This project is not quite what it first appears. What began as a modest 1960s bungalow has been completely re imagined as a contemporary home embedded within its elevated 1.7 acre garden on the Possingworth Estate in East Sussex. Over decades, the original structure had accumulated a series of ad hoc extensions, resulting in a fragmented and visually unsettled building. Working closely with our client, we set out to recover a sense of architectural coherence — not by erasing the past, but by reshaping it into a unified, confident whole. The new design extends the building at both ends, creating a pair of carefully balanced volumes: a generous living room to the west and a master bedroom suite to the east. These new wings anchor the home within the landscape and frame a sequence of internal spaces that open onto a southwest facing elevated veranda. This veranda is one of the project’s key features — a long, linear threshold between house and garden, offering elevated views across the lawn and down to the lower terrace. Its deep overhang provides passive solar shading, allowing the extensive glazing to capture light without overheating. The existing structure has been fully re clad and insulated, allowing old and new to read as a single architectural composition. Black stained timber gives the exterior a quiet, coherent presence, while the veranda is lined in heat treated British softwood, introducing warmth and tactility where the house meets the landscape. At the entrance there is a bridge over a vestigial moat where black treacle tiles reinterpret the local tradition of mathematical tiles in a contemporary way, grounding the building in its East Sussex context. The extensions are constructed in a combination of masonry and glulam beams and posts, expressing a clear structural rhythm. The original pitched roof is now finished in black standing seam steel, complemented by flat roofs in black EPDM. Construction began in late 2022, at a moment of intense inflation in the building industry. Our client made the courageous decision to self build. Their commitment to the design — through countless decisions, challenges, and refinements — has been instrumental. Three years on, the completed home stands as a testament to shared vision, perseverance, and a design approach rooted in craft, locality, teamwork and architectural integrity. The site is within the High Weald AONB. Warren Chase, Warren Lane, Heathfield, East Sussex TN21 0TB