There can’t be many parents of five boys who don’t long for more space — an extra bedroom, a playroom extension or a bigger garden and an adults-only retreat. But what if three of those five boys have varying degrees of hyperactivity?
The hotelier Charles Stone’s answer was to build a spectacular extension to the family’s five-bedroom home near Henley-on-Thames. He wanted somewhere his loving, bright, but sometimes challenging sons — Edward, 17, identical twins James and David, 16, Michael, 14, and Charlie, 11 — would feel calm, and where they could connect with nature and be independent. He also wanted to get them involved in the design.
What Stone and his wife, Gracia, settled on went well beyond your average extension: a pair of two stilted, befinned buildings in steel, wood and brick that seem to float above the water, linked seamlessly to the main property by a covered glass bridge.
The natural swimming lake over and around which they are set is as much of a feature as the house. It is studded with huge granite stepping stones, creating a walk-on-water pathway. Andrew Ewing and his team, whose fountain designs have featured in gold-medal gardens at the Chelsea Flower Show, created the colourfully illuminated arcing jets of water, which make a dazzling night-time display and uplight the huge trees in the two-acre garden.
As for the two buildings, shady overhanging eaves give them the feel of a Japanese temple, and the huge glazed panels that serve as walls retract, melding indoors and out. A variety of routes that weave in, around and between the structures, including a fern-framed walkway bordered by lushly planted gardens, make you feel a world away from the provinces, and rather in a contemporary tropical retreat.
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Today, with temperatures well below freezing and shards of ice floating on the lake, nobody is swimming. But the broad diving platform jutting out over the water, and the stilted design, which allows you to swim under the buildings and float on their reflection in the water, suggest those long summer days are sorted.
The boys themselves played a big part in getting the design built. “When the architects came to make their pitch four years ago, Gracia and I were stuck in meetings,” Stone says. “So, along with two less ambitious designs, they ended up presenting a 3D model of this extraordinary option [full of miniature toys, sports gear and gizmos] to the boys — who thought it was party time.”
David, who is quietly spoken and incredibly polite, says: “We convinced our parents this was the way to go. Although we really haven’t had enough parties here yet.”
The two-part extension was finished a year ago, and has since won three awards for its architects, the Shoreditch- and Cotswolds-based Hamish Herford and Nicholas Lyons. The chief downside, though, about which Stone is upfront from the off, is the final tally, which ran into seven figures.
“I feel quite guilty spending so much on an extension,” says Stone, 51, who has a stake in Calcot Manor, a high-end hotel in Gloucestershire. “I was really just looking for a way to get the boys off their smartphones and into the countryside.”
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Indeed, the original brief was to demolish three separate underused and flood-ruined buildings in the grounds, creating flexible family living space that could be used primarily by the boys, but also as a guesthouse for when Gracia’s parents visit from Spain. “But we kept tweaking the plans, and the costs kept on creeping up,” Stone says. “Let’s just say I had planned on having an Audi Q5, but ended up with a Lamborghini.”
The price at least includes the conversion of unused attic space in the main house into two ensuite bedrooms with bespoke skylights, again to be used by the boys.
The fact that the extension is not even at the main family home in southwest London, but at their Berkshire weekender — one half of a 1920s Lutyens-style mansion — means Stone is even more sheepish about his spend. “It was nobody in particular’s fault the costs spiralled so much,” he recalls. “VAT had not been included on some bills, and contractors’ estimates were miscalculated. There was a hell of a lot of landscaping that needed to be done, and I wanted the lake to be bigger than originally planned.
“Plus, we started planning the work in a recession, and by the time we had started building, we were out of it. At one point, I felt I was keeping the entire British building industry afloat.”
He clearly knows how to handle a challenge. When he was in his twenties, he was nearly crushed to death by a lorry, and after being in a coma for eight weeks, he had to learn to walk and talk again. He met Gracia, 47, just as he was about to have a double hip operation. Yet after overcoming such personal struggles, he still seems somewhat dazed by the process of adding about 2,100 sq ft of living space to the house.
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The location of the home, which the Stones bought for £2.55m in 2011, also presented a perfect storm of restraints: it’s in a conservation area within both the green belt and a flood zone. During the early stages of design development, the site flooded — one of the main reasons the buildings were put on stilts — and five planning applications in three years had to be submitted before permission was obtained.
Yet there is no doubt the project has been a huge hit with the whole family. Gracia was able to indulge in the shock of the new — in contrast with the main home, which was used as a base for the US Secret Service during the Second World War and is all elegant plastered drawing rooms, huge fireplaces and pre-Raphaelite paintings.
Crucially, the new wings provide the versatile living space Stone so wanted for the boys. The larger of the buildings, linked to the main home by the glass bridge (over which Charlie glides unnervingly back and forth on his hoverboard), has a large sitting room flooded with natural light, as well as that refracted from ripples on the lake. Decked out with a pool table, a vast tropical aquarium, a vintage jukebox and retro Roche Bobois furniture, it has plywood panels displaying oversized prints of wild animals and trips to Machu Picchu.
Upstairs, there’s a pared-back mezzanine bed deck with views over the lake to the sky. This is a teenager’s dream hideaway: Charlie says he hopes one of his brothers will give it up to him.
He will have to wait, though. Three of the boys are now at school in Spain (the Stones feel the education system there is more nurturing), so the family are keeping their London home as their only UK base and letting their weekender for £10,000 a month. “It was a real rollercoaster getting it built, and we haven’t really managed to reap the benefits of it yet,” Stone says. “But we will. There is no way, after all that, we are simply selling up.”
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The smaller, self-contained second guesthouse has a kitchen, a utility area and a further mezzanine sleeping space, and is reached over a swathe of hardwood decking — or via the stepping stones, if you are feeling more playful. “I am not really into feng shui,” Stone says, “but you can feel the harmony with nature and a sense of flowing energy here. And in summer it’s a Boy’s Own paradise.”
Hurley Manor is available to let through Savills (01491 843014, savills.co.uk) and Knight Frank (01491 844906, knightfrank.co.uk); 01386 725758, hamishandlyons.com
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● If a million-pound extension is beyond your means, you can still create calming spaces in your home. Keeping rooms simple and uncluttered is generally more relaxing for the whole family. For younger, hyperactive children, create chill corners with comfy bean bags in their favourite colours, and “boredom boxes” filled with paper, paints, colouring pens and fidget toys — cubes, spinners, stress balls, putty.
● Looking for more grown-up gizmos? Restored 1950s jukeboxes from Jukin start at £8,000 (jukin.co.uk). The Opti Aura projector, designed by the lighting company that did Pink Floyd’s early shows, has more than 200 effect wheels to choose from, and could help relieve anxiety and agitation (£169; glow.co.uk).
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● Even the most prosaic pond can be transformed with a bespoke water feature. For something really special, head to Andrew Ewing’s studio in southwest London — his water sculptures start at about £10,000 (020 7731 2757, andrewewing.co.uk). “When choosing the location for an annexe, start with the views,” says the architect Hamish Herford. “Ideally, the main elevation will face south or west to get the most sunlight. A fully glazed link to the existing building will create an interesting route from old to new and give the annexe has its own character.”