Living in a house that has been carefully designed and thought through is an interesting experience. Most houses are so standard in design – basically a set of boxes – that it is liberating to be in a structure that throws all the standard conventions literally out of the window and starts from scratch.
Such a house is Anderton House, a family home designed by architect Peter Aldington in the 1970s and lovingly restored by the Landmark Trust (Grade II listed). Here we stayed – my wife Sue, my brother-in-law Rich and his partner Tina for just a weekend in late February 2011. It was not long enough.
The journey to Goodleigh in Devon where the house is located was pretty horrible thanks to road works that meant traffic on the M4 was at a crawl for many miles. As I was only one day into my third chemo cycle on the Friday night when we left I had to leave the latter part of the journey for Sue to drive. Devon always seems just a bit too long away as if the geological forces that created the landscape had purposefully placed this interesting part of the British countryside at an inconvenient distance from London. The journey took over five hours and as,we didn’t leave until past seven in the evening we finally arrived (after many detours trying to follow the directions) at one in the morning.
But if I had felt on the way over that the journey would not be worth it I couldn’t have been more wrong. As soon as we entered the building we started to appreciate the magic of the place.
What is it about Anderton House that is so special? Well it is difficult to put one’s finger on just one aspect, for the house represents a unity of thought and intention.
The under floor heating was a delight creating a space that was warm and inviting particularly on bare feet first thing in the morning. The bathroom and toilets were located in a wonderful circular section of the building and the architectural features meant that one eyes were not tired by dreary vertical and horizontal surfaces but enthralled by diagonal lines created by the roof space and the curved lines of the bathroom ‘pod’. The split level nature of the enormous open plan living space created further visual interest and the large expanse of glass blurred the distinction between the inside and outside of the house in a delightful manner. The roof was designed with glass around its edge which gave the impression that it was floating in the air. The kitchen was surprisingly well appointed and there was plenty of unobtrusive storage space. An unusual feature was the small study area that was built in the middle of the open plan space – a design requirement from the original owners. Frosted glass was cleverly used in the walls that led to the rear bedroom and spot lighting added a gentle and relaxing atmosphere to the house. Period furniture and furnishings added a final touch to the building.
Indeed the house seemed to create a particular sense of calm and repose. This was surely partly to do with the visual interest in the building but also I suspect due to the acoustics. Most of the surfaces were hard leading to quite lively acoustics which tended to make one naturally talk in hushed tones and, being isolated from any noises from outside, the house was remarkable quiet. There was no TV or radio and I certainly felt that either would have been an unwelcome intrusion in that special place.
Peter Aldington has also designed some house in in Buckinghamshire and a famous 1960′s designed garden in Haddenham (see Turn End Garden). If only a small percentage of the quality of thought that has gone into Anderton House has been lavished on these they would clearly be worth a visit.
One of the reasons for visiting Anderton house was to answer the nagging doubt I had in my mind about what it would be like to live in a modern architect designed house. Having visited Anderton House I can happily say that I would love to live in such a building and I have a suspicion that we may well return in the future.
