On arriving in Poole, Tom and his wife Frankie ( with 2 young sons and a Labrador) bought an unpromising house on a small site in the heart of Canford Cliffs. The house was built in the early 1960s and had been the home of a heavy smoker so the first challenge was to strip out the internal finishes and redecorate just to make the house habitable.

Although the garden was small this was offset by the proximity of a glorious beach 3 minutes walk away down a wooded chine. The challenge was to create a home that maximised the amount of garden space while providing enough space for the family and regular guests, as well as cars, boats, surfboards and other paraphernalia associated with living next to the ocean.

Rather than demolish and rebuild it was decided that the most responsible approach was to reuse as much of the existing dwelling as possible, extend up 1 floor, and modify the rest of the house to create a light and open space suitable for family life. The existing garage that once took up half of the rear garden was relocated to the northern edge of the site and sunk down into the ground by 0.5m to avoid negatively impacting on the neighbouring property.

Frankie is a skilled gardener so it was vitally important to consider the whole site as a single design exercise, integrating the external and external spaces seamlessly. The front garden, although small faces west so a raised terrace and pond was built off the living room, incorporating reeds, grasses and a recently a glorious Gleditsia, not to mention the beautiful fig tree and many other rare plants rescued from an adjacent developers digger. This arrangement provides ample privacy but still allows the afternoon sun to stream in with the light bouncing off the pond onto the ceiling.

Similarly privacy is achieved on the first floor by a planted balcony and the master bedroom on the top floor is protected by a large simply planted roof terrace. Glass pergolas and railings give support to Wisteria and Jasmine without blocking light.