A RIBA-award-winning Georgian farmhouse beautifully restored for modern life
'It is not so surprising that you end up with the best house when you work with the best architect,’ says David Clifford. He and Jenny, his wife, have served lunch for the three of us and we are chatting about their home in Gloucestershire, which a few months earlier had been named RIBA House of the Year 2021.
When the couple bought the late-Georgian farmhouse over 10 years ago, the estate agent’s listing rather grandly described it as ‘a very distinguished country residence... reputed to be the highest occupied domestic property in Gloucestershire’. Once upon a time, it would have been a handsome four-bedroom house but, in more recent years, it had been vandalised by layers of render and an odd single-storey extension tacked on to its western flank. It presented one of those classic opportunities for the right people to buy it and bring it back to its former glory – a nice little project for two retirees perhaps.
And that might have been what happened, had David (a former ad man) and Jenny (a retired psychotherapist) not come along with their three Somali cats, Thelma, Louise and Blue, and their handsome poodle Omar. Because their ambitions far exceeded what anyone, including the local planning office, thought could be done on this seven-acre site, high on a hill, overlooking the Wye Valley.
It was the architect Alison Brooks whom David and Jenny brought on board to help them realise their plans for the house. The couple had spoken to a handful of other practices, but they were won over – according to David – by ‘how clever, calm, impeccable and brilliant’ Alison was. It cannot have hurt that, around this time, she was picking up some of the most significant accolades of her career: the RIBA Stephen Lawrence Prize (Wrap House, 2006); RIBA Manser Medal (Salt House, 2007); and RIBA Stirling Prize (Accordia housing project, 2008). ‘Our view was that Alison knew what to do and we’d better listen to what she said,’ David says. ‘It was very simple.’
Fast forwarding through the early years of the decade long project, the farmhouse was restored, waterproofed and insulated; the render and extension removed. The interior of the main house was reimagined, with part of its east wing opened up to create a three-level gallery space: a repository for some of David’s collection of ethnographic art, which he has been acquiring since the Seventies.
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It is in this space where we see the first hints of one of the defining features of Alison’s design – and an idea that she has been developing for many years. You could describe it as an aversion – almost an allergy – to right angles. The opening she created between the ground and first floor, for example, is a trapezoidal space, splaying slightly open towards the fireplace. By working with angles a few degrees on either side of 90°, she explains, ‘walls become directional, the space can either open up or focus in. In the farmhouse, there is a gradual loosening of the architectural language, which kind of explodes in the west wing.’ Think of it as a controlled explosion, however. While the architecture challenges a number of perceptions of what rooms should look like, it is not a challenging space to encounter. Quite the opposite.
This new, two-storey west wing covers over 300 square metres and is set further back on the house than the extension it replaced. ‘I wanted it to defer to the farmhouse, because there is something noble about it with its symmetry, its mass and the stone used,’ Alison says. ‘And it was important for the new structure to look different, rather than trying to blend in.’ Clad in black cement fibre board and accessed by a gentle ramp down from the farmhouse, the west wing is the new heart of the house.
David and Jenny are great cooks and hosts, so a large kitchen and dining room was designed, spanning the full depth of the structure. Its walls are angled inwards at different degrees, gently drawing you towards a sitting room, which ends in a glass wall that overlooks the garden. The angles of the walls nudge you along the building in a slightly indirect, off-kilter way. Alison is inviting us to think of rooms that are more than static, cellular boxes.
Her geometric sleights of hand have also been used to direct the owners’ attention to the views of the landscape. In the kitchen, you look out onto fields from the sink, while from the island you see across the Wye Valley – as far as the new Severn Bridge on a clear day. ‘It’s a place with panoramic views,’ Alison observes. ‘When you stand there, you feel in the context of the landscape.’ Look up and there is a trapezoidal opening to a light-filled mezzanine. As with its counterpart in the farmhouse, its banisters are made from glass, so as not to block internal views.
Few collectors are fortunate enough to live in a house that has been designed with the artworks in mind. And David’s art collection is a dominant feature throughout. It was something that Alison had to consider from the outset of the project – far more than simply making sure there was enough wall space. ‘Small objects can be difficult to design for,’ she says. ‘They can easily end up cluttered onto shelves and not be appreciated.’ One of the most pleasing details in the kitchen area is how the structure of the staircase was designed as a shelving system, which is now populated by 50 of David’s smaller treasures.
‘I could see at the beginning of the commission that this was going to be a major project in the tradition of the English country house,’ Alison says. ‘Of course, it is nowhere near the scale of the grand country houses, but it continues that tradition of an architect working with a client over a long period, and then working on the surroundings to create a total project of architecture, furniture, art and landscape all coming together. That is such a rare thing.’
Alison describes David and Jenny as patrons of the arts: ‘They were brave to decide that, in their later life, they were going to move to the country permanently and commission a major piece of architectural work.’
Alison Brooks Architects: alisonbrooksarchitects.com
Michael Sinclair1/16The house faces south towards the Wye Valley and the Bristol Channel. When the owners bought the property in 2007, the façade was covered with cream render and there was an odd extension on its western side. Now, after an extensive 10-year project, the handsome sandstone house is revealed – complemented by woodwork painted in an elegant mid-grey (RAL ‘7021’) – and the original extension replaced by a striking two-storey wing.
Michael Sinclair2/16The original farmhouse was opened up to house part of the owner’s collection of ethnographic art.
Michael Sinclair3/16An Eames lounge chair and footstool are positioned beside a carpet bought at Chiswick Auctions.
Michael Sinclair4/16A polished concrete ramp leads from the main house into the kitchen-dining area of the extension.
Michael Sinclair5/16Cherner stools in walnut partner the island. The wooden bull – a representation of the Hindu god Shiva’s vahana or vehicle – is from India.
Michael Sinclair6/16Cherner chairs surround the Bruno Fattorini ‘LIM 3.0’ table from Viaduct.
Michael Sinclair7/16Two ‘Soft Dream’ Flexform sofas are arranged round a ‘LIM 3.0’ coffee table on a rug owner Jenny Clifford inherited from her grandfather. The ‘Arco’ lamp, a Sixties design by Achille Castiglioni, was bought at John Lewis. Above the log store are shields from New Guinea, sourced via Australian dealer Chris Boylan. Second from the left is one depicting faces derived from American comic strip, The Phantom. First published in the Thirties, it was popular in New Guinea in the Seventies and the eponymous Phantom became a symbol of strength for local warriors.
Michael Sinclair8/16A pair of angels from a Catholic church in India stand sentry on the first-floor walkway above the kitchen.
Michael Sinclair9/16Tribal art is displayed in an upstairs gallery.
Michael Sinclair10/16Grey porcelain tiles complement a walnut vanity.
Michael Sinclair11/16With a ceiling in Douglas fir, this garden room is a fitting backdrop for more of David’s collection, including 15th-century doors from a Rajasthani hunting lodge.
Michael Sinclair12/16A chair by Thomas Chippendale, the younger, frames a view of an upstairs terrace with ‘Breeze’ seating from Skandium.
Michael Sinclair13/16A sea of white astrantia provides a pleasing contrast with black cement fibre board from Eternit that has been used to clad the new building.
Michael Sinclair14/16Blue the Somali cat sits on the limestone path between lime-green euphorbia and a bed of lavender.
Michael Sinclair15/16Fargesia murielae ‘Bimbo’ dwarf bamboo and Hakonechloa macra Japanese grass create a soft backdrop for the pool, which is lined with a dark grey carbon fibre/ceramic mixture that retains the heat.
Michael Sinclair16/16The delicate leaves of Borinda papyrifera, a rare bamboo, are reflected in a stainless-steel cladding panel
