Oakwrights

With its vaulted ceilings, large windows, wide-open views and open-plan design, The Woodhouse is the perfect place to let the imagination soar. It’s certainly a house with a wow factor, so it is no surprise that Tim Crump, who built the traditional timber-framed property as a show home for his company, Oakwrights, welcomes prospective clients to make themselves at home there and ‘try before they buy’. It’s not long before they have a vaulting ambition to build one of their own.

‘ Originally I was going to build it and sell it, but once we had built an oak-framed house and we could sit on the first floor and look out at the view, we thought, actually, it is quite special,’ Tim says. ‘It’s a small plot, it’s easy to look after, it’s a lovely, quiet area – why not use it as a show home? I thought it was a vast amount of money to spend on something I wasn’t going to get a return from, but it works so well. People travel here from all over the world – from America, France, Holland, all over Europe. Now I realise I couldn’t do without it. It makes a tremendous impression and gives them lots of ideas.’

The property is a beautiful and stylish home, designed to take full advantage of its location and the views across open fields to the mountains in the distance. The design also cleverly overcomes the constraints of the small and irregularly-shaped site.

‘ All the houses we build are bespoke designs and even though this was a funny, awkward site, it shows that if you think about the design you can come up with an interesting house,’ says Tim.

Tim is an advocate for spending as much time as possible at the beginning of a project, looking at all aspects of the design, and he believes that, as far as The Woodhouse is concerned, this is the secret of its success. ‘The more money you spend on the design, the better the house will be. We offer a full architectural design service and that’s the most important part of the process. If the design is right, everything else follows.’

The impressive master bedroom, with its en-suite bathroom, is a light, airy room, with a soaring vaulted ceiling and windows which stretch from the floor up to the roof apex and give views of the stars at night. For a cosier ambience, there’s another double room at the back of the house, with a more intimate feel. This also has its own en-suite bathroom, and alongside there is a family bathroom.

Across the gallery landing, there’s another spacious, light-filled room, with large windows and wonderful views, which could be divided into two bedrooms, but which Tim uses as a conference room and where clients can sit and talk through the designs for their own homes with his team.

With all the thought and care that has gone into building and furnishing this impressive show home, it’s not surprising that many who experience a stay there want it for themselves. ‘We have developed The Woodhouse into a range of six houses because so many people have come to stay here and have loved the ambience and the fixtures and fittings, which are mostly sourced locally.

People say: “Can we pick it up and take it home?” – so now we have a collection of houses based around it,’ Tim concludes.