Description of Piers Gough' house (Watermark House)

Watermark House is as relaxed as a holiday home should be.

It loops up from entrance hall to roof top pool inside and outside. The ground floor is split between water and land with a boat house and entrance hall separated by space for changing in/out of boots, sports kit, etc.

A glamorous double-width stair curves up to the first floor bedrooms, three of which open onto a large southeast-facing terrace. The stair continues up in a single sweep to the open living room/kitchen floor with a raised snug at the far end around the fireplace. One side of the room has folding glass doors opening up onto another big southwest-facing terrace. The stair then continues its trajectory up to the roof terrace with its full-length (18m) infinity pool under the open sky. The adjacent pool deck also has an 'infinity edge' for lounging on top of the world.

The floors overlap each introducing strategic rooflights and glass floors which look down at the surrounding water and receive great reflections from it.

The outside elevations spiral up in the opposite direction to the stair. The screen walls swoop down in front of terraces and up over French windows like a relaxed Guggenheim. The ground floor is enclosed with slats around the boathouse and part of the entrance hall. The elevation material is cedar wood as split logs on the spiral and rough sawn for the slats. It will weather to a lovely silver grey. Left to myself, I would make the whole interior from walls to sanitary ware the same silver grey. Totally relaxing and a great background for art, books and people !