Despite the risks associated with buying a dated bungalow in the South Downs National Park over 200 miles away from his home, Philip Westcott was prepared to take the chance thanks to the advice of his building-savvy son

TEXT Jayne Dowle IMAGES Rich Chivers

Searching high and low for a plot to build a house where he could be closer to his grandchildren and his beloved sailing boat in Chichester harbour, Philip Westcott had almost given up on his dream. 

After 12 months looking, and scouring the property portals yet again, he finally spotted the perfect plot, nestled in a commanding position just south of the pretty Surrey town of Haslemere in the South Downs National Park.

The problem was, the plot contained a 1960s bungalow well past its prime. As a legal professional Philip admits it took a calculated risk to go ahead and buy, given National Park planning rules might prevent him from building the contemporary home he wished for.

Philip, a semi-retired lawyer practising as one of only around 800 Notaries Public in the UK – specialist practitioners who can draw up deeds and act as intermediaries – and his son Jeremy (director of his own Portsmouth-based construction company, Westcott Construction), were intrigued by the possibilities the fifth of an acre plot offered. 

“I admit I was a bit doubtful at first, because of what it was,” says Philip. “It hadn’t had much done to it for years, the owner had lived there alone after his wife had died. I couldn’t quite see how it could deliver the modern, low-maintenance house I had in mind.”

However, he was impressed by property conversions Jeremy had completed in the past – “in fact I was amazed at the transformations” – so he did feel confident to step forward and see what was possible. 

Now, five years after Philip signed on the dotted line and completed contracts, clad in fashionable Russwood cedar cladding stained grey, with brickwork painted in Dulux Masonry paint mixed to basalt grey (RAL 7012) to match, this new version of Farfield House is totally unrecognisable from what stood here before. 

Jeremy recommended architect Paul Cashin, who has a practice in Winchester and had worked on many projects in the South Downs. As soon as Philip met Paul he was convinced that he was the man for the job, and went ahead and purchased the bungalow in May 2019 for £670,000.

This was a big leap of faith. Philip would be relocating more than 200 miles from his previous home in Market Rasen, Lincolnshire, where he had lived for 25 years, renting nearby whilst his new home was built. 

“In addition to the fact my son had recommended him, at a very early stage, Paul met with me at the property,” Philip recalls. “It was a bright sunny day. We stood on the back lawn as it then was, and as we chatted through, he asked me what it was I wanted and he came up with a design.” It was this early understanding and enthusiasm that impressed Paul’s putative client and got him the job. 

Philip admits that everything he now knows about sustainable building methods (in particular, retaining as much of an original structure as possible to keep the carbon footprint low) he’s learned during this build. However he says it was always his aim not to “knock the whole thing down and start again.”

Paul proposed a house over two storeys that would retain the original bungalow, adding an extra storey to include an open-plan kitchen/dining/living room leading onto a terrace to maximise the surrounding views of the Downs, and so Philip could enjoy the trees which encircle the property. The new house would be in the form of two blocks – the existing one-storey building and a new, two-storey extension using the ground floor of the bungalow, connected by a glass hallway, echoing the entrance that existed before the remodel. There is a third block for a stand-alone garage. 

The major challenge was pulling off such a contemporary design in a National Park. “We had a difficult planning stage,” architect Paul admits. The house is on a private, no-through road of substantial properties set in relatively large plots. “Quiet, without being isolated,” Philip says. Planners were keen not to interrupt the established look and feel of the area.

The initial design had to be changed by moving the new extension with its upper storey to the back of the plot to reduce the visual impact facing the road. Paul negotiated this through pre-application engagement with local planning officers at Chichester District Council, working also with the South Downs National Park Authority. “This required a good relationship with the planning officers, a few site visits, and ultimately a minor compromise that did not reduce the project scope or ambition,” Paul says. His approach was to explain things using a series of storyboards, as this “enables people to grab the ideas simply.”

Surprisingly, external treatments were not subject to tight planning strictures, other than that materials used externally should appear natural.

As much of the existing house as possible was reused; this impressed the planners, kept expenditure down to a build cost of £450,000, and meant the overall build was indeed as sustainable as possible. The extension is designed to rise above the original masonry walls on a timber frame, with steel columns to support the weight.

One big plus was that the bungalow and its garage had what is known as a gabled ‘cut roof,’ having been built on site rather than shipped in prefabricated sections when the bungalow was built. This meant it could be easily dismantled tile by tile and replaced with a striking modern flat roof that is insulated heavily with Celotex PIR rigid board insulation. This was important to keep the house energy-efficient; it was not possible to add further insulation inside the existing cavity walls. Placing insulation between the beams, and an extra layer underneath the roof itself, provided an effective solution in terms of cost and labour – as opposed to adding internal or external wall insulation.

To ensure optimum energy efficiency, all the windows were replaced with composite-framed timber and aluminium double-glazing. A gas boiler powers radiators at ground level with wet underfloor heating on the first floor, with a Saltfire ST3 7.3 kWh woodburner in the 34 square metre living room.

In the single storey part, the house retains the original U-shape of the bungalow. The porch, with a bay each containing a bedroom either side, is glazed with a slatted timber screen for privacy. It opens into the hall, with four bedrooms (the fourth is also used by Philip as a study, and two are ensuite), plus a family bathroom leading off. 

Up the staircase, which features a sleek handrail recessed in the wall, is a living room and open-plan kitchen/dining room which feature exposed beams to add interest and texture to the ceiling, and a rooflight over the dining table. This area opens through glass doors onto the balustraded first-floor terrace, which in turn features a reinforced glass panel to flood light into the hallway below. In total, the living space is now 176 sqm; the ground floor is 126 sqm with 50 sqm added on the first floor. 

“The garden was also a product of its time,” says Philip. “It had clearly been someone’s passion, but by the time of my purchase was clearly overgrown and would need to be remodelled to fit in with the remodelling of the house.” To achieve this – and to keep outdoor areas low-maintenance – areas were laid to gravel with stone paths.

After living in his previous home for a quarter of a century, Philip had grown quite unaccustomed to making major interior design decisions. However, he knew he wanted a simple, uncluttered and Scandinavian-inspired look for his new home, so took advice from Paul and Jeremy. Engineered American White Ash flooring throughout and the soft tones of birch – the kitchen units, IKEA’s METOD range in Light Ash, with a hardwearing melamine surface – and pewter work surfaces help to create a natural laid-back feel to this contemporary home surrounded by greenery on all sides.

To minimise the effects of solar gain in warmer months a brise soleil was added over the large, south-facing windows and doors in the kitchen/dining/living area. However, Philip says his blinds do a better job of keeping out strong sunlight and heat at the height of summer: “Architecturally, brise soleil is attractive, but from a practical view it’s limited. Once I’d put internal blinds into the kitchen/dining room it was much more effective. I’m very glad that I had a blind box built in as this has given me the option to have the blinds hung seamlessly. It’s much harder to add them afterwards.”

At 74, Philip, who lives alone, is fit and active, enjoying not just sailing – he loves the fact that the journey “from house to boat” in Chichester is about 45 minutes – but also cycling and walking. 

He admits that this project was always intended to become his “retirement” home, but did he consider any future-proofing measures to ensure that he can still live alone as the years advance?

“Not especially,” he admits. “One of my friends suggested to me in the design stage that I put a lift in. I declined that. I’m a reasonably positive kind of person, and hopefully have many years ahead of me mentally and physically able. I don’t think about such things really, but heaven forbid a stairlift!”

Paul and his team prepared detailed plans for the build at the outset. The whole project was managed by Jeremy. 

The build began in early 2020. “It was just at the outset of the pandemic, which was a terrible time to start,” says Philip. “There were restrictions on movement, it was difficult to get materials, it took much longer than anticipated – even with my son in charge – and I finally moved in in November 2022.” 

During the build, Philip rented a historic converted granary about 20 minutes’ drive from his new home, so he could easily keep a check on site progress. Although the granary itself was “quite small, quite dark” a major plus point was that it came with a large detached garage. He was able to store securely all the furniture and household items he had shipped down from Lincolnshire. The sale of his previous home funded his new-build.

Philip not living onsite meant that the build went as smoothly as possible, despite the delays caused by the pandemic, says Paul: “If the contractor has free rein of the building the project will go quicker, it definitely helps as the scheme of work does not have to take their needs into account.”

When Philip is at home –  and he says he still gets “a great sense of joy returning to the house” – the rooms are definitely full of people now. Jeremy and his family live close by and Philip’s other son, Ben, is in Wales and between them they have five children aged from six to 11. “The layout of the house is perfect both for one-off lunches with the family and longer stays,” Philip explains. “Very often we will have Christmas together, and that’s certainly a challenge, with the sheer number of grandchildren running around.”

Yet it’s a house that works when it’s also just Philip relaxing or working at home. His favourite spot is the kitchen/dining area, with its ever-changing views over his neighbour’s paddock, towards Blackdown: “Despite having a self-contained study, I spent a lot of time there as it’s a great place to be at all times especially during daylight hours summer or winter.”

Philip’s house is so calm and peaceful – most of the time – he’s almost forgotten the trepidation he set out with. “I could see that with some clever work we could transform a tired old bungalow into a minimal low energy, contemporary home that would suit me and my wider family,” he says. 

Philip concludes: “The completed project has transformed a tired and dated 1960s bungalow into an inviting piece of modern architecture that – at first glance – appears to be a bespoke new-build house.”