By
Duncan Farmer
Last updated at 1:19 PM on 25th July 2011
Even by the cutting-edge standards of Channel 4’s Grand Designs, Kemeys
Folly stands out.
For Dean and Sarah Berry’s ambitious project was a
double whammy – combining the painstaking restoration of a castellated
18th Century hunting lodge with the construction of a state of-the-art
glass extension.
Presenter Kevin McCloud paid tribute to the couple’s sensitive design
and described their home near Newport in South Wales as poetic. ‘The original tower,’ he said, ‘holds its own in the struggle with 21st Century bling.’
High Achievers: The Berry family on the lawn outside Kerneys Folly
The couple, who were born and bred locally, were living in London with
new-born son Ruben, now five, when a friend of Dean’s called them in
October 2005 to say the Grade II listed folly was up for sale. They
arranged a viewing and were instantly smitten.
The pair paid £830,000 for the tower, which was being sold by a couple
who had bought it just six months earlier but who quickly realised that
there was far too much work to do, so put it back on the market.
Because Dean, an investment banker, was still working in London, they
returned to Islington and locked up the folly. Six months later, in
April 2006, Dean was offered a job in Bristol.
Top design: The state-of-the-art kitchen complete with breakfast island
The couple – who went to school together in nearby Betws – sold their
three-storey modern townhouse in Islington for £1.3million and rented a
cottage ten minutes from the folly while they embarked on the
restoration.
‘There had been planning permission for alterations but it had lapsed
and we were slightly concerned because it had gone through only on
appeal,’ says Sarah.
‘So before we put pen to paper, we called in planning officers and the conservation officer.
‘The planners said at once that they wanted something very modern with
lots of glass – it needed to be different and an expression of the 21st
Century – so that’s what we did. It was a condition of listed building
consent that we keep the original features, but we wanted to anyway,’
adds Sarah who project-managed and worked with a Cardiff-based architect
on the plans.
KEY FACTS
Price: £2.75 million
Bedrooms: Five. Bathrooms: Six
Reception rooms: Three, plus open-plan kitchen/dining room
Outside
space: 24 acres, stable block, pool house
Agent: Savills, 029 2036
8922.
The tower had two substandard extensions, added in the Sixties and
Eighties, that unsuccessfully tried to mimic the original stone tower.
Dean and Sarah pulled these down and replaced them with two gleaming
glass additions.
To one side of the house they built a vast open-plan living room, dining
room and kitchen, and to the other a sweeping extension that includes a
utility room, playroom and two bedrooms and bathrooms.
Both take full advantage of their stunning hilltop location – on a clear
day you can see 11 counties as well as the two Severn road bridges and
the Bristol Channel.
The couple gutted the three-storey tower, leaving only the ceilings
complete with original moulding, much of which needed to be restored.
The original doors and windows all needed to be restored. Outside, a
previous owner had covered the walls in an ugly mortar so they repointed
them in lime mortar and also replaced the tower’s flat roof.
Moving places: The Berrys have lived in 16 different homes during their 20 year relationship
They added a bathroom to the master suite by extending over the new
living room, to the disapproval of McCloud, who described it as ‘a
lump’, although this was his only criticism of the project. In the
original building are ritzy fabrics, dark woodwork, slate-grey carpets
and a smattering of silver and crystal, while the modern lines of the
extension include vivid wallpaper, abstract art and plenty of leather
and chrome.
‘I wanted to create a style that would tie the two buildings together,’
says Sarah, 38, who studied interior design after a career in PR.
The family moved in at Christmas 2008, almost exactly a year after work started. They spent just over £1million on the project.
‘This was never about how much it cost, it was about doing it properly,’
says Sarah. ‘We’ve always seen ourselves as custodians of the folly and
we wanted to get it right.’
They also splashed out on a biomass boiler, underfloor heating and, to
satisfy Dean’s obsessions with gadgetry, state-of-the-art security and
audio systems.
Today, Kemeys Folly is up for sale for £2.75million because the couple
have their eyes on another big project, although they won’t reveal what
or where it is.
‘This is the longest we’ve ever lived anywhere – we’ve lived in 16
different places in our 20 years together,’ says Dean, 37. ‘We’d never
done a project of this size before but now we want to do it again.’
Peter Reilly, of Savills in Cardiff, who is selling the house, says it
has generated considerable interest among Welsh celebrities and sports
stars. ‘We’ve also had a lot of interest from people who have sold their
businesses and are taking early retirement,’ he says.
‘It is also very commutable. Bristol is 25 minutes away, the M4 three
miles, and from Newport, which is six miles away, you can get to
Paddington in an hour and 45 minutes.’
For a new buyer there is still work to be done: in the 24 acres of
grounds, which include formal gardens, paddocks, stables and part of the
ancient Wentwood Forest, is a pool house built in the Eighties, but
untouched since the Berrys moved in.
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