Surrey Homes | SH64 | February 2020 | Interiors supplement inside

Left: The view from the window
at the top of the stairs across
tranquil countryside
Below: The dramatic stairway
leads up to the kitchen, living
space and master bedroom suite
ceiling space of the kitchen, at the 10-seater dining table,
next to a wall of windows with views to the east. There’s
another large window looking out to the main northerly
view and then another on the opposite wall, looking onto the
upward slope of the hillside through the pergola that runs
along the back of the house. And the pergola is not there just
to look pretty in the summer.
“It has nine vines planted on it,” says Steve. “In summer
the leaves shield the kitchen from the beating sun through
the windows and in the winter there are no leaves, so the heat
from the sun can get in.”
Not that heating the place is an issue, even with the
amazing vaulted 5.3 metre ceilings. It’s all supplied
from a ground-source heat pump and with triple-glazed
windows, a little goes a long way. “The large array of
solar PVs generates more than we can use,” says Steve.
“Selling the excess pays all our bills,” adds Bronwen.
Sitting with them at the table gives me the chance to really
take in the scale and detail of the house – and there is a lot
to process, because when you are in an unique house that has
been built from scratch, from the imagination of two owners
and a designer, it makes you realise that, lovely though they
are, all the houses you visit really fit into just a few categories.
Even old beamy Wealden farmhouses, Georgian
cottages, or Victorian mansions, with all their lovely
quirky historical details, are all of their types. But
I’ve never been in a house like this before – because
it’s the only one – and there is a lot to take in.
On this upper floor, the walls and towering ceilings
are all made from CLT – cross-laminated timber,
67 surrey-homes.co.uk