Rural England is not typically associated with modern architecture – being better known for quaint cottages, ramblings farmhouses, or sprawling country piles.
But the awe-inspiring countryside properties in the running for the Royal Institute of British Architects’ House of the Year Award have all been designed with contemporary flair.
Grand Designs presenter Kevin McCloud explored the rural homes long-listed for the prestigious award in the latest special episode of the series, including a rustic treehouse with a surprisingly plush interior, a striking home built on a cantilever, and a zinc covered new build nestling in Ayrshire’s rolling hills.
Woodworker Guy Mallinson spent £150,000 building a treehouse that he could call home in Dorset. The end result, which is accessed via a rope bridge and help up by stilts of sweet chestnut, manages to be both understated and luxurious – with the simple exterior masking a sauna and free-standing jacuzzi bath inside.
Nestled in the hills of the Isle of Purbeck is the ultra modern Quest House, so-called because it took Charles Denton and his wife 20 years to find the perfect spot to build it on. The ambitious property home is built on a cantilever using a clever balancing trick.
The Newhouse in Ayrshire, Scotland, is a striking building covered in blue zinc, creating a corrugated barn effect that belies the state-of-the-art interiors.
Meanwhile architect David Shepherd and his GP wife transformed an old cattle barn in Devon into Cob Corner, a fabulous – and ultra modern – family home, while retaining traditional aspects of the building he remembered from his childhood.
Walls within the property still retain marks left by the tongues of cows that fed in the barn in years gone by.
THE WOODSMAN’S TREEHOUSE
Woodworker Guy Mallinson wanted to ‘celebrate’ wood and created a treehouse in the middle of the Dorset woods
Woodworker Guy Mallinson built his treehouse in Dorset as a ‘celebration’ of wood, using Douglas fir, cedar and oak to create his dream home.
Built in a gap between oak trunks, the property stands on stilts made of sweet chestnut – which proved to be a difficult labour of love as Mallinson strove to be ‘respectful’ to the surrounding trees. The supports were eventually put in at angles to work around the oak roots, which can grow in any direction.
Visitors approach the property via a rope bridge and enter through a submarine door, which opens onto – somewhat surprisingly given the rustic surroundings – modern luxury.
Mallinson installed a sauna, an outdoor hot tub, a pizza oven and even a slide to make his treehouse even more unique.
The house is built on stilts made of sweet chestnuts and is built around the oak tree’s roots so as not to ‘disrespect’ the tree
Architect Michelle Ogundehin called the 35 sq m home a ‘glamorous woodland funfair’ as she marveled at the property on Grand Designs.
Michelle said: ‘This is so much more luxurious than I imagined it would be. It’s got a sense of escapism; it all feels quite unexpected.’
The treehouse proved a struggle to build as no heavy machinery could access the boggy woodland setting, so everything had to be made by hand.
The logs making up the distinctive exterior of the property took four weeks to complete, with Mallinson enlisting his son and friends to help.
The home cost £150,000 in total to build, which Mallinson admitted was ‘very expensive for him’.
He said: ‘Wood is such a fantastic material. I spend my entire life working with wood, and so the treehouse is really a celebration of what wood could do.’
Visitors approach the house on a rope bridge that leads up to a submarine door, which hides a luxurious interior
Most of the house is circular and has surprising features like a private sauna and an outdoor jacuzzi that overlooks the woods
THE QUEST HOUSE
Film producer Charles Denton and his wife Penny spent 20 years searching for the perfect piece of land to build their dream house on.
They finally found it on the Isle of Purbeck in Dorset, hidden in the hills, and spent £750,000 building a striking modern home that is as far removed from a traditional English farmhouse as could be.
The land had previously been home to a traditional bungalow.
Charles said: ‘Primarily what I wanted, and what Penny wanted, was a site that would give us a peaceful setting and a house that could complement the extraordinary countryside we were sitting in.
‘We wanted something special.’
The Quest House is so-called because it took film producer Charles Denton and his wife Penny 20 years to find the perfect land to build on
The property is built onto a cantilever, which architects created by building a concrete foundation underneath the side of the house that was set on the ground to balance with the side that was built onto a stone wall
The home features lots of windows to allow the couple to enjoy the views of the surrounding countryside
The 250 sq m property is built onto a cantilever, which architects created by building a concrete foundation beneath the side of the house that was set on the ground, to balance with the side built atop a stone wall.
Inside the house is even more striking, and features huge windows that allow sunlight to stream in and offer views of the rolling countryside.
The spacious living room is eight metres wide, and judges complimented the couple on the simplicity of the room’s design.
The vast space is the property’s only reception room, but the couple asked architects for two studies so they could each have their own haven.
The interior has a very modern feel and the couple enjoy the space of and eight meter wide living room
The couple wanted somewhere peaceful that would also ‘compliment’ the countryside surroundings
THE NEWHOUSE
In Ayrshire, retired GP Mike Law and his wife Sally built the Newhouse on old farm land at Auchengree, which they styled to look like an updated barn.
The building has blue zinc cladding and features shutters to the windows to give the property a farmhouse feel.
The Newhouse is a series of three buildings that have been connected together; with one building housing the master bedrooms, the other a kitchen and living room, and the third used as an outhouse for guest bedrooms and storage.
The couple, who are passionate about the outdoors, spent £600,000 building the home after the keen runners spotted the land was for sale on one of their daily jaunts.
The Newhouse in Ayrshire, Scotland cost £600,000 for retired GP Mike Law and his wife Sally to build on old farmland
The building has blue standing seam zinc cladding and features shuttered to windows to give the property a farmhouse feel
It stands in the middle of the countryside which the outdoorsy couple loved after they spotted the land was up for sale with just an old bungalow occupying it
Mike said: ‘A phrase our architect once used was ”Your house will stand like a sculpture in the landscape.” I think that’s pretty true.’
The farmhouse style of the building is functional as well as striking, with the barn doors bolting shut during stormy Scottish weather to act as windbreakers.
The couple also said they liked that the interior was spacious enough for their children and grandchildren to visit, while also providing them with flexibility as they get older and less mobile.
The couple said their architect wanted their home to look like a ‘sculpture in the landscape’
They wanted the interior to spacious enough so their large family could visit, while also leaving them enough room for their retirement
COB CORNER
Architect David Shepherd and his GP wife Sally modernised an old cattle barn to create their dream home in Devon.
David remembered the old barn from time spent in the area in his childhood, so wanted to maintain aspects of the building that held a special place in his heart.
He said: ‘I used to play not far from here and it’s still the same as when I was a child of seven. It hasn’t really changed much and I think that has a great influence on me being an architect.’
The couple retained the shuttered exterior of the barn to keep the style of the property traditional, and used traditional methods to refurbish the rest, adding all the benefits of a modern home.
The Cob Corner house in Devon is a converted barn that architect David Shepherd and his GP wife Sally wanted to refurbish
The property took the couple some 14 years to complete and included work like excavating old cow dung from the old barn
The builder used the cobbing method to repair the crumbling building, which involves using subsoil, water and fibrous organic material to create walls.
They kept some of the interior walls untouched – even leaving behind marks that cows had made with their tongues while they were feeding in the barn.
It took 14 years to refurbish the old barn, not to mention significant financial outlay, including £11,000 to install the £250 timber shutters on the windows alone.
David did much of the work himself, including excavating layers of old cow dung to lay down the flooring during the arduous refurbishment process.
David had played by the barn as a young child and wanted to keep it like how he remembered it as a boy
The architect has his own studio in the luxurious building, which he used traditional methods like cobbing to complete
The couple even kept the original walls that were damaged by feeding cows to keep its old barn feel
Grand Designs: House of the Year airs Tuesdays on Channel 4 at 9pm