Stunning leisure & entertainment area
Surrey Hills AONB
What an incredible design to have the privilege of working on! This was an astounding, new build property in more than two acres of land set in a beautifully quiet valley in the Surrey Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Much of the grounds were already landscaped as part of the house build with plenty of sloping ground converted into useable tiers with the help of extensive retaining wall structures. However one key area of about 400m² in front of the builders’ huts (already converted to gym and summerhouse) remained for development into an outdoor leisure/entertainment area.
The lovely clients had loads of great ideas but were receptive to more, and through much discussion the key requirements were decided upon; a swimming pool with level automatic cover; a covered outdoor kitchen & dining area; outdoor seating & sunbathing areas; plenty of planting; and general space for relaxing.
As is our general practise we began with lots of hand-drawn sketches to experiment with various layouts and overall structure. But this soon translated into 3d CAD renderings to help the clients understand and visualise the plans.
The final design agreed upon was a superb balance of aesthetic & practicality, having useful pathway routes through the area, locations making the most of the changing sunshine, a modern, contemporary style (complete with louvred pergola) and the potential to be a fantastic outdoor entertainment space.
Fully rendered designs were created to illustrate exactly how we wanted to see it developed.
Build work started in early 2022 with the swimming pool installation. Excruciatingly careful measurements and meticulous setting out of the pool surround ensured that the installation of the coping stones were perfect to the millimetre. Any unnecessary overhangs would be weak, and any rough or overhanging corners could be dangerous for the swimmers.
London Stone supplied the large format Comblanchien Porcelain paving, and cut the coping to absolute perfection - double pencil round edges and drip grooves on 20mm thick slabs. Quite an astounding finish!
The rest of the build is scheduled for summer 2024 and we cannot wait to see how it all turns out.