Gough
“We are lucky to have the most wonderful, fantastic location, and we wanted a house that we thought was equally wonderful and fantastic.”
Celia and Howard Gough‘s 2735sq ft Deck House in Lyme Regis, Dorset.
For many years, Celia Gough was drawn to the idea of converting a barn but it was the double-height aesthetic and the flexibility of such a space, rather than its rustic charm, that had captured her imagination.
Celia and Howard brought their 1/3 acre site in 1998 for £185K and demolished the existing bungalow, after obtaining planning permission for their Deck House in February 2004. Says Howard: “We are lucky to have the most wonderful, fantastic location, and we wanted a house that we thought was equally wonderful and fantastic.”
The couple were constrained, however, by a planning requirement for the replacement house to sit within the existing footprint of the demolished structure. The Deck House architect’s solution was to cut the house into the hill to increase the height of the interior. This enabled the creation of a stunning minstrels gallery overlooking the main living area and leading off towards the four upstairs bedrooms. “We’ve also made some little lofts for storage and for small people to creep into by ladder to have fun.”
“The kit turned up in June that year in five 40 ft containers and was decanted with cranes,” explains Celia. “It went up very quickly, the walls were ready to receive the roof in just 15 days or so.”
The double-glazed, argon-filled window units have an aluminium exterior with wood within, and were designed to be as maintenance free as possible given the site’s exposure to South-Westerly gales.
“Deck House has given us marvellous double-height windows allowing you to soak up the wonderful view across a National Trust field full of sheep towards the Jurassic Coast of Lyme Bay.”