ON THE WATERFRONT How a run-down bungalow on the Norfolk Broads became a contemporary family retreat

Where a dilapidated bungalow once stood in an idyllic spot on the Norfolk Broads, there’s now a stylish, contemporary and peaceful holiday home,

perfect for a family who love the outdoors

As a child, architect Patrick Michell loved messing around on the water. His grandfather, who had served in the navy, retired to the coast at Old Hunstanton in North Norfolk and Patrick’s family often visited. Such fond memories played a part when Patrick and his wife Claire, who is also an architect, started to think about building a holiday and weekend house for themselves and their children, Rae and Margo.

‘The water and the idea of going out in a Mirror dinghy were a massive draw,’ says Patrick, founder and principal of Platform 5 Architects. ‘There was a bit of Swallows and Amazons about my childhood and we always used to go sailing when we were on holiday. So when we started looking for a site and

found this, I could instantly see the possibilities for that kind of fun, family holiday lifestyle, and building something new fitted in with that.’

Following an internet trawl, Patrick and Claire came across a derelict bungalow on the edge of Wroxham Broad. The house, which was literally sinking into the water, had failed to sell at auction twice over, so it seemed the ideal opportunity to buy it, demolish it and replace it with something fresh and contemporary.

Having bought the old bungalow, it was then a relatively simple job for the Michells to convince the planners that they should be allowed to build a bespoke, modern home with echoes of vernacular boat sheds and Broads’ chalets. However, a number of other logistical challenges had to be addressed, such as

a narrow access track with weight-restricted bridges, as well as the waterlogged site itself.

‘We were instantly won over by the location, which is really quite idyllic,’ says Patrick. ‘But it was very wet. The bedrock is about ten metres down and the top four metres is just peat, which shrinks and sinks; our engineer described it as reinforced water and it has zero load-bearing capacity, so we had to use steel-cased piles banged into the rock layer.’

Once the piles were installed, they helped to support a steel framework for the house plus the timber used for the cladding and adjoining decks that push out over the water. Everything needed to construct the house had to come in either by barge or transit van, ready for assembly by local builders. ‘We really had to think about the logistics, and the piles alone took a long time to set out,’ says Patrick.

‘With its pitched roofline and red cedar shingle cladding, the design took inspiration from chalets and boat sheds, but we also wanted to create a veranda looking across the water, and have an outdoor room where we could really enjoy the setting and being outside in the fresh air.’

Claire helped to plan the way the house would function for the family. They decided to place an open-plan kitchen and dining area at the centre of the layout, leading out to the semi-sheltered decking via a bank of floor-to-ceiling glass that frames the views. This easy flow from inside to out was one of the key elements of the project.

‘We had a lot of conversations about the kitchen and dining area and how it would work best,’ says

Claire. ‘It took some time to work it through, and we decided to design a custom bench alongside the dining table, which was made by my father, and that helped to anchor the space and meant we didn’t have too many chairs floating around.

A big sliding door to one side opens up to reveal the double-height sitting room, and a fireplace sits within a custom-built unit that partially separates a library to the back, a few steps up. ‘Having those retreats was quite important to me,’ says Claire. ‘Sometimes contemporary architecture can be quite cold, so we wanted to make sure we had spaces that are comfortable and warm. The children really love the library den because you still feel part of things but you can also have your own special space.’

The other side of the house has two bedrooms

on the ground floor, with another two upstairs, accessed via the spiral staircase in the hallway.

The family’s favourite spot has to be the veranda, facing the channel to the Broad and looking across the neat pontoon, where Patrick and Claire moor their canoe. ‘We‘ve found that the veranda works really well all year round,’ says Patrick. ‘Even when it’s raining, you can be out here looking at the

Broad and the whole place fizzes. The relationship between the veranda and the kitchen also works well. A friend came to stay with us the other day and compared it to a kind of command centre or ship’s bridge. It has that kind if feel to it.’

Platform 5 Architects: platform5architects.com. To find details about staying at Backwater, visit backwaternorfolk.co.uk

It was a relatively simple job to convince the planners they should be allowed to build a bespoke, modern home with echoes of vernacular boat sheds and Broads’ chalets