IH.286
Imagine, if you will, an imaginary historic home that manages to distil every significant name, incident, episode and characteristic into its stone, brick and Elizabethan glass.
Palladian? Of course. The later hand and eye of Edwin Lutyens? Naturally. An otherworldly landscape by Gertrude Jekyll? Did you really need to ask?
Such an example of lore and history is in the Domesday Book. Of course.
Then consider that such a house exists. Within, but somehow apart from, the present day. Somewhere in East Sussex. Exquisitely and appropriately secluded.
The moat is placid, lush and deep. The grounds are a glorious wilderness that give way to immaculately tended glades and dells.
The house, in it’s epic life to date, has never looked better.
Strolling around the gardens and into the calm grace of the house it is easy to drift into a state outside of time.
An almost overwhelming sense of history and myth is in every corner of this extraordinary and beguiling house.
OVER THE YEARS THE KITCHEN OF THIS HISTORIC HOME HAS BEEN SOMETHING OF A SAGA.
The recently completed kitchen episode is, however, a very beautiful conclusion.
A solemn and demanding brief prohibited any material, method or form which hinted at the synthetic, the convenient, the imitation or the mass produced.
These, conditionally, are ideals which inform Inglis Hall anyway. The dialogue continued and soon defined the collaborative dynamic of craft and client.
As trust develops so does reason and even compromise. We learn and refine. We think and we explore.
WE STUDY ARCHITECTURAL THEORY FROM THE DATE THE HOUSE WAS BUILT. WE CONSIDER WHAT IS EXPECTED FROM A KITCHEN IN THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY.
And we constantly adhere to the sacred commitment to avoiding the pastiche or the fake or the gratuitous.
We work with the elements and reinstate a larder and cool store on the North corner of the house where the original stone provides a natural, ancient and extremely efficient refrigeration.
There is, of course, a very contemporary fridge and freezer. Concealed elegantly behind imposing and solid Oak doors which are painstakingly dimensioned, proportioned and crafted to slip into the architectural conversation.
EVERY ITEM OF CAREFULLY CONSIDERED AND CONCEIVED FURNITURE IS CHALK PLASTER LOCKED INTO PLACE TO FURTHER REMOVE THE DIVISION OF HISTORIC AND CONTEMPORARY.
A masterclass in solid Oak pegged joints. The gracious charm of soft curtain to conceal instead of doors.
We are delighted, honoured and more than a little proud to add our name to the illustrious roll call of this great building.
Significant heritage. A fascinating history. An exquisite home.