The country house reimagined and built from the earth on which it stands

‘We bought it for the views,’ says the wife. With no heritage listing restrictions to navigate, they were able to remove unwanted structures and reimagine the classic English country house. ‘We were after a higgledy-piggledy home that would feel like part of the landscape,’ says the husband. They wanted it to be inventive and low slung, with strong eco credentials and a nod to local vernaculars.

Jonathan Tuckey, with whom the owners had an instant rapport, was drawn to rammed earth when he visited the Chapel of Reconciliation, built by Austrian pioneer Martin Rauch at the Berlin Wall Memorial several decades ago. ‘It’s a very evocative building and the material struck me deeply,’ he says. But he had not found the right project. ‘A lightbulb moment came when we learned that the house was on the site of an old brickworks, so we knew it was sitting on clay,’ he says. ‘We realised it had the perfect imperfections we were after.’ Most of the buildings were demolished and their materials were crushed to form an aggregate that was mixed with clay, local limestone gravel and water. Where the earth is polished internally, such as on the floors, the brick fragments have a beautiful, terrazzo-like effect that speaks of the site’s past.

A glass and timber pavilion, housing a kitchen and dining area, links the two main rammed-earth volumes. A table by David J Haddock is paired with a bench from 8 Holland Street, on a bespoke rug by Nancy Nicholson.

Ray Main

Still, the project involved a leap of faith for all involved. This was not just Jonathan’s first rammed-earth construction, but actually his first newbuild – he is known for masterfully layering old and new within historic buildings. But, as he puts it, the project was still ‘building on the built’. The new house is knitted within the Victorian walled garden and the foundations of the previous larger house are left visible in the gravel garden. ‘These act as anchors, giving the new building a sense of a longer lifespan,’ he explains.

The owners also had a team they could trust: Todhunter Earle Interiors, which had designed their London home, was on board from the start, as was landscape architect Pip Morrison, who has helped them to regenerate biodiversity across the grounds. Jonathan also tapped specialist Martin Rauch, who advised the builders – locally based firm Stonewood – on the perfect rammed-earth recipe that wouldn’t require the addition cement or lime, which are often used as stabilisers in wet climates but negate the material’s circularity.

‘This is a handmade house,’ says Jonathan, describing how the builders compressed the earth manually in layers inside the formwork, using a ramming tool. The cylindrical stairwell is an artwork in itself, featuring a spiral oak staircase crafted by joiner Robert Lynch. Niches carved into the stairwell’s thick exterior wall reveal its sculptural heft and show off the owners’ extensive art collection, including a horsehair sculpture by 2022 Loewe Foundation Craft Prize winner Dahye Jeong.

Doors concealing a breakfast nook

Ray Main

The breakfast nook

Ray Main

A delicate glass-and-timber kitchen and dining pavilion links the two main rammed-earth volumes, dissecting a walled garden planted to be entirely productive using permaculture principles. Jonathan orientated the structures – loosely resembling a cluster of farm buildings – to track the sun, so that it streams into the bedrooms in the morning and sets in view of the sitting room. ‘The light and shadows are incredible,’ says the wife, recounting how she once cooked dinner by the light of a blood moon. ‘It was an almost mystical experience.’

There are almost no painted walls in the house. Instead, the rammed earth is either exposed – lending a rough, haptic quality to the interiors – or covered in breathable clay plasters from Cornwall-based Clayworks. These are stained in the colours of the landscape, such as the rich terracotta used in the sitting room. ‘It was about grounding the space and making it intentionally a little dark to draw the eye outside,’ says Emily Todhunter. ‘In the typical English country house, you close the curtains as the light fades and sit by the fire, but here there’s no fire and it’s all about embracing the outdoors.’

The breakfast nook, looking through to the sitting room.

Ray Main

The owners are passionate supporters of the arts and relished commissioning pieces for the house, including a carved wooden sink by sculptor Isabel Coulton in a vaulted loo, which is inspired by the mid-century Californian home of the late sculptor JB Blunk. A bespoke games table in the puzzle room, made by David J Haddock, brings them hours of pleasure. Special bespoke pieces are mixed with humble, utilitarian antiques, such as an 18th-century French workbench and a Welsh slate splitter’s chair in the hall. Where the owners’ tastes differed, Emily led them down the same path. ‘She has a degree in psychology and one of her many skills is ensuring one of us never wins,’ says the wife. ‘We both have to love something for it to make the cut.’

The house took four years to build, which would have exhausted the patience of many, but the owners enjoyed every minute. ‘It’s the most satisfying, fun and inspiring thing I’ve ever done,’ says the wife. The rammed earth will gradually weather, but slivers of stone at intervals on the façade will manage that erosion, deflecting water from its surface. ‘We wanted a house that would evolve over time,’ she adds. ‘We love to watch it change.’

tuckeydesign.com | todhunterearle.com