A Contemporary Coastal Cottage, Rupture & Repair
Perched on England’s Jurassic Coast, this is one extraordinary home with an even more extraordinary story. A house that a year into its renovation, collapsed and had to be rebuilt. Owners so sensitive to its history, no corner was cut despite a three year journey. Local craftspeople shaped and honed stone and timber to recreate this now modern coastal cottage, offering Inglis Hall a wonderful whole house opportunity.
Kitchen, boot room, sunken wine cellar and plush bedrooms. All masterfully crafted, designed for modern living. Country kitchen reinvigorated. A boot room reimagined. A cellar etched into rock. Decadent, luxurious bedrooms, band-sawn and clad as a new entrance to Narnia.
What would you do if your beloved three hundred year old house fell down? Dig deep. Pull together a team of sympathetic artists and artisans. Work tirelessly to rebuild a replacement worthy of the original footprint in one of the most ravishingly beautiful spots on this ever-crumbling coastline. Exposed, yet shielded by the bay. There is no choice but to invite the outside in and make it a welcome guest. It’s coming anyway.
We were privileged to be the connective thread. Our work weaves through the house.
Band-sawn from felled oaks – quite possibly contemporary in age to that fallen building - offer a soothing hand. Helping to heal the wounds. Every material. Every detail. A sensitive reaction. Architectural therapy. Soulful healing.
Texture is everything. The calm kitchen. Grain. Both raw and blackened oak. Smooth stone and patinated brass. Natural bedfellows.
Lived in. Lived with. Lived alongside. Real materials. A continuous evolution. As we always say, materials that improve with age. Wear. Erosion.
Beyond cabinetry; items from our product series supply layers of quality. Interior strata. From stools on tumbled stone floors to our own solid brass Parlour light, produced in collaboration with Fritz Fryer. Pieces born from years of searching for the right balance of proportion and material simplicity.
As you descend the stairs the atmosphere changes completely. As the temperature drops, a luxurious wine cellar revealed, deep in the cooling rock. Where am I? The delicate sounds of Chet Baker through the speakers. A pocket-sized private members bar perhaps? Richlite cabinetry and soapstone. Reeded glass slides to reveal.
A room to get lost in. To emerge from, when day has become night back in the world above.
We should mention the entrance - or rather, entrances. There are two after all. A luxury, perhaps. But one that makes perfect sense. One is kept as the pristine welcome. The other, informal. Gusty winds, muddy boots, salty dogs. Separated by Nordic-inspired glazed steel doors by Metalform, mirrored in the speakeasy below. Another gentle touch of exquisite design.
Climbing now. Up the sculpted helix-stone staircase, there’s even more to discover. Full-height oak clad wardrobes wrap the bedroom. A concealed entrance to the ensuite beyond. A touch of pampering.
Further, a hidden walk-through dressing room sits discreetly behind continuous oak panelling, with seamless integrated bathroom storage beyond.
Is there an upside to being forced to start from scratch? Easy for us to say perhaps, but what has been created is a rare, sublime success.
With the chance to rethink. An opportunity not taken lightly. Respectfully. Rupture and repair. Stronger, and dare we say - better than before. Thank you for taking us on this remarkable journey with you.
With much admiration. Inglis Hall.