Designed in a modern and contemporary style by Bath based Donald Insall Associates, the pool and pavilion combine to form an elegant and fresh style within a historical English country house setting, lined with ancient yew hedges and random rubble stone walls. 

The pavilion is faced in a local Chicksgrove stone ashlar with large sliding glazed doors that move effortlessly to achieve an ideal summertime inside-outside feel with level surfaces between. The roof is clad in a modern zinc sheeting with a very clean-lined vertical down stand to the principal south facing elevation. 

The pool is edged in sawn Yorkstone nosings with a large expanse of sawn Yorkstone terracing to link with the wider gardens. A hydraulically operated child-proof cover is very cleverly recessed at the south, beneath a hardwood decking. Inside the pavilion, sits an enormous open fire arrangement. A large open-plan living space with an engineered hardwood floor and a handmade kitchenette provides the perfect space to entertain.

The site is positioned on water meadows, quite close to the River Wylye, making the initial excavation of the pool extremely challenging. It required a complex engineering solution to sheet pile and dewater the site prior to construction.

“As the pool is actually sat under the water table, it was a more challenging build than usual. We lined with a cofferdam using 8m sheet piles and then dewatered over most of the winter, giving us the required area in which to build. Whilst the pool site was being prepared, we were underway with the pool house, so both could be completed at the same time.’’

JAMES EMDEN, CONTRACT MANAGER