Dorset Family Home

A stunning Arts & Crafts home in Dorset, reimagined with genuine love.

A considered, hand-in-hand approach to creating the perfect family home.

Four years ago, while the world hunkered down in various states of lockdown, our clients completed the purchase of a charming Arts & Crafts house in Dorset. The views overlooking Lyme Regis and the generous plot were the bedrock of their plans to refurbish, extend and add to this quintessential English home. As is our natural way of working, we got to know the clients before we put pencil to pad. We also teamed up with their architect, VESP, an award winning studio based in South Devon. Planning permission secured, we designed the new bathrooms and kitchen in the space created by the architects’ new central hub area that blends seamlessly with the original house.

We loved the atmosphere of the old home and retained that essential ‘feeling’ when extensively remodelling and rewiring the building. Overseeing all building work, we also specified the materials used, so that when completed, the home still has a very similar vibe to when the clients first found it. Lighting is deliberately low key, while décor and finishings are effortlessly unfussy so that little distracts from the exterior architecture and the unspoilt views across the rolling Dorset countryside. Natural stone surfaces connect with that landscape, providing variations of tactility throughout the kitchen and bathroom areas, while broad boarded and herringbone parquet floors define rooms as well as moods.

The main four-bedroom house was completed last year, followed in 2024 by a one- bedroom guest house, pool house and recommissioned natural pool. There’s another cottage in the grounds – a three bedroom jewel – whose refurbishment will be completed by year end.

The past four years have seen the gradual emergence of a breathtakingly beautiful family house, one that the clients now love so much that they are selling their London home and relocating to the south coast, keeping a pied-à-terre in the capital for when work demands their presence. When the project ends, we will miss our regular trips to Dorset, liaising with the brilliant building team, catching up with our clients and immersing ourselves in the stunning Dorset countryside.

Photography: Natalie Dinham
Architect: VESP architects