History

Granted by the UK Government in 1927 to a surviving veteran of the First World War, Everdene has had a colourful history since then, playing host in turn to a school bus service, a mink farm and even an orthodontist business.

Tony and Emma Cooke purchased the property on 28th January 2015, at which point there was a wooden-clad, timber-framed kit chalet bungalow on site that, reputedly, had been purchased ‘as seen’ from the Ideal Home Exhibition in London in 1927 and turned up here on a flat bed lorry!

The chalet bungalow had somehow survived well beyond its intended lifespan, but sat on this amazing plot of land surrounded by open countryside, with no immediate neighbours and uninterrupted views for miles across the Blackmore Vale.

They immediately saw its potential and began to develop a vision for an Arts and Crafts house for the 21st Century that respected its surroundings, paid tribute to the honesty and tradition of craftsmanship and responded intelligently to the contemporary challenge of living sustainably.

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Originally called Fernside, the name was changed to Everdene in honour of the majestic landscapes of Hardy’s Wessex and of Bathsheba Everdene, the lead character of Thomas Hardy’s Far From The Madding Crowd, whose personality Tony and Emma sought to inject into the soul of this place - resilience, beauty and a free spirit.

Their architect, Nick Wordie, a partner at award-winning RIBA practice Roderick James Architects LLP, immediately embraced their vision and, together, they came up with a design philosophy that would guide the design of the replacement dwelling.

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#1 Anchor & Blend

It’s an incredibly rare thing these days to find a plot in open countryside with uninterrupted views of a totally unspoilt landscape. Surrounded by nature, it was incredibly important to create a house that not only felt anchored in its surroundings, but that blended with them through extensive use of natural and local materials.

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#2 Work with Nature

The design was guided by maximising the use of natural features of the plot, including aspect and orientation, how the sun tracked through the day, where the tree cover (i.e. shade) would be. As a result, the house has extensive glazing on its east and south elevations to maximise ‘passive solar gain’, has ‘thermal mass’ on the south elevation to capture and store heat from the sun, and is positioned carefully to use the summer shade of the deciduous trees on the southern boundary to reduce overheating of glass.

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#3 Sustainable

At Everdene, the Cookes wanted to take a ‘fabric first’ approach to a sustainable home, inspired by Passivhaus design principles, in order to minimise the energy demand of the house by creating an airtight, super-insulated building. Their approach to sustainability also included trying to minimise material waste (almost all offcuts have been re-used somewhere), recycling materials from the old house, and extensive use of benign natural materials, sourced locally wherever possible.

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#4 Unpretentious

Consistent with our vision for a contemporary Arts & Crafts house, the Cookes wanted Everdene to be guided by a simple, honest design vocabulary, blending ancient building methods (such as oak-framing) with low-key, uncomplicated modern solutions (such as a Mechanical Ventilation & Heat Recovery system, and efficient wood burners).

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#5 Modern Vernacular

Everdene is designed to echo the massing and silhouette of a traditional farmyard, with a main house and a number of subordinate outbuildings forming a yard. The choice of local, natural materials closely mirrors those used in nearby buildings, but the detailing seeks to create a new design vocabulary appropriate for the blend of ancient building techniques and cutting edge technologies.

#6 Enduring Legacy

Some of the oldest surviving buildings in the world are oak-framed, in some cases over 1,000 years old. By using an oak frame, the Cookes intended to create a set of buildings that will significantly outlast their lifetimes and leave a legacy for future generations. This informed every decision and choice that was make during design and build.