INSPIRING
Built into a chalk hillside and positioned to make the most of stunning views across the Chilterns, this 1970s cottage has been beautifully updated with light, bright interiors that have given it a new life for the 21st century
HOME PROFILE
Nick Phillips, an architect, and his wife Nicola Hannam
A three-bedroom detached house built in 1976 in West Wycombe, Buckinghamshire
STUDIO
One of the ground-floor bedrooms is used as a studio and opens straight onto the south-facing back garden
EXTERIOR
The upside down house has views over the Chilterns from first floor living area with direct access to the garden from the ground floor bedrooms
DINING AREA
The couple removed a wall between the kitchen and living room and pulled up carpets to reveal pine floorboards, which they painted white. Sweet peas from the garden lend a splash of colour. Dining table, Ercol. Chairs, Hans Wegner. Pendant lights, Northern Lights
Nick Phillips and Nicola Hannam were keen to move out of London for a more rural lifestyle, but though both had grown up in Buckinghamshire, their recollections were very different. While Nick had fond memories of rural areas such as West Wycombe, Nicola’s experience of built-up Aylesbury was less favourable. Eventually however, Nick persuaded Nicola to visit West Wycombe village despite knowing there was no hope of ever moving there, largely because most of the properties are owned by the National Trust and rented out to tenants. As Nick says: ‘Houses to buy here are as rare as hen’s teeth.’
On this occasion though, he was wrong – a property had just come on to the market. Designed in 1976 by local resident and architect Lt Col Lesslie Watson MBE as his retirement home, it is an upside-down house built into the side of a chalk hill, with three bedrooms below and the living area upstairs.
‘He designed it to enjoy the views across the beautiful Chilterns countryside from the living room,’ explains Nick. As an architect himself, he appreciated Watson’s clever design as well as his attention to detail and craftsmanship, an example of which can be seen on the dentil coursing in the brickwork, where rectangular projecting blocks have been used to create a decorative feature.
However, when the couple viewed the house in February 2014, it was stuck in a 1970s time warp. ‘I hadn’t been keen to see it because in the estate agent’s particulars it looked very dark inside with wood tongue-and-groove panelling and brown carpets,’ admits Nicola. But the moment she stepped inside, she had an instant change of heart: ‘The scenery blew me away.’ Views across the hills take in West Wycombe Park, an 18th-century Italianate villa now owned by the National Trust. ‘And I’m
