Talland Bay Home, Cornwall

Just a few minutes walk from Talland Bay and the cafe, the new home absorbs the beautiful light and feels like a beachside home.

Internally, this is a simple but very effective open plan layout, giving flexible space for a family with young children and making the downstairs area feel more spacious.

The split staircase is a clever use of space, maximising floor space on the lower floor and allowing light to flood between the open treads.

Built within an area of outstanding beauty (preventing a two-storey build), a steeply pitched one and a half story design was the answer and it has created plenty of usable space.

The design takes in the natural contours and views and maximises the passive solar gain in energy-efficient construction.

A specially constructed timber frame allowed all of the idiosyncrasies of the site to be taken into consideration, with the clients feeling that ‘an oak framed construction was an obvious choice for the site.’

The green oak frame constructed in the Devon workshops consists of a wide, three-bay, one and a half storey core with a single storey two bay barn room wing forming the living room. A fully glazed lean-to conservatory completes this spacious yet compact green oak house.

‘I wanted the house to feel as if it had always been there.  We didn’t want a look that was too ‘cottagey’ and twee or one that was overly modern… we designed it for us and the way we live’ – Jo Robinson

The south-facing property makes best use of the sun, there is underfloor heating and insulation made from recycled hemp and cotton. It took our highly skilled team of carpenters just five days to raise the frame – often the highlight of our clients self build projects.