Some homes come with a bonus annexe handy for multi-generational living, renting out, or using as a holiday let, subject to the relevant permissions. Some are attached to the main home and some are totally separate, but how many can boast a fantastic underground corridor as the main way to get from one home to the other?
But this designer house dating back from the 1970s is a very special dream home, even viewed without its wonderful annexe - it easily ticks the location, history and unique design boxes.
The home is just one of 12 similar yet uniquely designed houses hiding in a leafy part of Dinas Powys, Vale of Glamorgan, known as Merevale. Such is the unique style and design of this award-winning dream dozen, the scheme by architects Hird & Brooks is seen as a landmark location in the region.
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Graham Brooks is generally credited for bringing Danish design aesthetics to south Wales in the 1960s and his outstanding work was recognised in 2002 by a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Royal Society of Architects in Wales.
Brooks only passed away in March 2020 aged 92 and his obituary in the Architects Journal by Richard Weston, professor of architecture at Cardiff University, explains some of the unique features this ground-breaking architect brought to his designs and to Merevale.
Richard Weston states that Brooks had an obsession with the orientation of the sun as a key objective of house design, and how Danish housing followed this principle. Along with Merevale, Brooks' previous Civic Trust Award-winning development of Elm Grove, which can also be found in Dinas Powys, showcases his distinctive designs.
Weston describes many of the homes featuring open-plan frames, projecting walls, white-painted and exposed brick walls and flat roofs supported by an exposed timber structure. This makes Dinas Powys, as well as a village surrounded by pretty countryside but close to the coast and easily commutable to Cardiff, a hot spot for distinctive architecture that is significantly attributed to the genius of Brooks.
Richard Weston says: "With its (Merevale) completion, it is surely fair to say that few places in Britain can offer a more instructive series of private housing designs of the period than the village of Dinas Powys."
But the original architects cannot be showered in praise for the unique two-bed annexe, nestled within the garden landscape and offering a mini, glass-fronted version of the main house behind it, which was added in 2016 and replaced a swimming pool and gym. The main house is an open-plan dream, with the focus always on the views across the rooftops of the leafy and popular village to the fields to the horizon, and even glimpses of the Bristol Channel on a clear day.
The home's elevated position, on a gentle slope, has dictated the design of the main house and the annexe, with the plot being optimised for its potential and turning what some people might consider a negative - a gentle slope - into a positive.
The main house has all its sleeping accommodation on the lower ground floor, leaving the elevated upper floor to bathe in the beautiful, panoramic view from the floor-to-ceiling sliding glass doors and picture windows that run the length of one side of the house.
From this balcony there is a set of stairs to the garden below, so this upper floor is not stranded by its height - the garden is still easily accessible thanks to the addition of these steps.
Fling the doors open and the inside/outside connection onto the balcony can be enjoyed from the length of the house via an amazing wrap-around balcony that not only offers views but also multiple places to park yourself directly from the kitchen and the lounge. But as the balcony turns the corner it expands into a large, elevated terrace perfect for brunch gatherings and evening meals watching the sunset.
The four bedrooms may be tucked beneath the living zone on the upper floor but they have picture windows and glass doors with views of the garden, and the stunning master suite has its own bi-fold doors out onto a sunken, sunny terrace that feels private and peaceful and yet can enjoy the panoramic view too.
The upper floor has a dining room at the rear that flows via a broken-plan layout seamlessly into the substantial kitchen breakfast room that can also offer a more intimate seating area at one end. Such is the size of this remarkable home, the dining room can also offer another area to chill out and relax on squishy sofas.
But the main relaxing room is the lounge, next to the kitchen, and with the bonus of direct bi-fold door access to the raised terrace. This is yet another room bathed in light and views from the sensational and abundant use of glass.
The room features some of the home's original design that can be found throughout the house, from the black feature beams to exposed bricks, from the built-in alcoves to glass and natural materials evident throughout.
But it's the original 1970s structure of the house that is the elegant backdrop for the home's modern and tasteful interior design. The use of visually intriguing angles, the open-plan spaces that effortlessly flow through the floorplan, and the constant emphasis on light all prove that clever structural design is timeless, and still gorgeous and relevant decades after the original design - and will be for decades to come.
The home has, according to the estate agent, had a recent top-to-bottom refurbishment to create a high-end yet inviting and comfortable abode that has not only restored the original structural features, but ensures they are embedded as the home's special gems within the new version of this 1970s dream designer home.
The more recent design on this plot can compete for clever ideas, seamless connections and oodles of light, but you will have to find it first. From the central hallway of the main house there's an intriguing staircase that leads down to a corridor.
Descending these stairs you have little idea that the short corridor leads to an annexe because such is the amazing design here that its existence is not obvious from the upper, main house.
From the balcony of the house, the lounge terrace and even from every view-facing window you can see a very inviting garden terrace and pergola but that's it - no hint of the hidden annexe nestled into the garden below - there's a section of the roof just peeking up at the end of the area, but it's not obvious it is part of a spacious two-bed annexe waiting to be discovered.
The pergola area actually sits on top of the annexe and below it, if it had a glass floor, you would see a smaller but just as luxurious version of the main house.
The annexe is a 'mini me' version of its parent abode above it, so there is a wall of full-length glass windows and doors looking out to the view and opening up onto this home's own private terrace.
The annexe has its own front door and it's a whopping double door, with windows either side that open into a spacious living area, so the internal corridor is the bonus connection from house to annexe. But anyone lucky enough to call this recent addition their home has their own front door key and the driveway even extends down the garden to get you there.
Inside the annexe is like stepping into a glamorous island of tranquillity, with the high-end interior design first established inside its bigger neighbour sweeping through the rooms of this lovely home too.
The front door opens straight into a spacious open-plan space that is probably more accurately described as broken-plan, with a large central section of wall separating the kitchen diner from the lounge, but also allowing easy flow either side via floor-to-ceiling openings.
The main house can boast a utility and so can the annexe, the main house can offer a home office study and so can the annexe if two bedrooms were not needed. One of the slumber spaces could either be turned into an office, or have a dual function of work and sleep, and what a special spot it would be to hit those work deadlines - hidden away at the end of the garden with only the coolest of underground corridors to internally connect you to the world above.
This gorgeous dream home is for sale for £1,850,000 with joint agents, Burnett Davies with Easton on 029 2051 2222 and with Watts & Morgan, Penarth on 029 2071 2266 - call either to find out more. And don't miss the best dream homes in Wales, renovation stories and interiors, join the Amazing Welsh Homes newsletter, sent to your inbox twice a week.
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