biggest attraction – the family had plenty of
choices when it came to framing the dominant
view for their house. They decided to create a
reverse level design with a single giant L-shaped
living space on the first floor, where kitchen,
dining room, living room and snug seamlessly
co-habit. There’s also a cloakroom tucked away
behind the kitchen.
There’s also access to a large, glass-enclosed
terrace, accessed from the sliding glass doors in
the kitchen area where a picnic bench resides
with uninterrupted access to those views. This
spot took careful structural planning to endure
the 60 mph+ winds that this exposed stretch of
the Atlantic coast can experience.
Although now paying its way as a holiday let,
the couple were clear it would be designed as
their family home first and foremost. In fact, says
Jeff, the house was rejected by some holiday
letting agencies, who demanded televisions in
every room and ensuites for every bedroom.
“It was never designed as a business – it was
always based around us, but we needed to rent
it out,” he explains. “I don't like it to be empty;
it is quite nice that people get to use it as we
designed it with families like us in mind.”LAYOUT & INTERIORS
A similar family-focused approach was adopted
with the interiors. Each of the children had their
say in the design and decor of their bedrooms –
the stand out feature here has to be the bunk
beds with their own slide.
“We ended up with three planning consents,”
adds Jeff. “Each were a gradual improvementon the original house. We wanted to make the
most of the plot, the outlook, and provide a
comfortable holiday home for a large family.
“We had some local objection to the
planning, but construction has been treated
liberally in Cornwall over the years, so planning
is nowhere near as difficult as it is in London.
We didn’t want to cause overlooking or have
a negative impact on the neighbours or
area – quite the opposite, so in fact all three
applications were approved under delegated
powers.”
The original house was knocked down in 2017
and the new house signed off as complete in
late December 2018. In the months since Egret
View was completed, old houses in the
surrounding area have begun to disappear and
new beach houses have sprung up. And there
are still plenty of opportunities (not least a huge
derelict hotel which sits overlooking Britain’s
surfing capital, Fistral Beach).
The final design of the house opens onto theHIGH POINT Now, the site is
home to a modernist
beach house that
makes the most of
those incredible
views
“The exposed glulam
truss structure in the
lounge area.”
–Jeff & Wendy East
july/august 2019 http://www.sbhonline.co.uk 55