When fashion designer Kate Barton discovered The Dodo on a Sussex beach 20 years ago, the former railway carriages were covered in mud-coloured paint. Seduced by their character, she set about transforming them into a beautiful bolthole
Overlooking a beach in Sussex, The Dodo is a relic of a local railway line that was taken out of service in the 1930s. At the time, an unidentified builder decided to locate a couple of defunct train carriages at right angles to the sea, parallel to each other, and insert a roof over the top of them. Further along the beach are similar houses made in the same way, though it is often difficult to tell from the outside what their origins were. ‘One of them is a traditional wooden structure that could very easily be mistaken for a clapboard cottage in Cape Cod,’ remarks owner Kate Barton.
The generous width of The Dodo and its abundance of glass offered the opportunity to create beautiful, light-filled modern living areas. The bathrooms and four bedrooms are in the two former carriages, which are linked by a large, open-plan living space heated by a wood-burning stove. As the restoration work got under way, original details were uncovered, from tongueand-groove panelling to the ceiling friezes. All the walls and ceilings were painstakingly stripped before being painted white. Floorboards were repaired, sanded and also painted white.
After several years, an extension was erected to accommodate a bigger kitchen, a utility area and a downstairs bathroom, as well as an extra bedroom. At the back of the house, a wooden porch with a large skylight was added, providing direct access to the beach. Kate is particularly proud of her achievement in transforming part of the decked area into a funky outdoor bathroom; the vintage bathtub was picked up at a reclamation yard and there is a hot shower nearby.
A former garage across the road was converted into an annexe containing a playroom and a guest bedroom. There is a tiny garden between the two buildings, which makes a secure play area for small children. With five bedrooms in the main house and a twin bedroom in the annexe, The Dodo sleeps up to 12 people and is often rented out to large groups of friends. It is also sometimes used as a writers’ retreat.
White, white, and more white is the decorative theme throughout the house, both inside and out, giving a decorative unity to a structure that was never intended as a home. Wherever colour is introduced, it is almost always a shade of blue, ranging from the slightly sombre teal on benches, chai
