple materials, with direct and clear detailing, is in keeping with Dartmoor tradition.  The single storey wing has a robust and expressed structural timber frame, and its south facing fully glazed wall links the stone and slate two storey house and guest wing.  The interior employs a minimal palette of materials and colour, mostly plastered surfaces, maple, and glass, providing a light and elegant setting for the owner's contemporary furnishings and art collection

Before

After

Click images to enlarge

A number of prefabricated timber houses were built in the mid 1920’s manufactured by Boulton & Paul. Several were built on the beautiful Dartmoor fringes.   This cottage is a good example  -  minimal structural timber sizes, optimum room dimensions for basic functions.   A good example of a sustainable, flexible building system.

The heart of the cottage has been opened up, retaining the basic cellular areas at either end.  A new kitchen and elegant bathroom have been fitted, and an open stair installed to provide both access to a roof study and bedroom and sunlight from the roof.  The area of the house has been doubled by the provision of a garden room, tucked into the rising ground and facing South.  A new main entrance, cloakroom and car accommodation provide essential facilities which by their discreet scale and location allow the original building to prevail.

Based upon this simple and neatly detailed shell and by a discreet and careful opening up to a new garden room, the house has assumed a new life, full of sun and light, integrally related to its garden and landscape.   The detailing is minimalist and unadorned:  the lighting, surfaces and finishes throughout reinforcing an almost Miesian simplicity.   The public face is largely unaltered, Boulton & Paul modesty, now repaired and rejuvenated

Click images to enlarge

Redevelopment of fulling mill, millpond and ancillary buildings for residential use.

The derelict buildings that had originally formed part of the local woolen and milling industry formed the basis for a new house.   The fulling mill had been unoccupied for 40 years and the stone lined millpond was silted up.  The buildings and adjoining structures were listed, and occupy the most beautiful rural setting.

As well as rebuilding, repairing and converting the existing structures, the brief included rehabilitating the millpond, sluices, and surrounding landscape, to provide a habitat for flora and fauna.   The internal spatial character of the new house is connected to the water area by a timber jetty.

Before

After

This Mill is the site of an early Dartmoor group of farm buildings in a sheltered and remote valley on Dartmoor.   The listed house and surrounding stone outbuildings were semi-derelict and in a parlous state, and the land and its enclosures and watercourses were in a sad state of neglect.

The scheme for the site and the buildings as a whole was one of rehabilitation and conservation whilst at the same time introducing new uses and modern facilities.   The intention was to develop and consolidate the buildings as a group in the Dartmoor landscape.   The form of each of the early structures has been repaired and where required new uses inserted.   Additional accommodation has been provided in a way which conserves the spirit and qualities of the historic fabric in a new and appropriate way using modern materials and technology.   The site has been brought back to life by the consolidation of the principal existing landscape elements of enclosures, granite and Dartmoor woodland, the formation of a mill pond and the re-establishment of the existing ‘piped’ leat along a natural rocky course.