Surrey Homes | SH16 | February 2016 | Wedding supplement inside

HOUSE OF THE MONTH by John Graham-Hart
1.
Let there be light
John Graham-Hart shuns the dark, for houses
that are bright and beautiful
Some years ago a group of Japanese scientists proved that, like fireflies and
through the same metabolic processes, we humans, too, glow in the dark.
Actually, they found that we glow even more in the daytime. No matter
– the loopies were in alternative seventh heaven. Throughout the country, ley
lines were instantly overloaded. It was official. Auras were real.
Obviously, it proved no such thing but it was, however, another quite
interesting discovery about the most complex organism on the planet. Why a
diurnal creature should have evolved this ability is anyone’s guess but it did and
it underlines, if in a rather oblique way, our love of light.
Throughout our history, light has been associated with good and the dark with
things unpleasant. Wherever we find darkness, whether literal or figurative, we
try to bring light. It follows then, as the night does the day, that among the
places where we value light most highly is the space we call home.
The earliest windows were just holes in the wall that let in all-important light
but alas, they let in everything else as well and so were necessarily small. The
Romans were the first to use glass in around 100 AD but it was over 1,000
years before the windowpane as we know it made its appearance. Finally, in the
1950s, plate glass manufacture was perfected by Sir Alastair Pilkington allowing
the creation of walls of glass and providing architects with one of their most
valuable resources. So let’s hear it for glass – and light.
1. Cranford
Where? Cranford is between Hurst
Green and Limpsfield Chart a couple of
miles from Oxted. (Google Maps
RH8 0RF).
What? A handsome Edwardian country
home built in 1912, the property has been
extended and refurbished over the years
and today offers more than 4,000 square
feet of attractive, bright and versatile
family accommodation. On the ground
floor there is a triple-aspect drawing
room, study and, flowing into each other,
a kitchen/breakfast room opening on
to the garden, dining room and superb
conservatory. On the lower ground floor
is a family room. Upstairs there is a
self-contained studio flat, a master
bedroom with dressing room, en suite
bathroom and south and west-facing
balcony plus four further bedrooms and
two bathrooms. Outside, in grounds
of almost eight acres, are formal and
informal gardens, a large area of woodland
– with stream, pond and spring – a
paddock and a leisure centre with indoor
swimming pool and gym.
How much? Cranford is priced at
£2,350,000 and is on the market with
Jackson-Stops & Staff in Oxted. Call
01883 712375 or visit
www.jackson-stops.co.uk.
www.wealdentimes.co.uk
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