Architecture Wednesday: The Pack House

The Pack House is a contemporary barn conversion in Benenden, Kent with an angular metal roof and wood clad façade sitting on four-and-one-half acres of pastures, woodlands and gardens, but with luxuries like a heated pool and sauna. Inside, the home is a modern combination of cement, plywood and glass creating a series of spaces that are bright and fresh; in addition, there is a large one-bedroom guest house finished in the same style.

Pack House takes its name from its former life as an apple packing warehouse but has been updated with energy efficient like ground source heat pumps, double glazing, and high levels of insulation in the external walls and roof. Underfloor heating runs throughout the ground floor of the main living area and there is an air source heat pump for the pool.

The home is found at the end of a long private drive with parking space for several cars. You enter through a wide glass door, conveniently set beneath a canopy, into a flagstone tiled hallway, with ample storage for coats and shoes. The main atrium is occupied by an open-plan living area where white-washed walls amplify the brightness that pours in from several directions. Open to the roof, the room is exceptionally voluminous with original steel joists painted off-white to create a feel of total cohesion.

The kitchen lies along one wall, with a sculpturally irregular antique pine island and drawers reclaimed from an Irish pub and a backsplash of blue Zellige tiles. Appliances are integrated and include Siemens ovens, two dishwashers, a refrigerator and a separate prep kitchen with pantry, double sinks and a generous freezer.

The remainder of the room is versatile open-plan space for both dining and entertaining with wide, tall doors to a terrace and a sitting area in front of a log burner fitting in an unctuous curve. Welsh black slate is used here as a hearth, and a cut-out section of wall is handy for log storage while another bank of windows frames peaceful garden views.

On either side of this main room are two sets of stairs, each leading to hidden mezzanine rooms all with shutters that open to the space below and a large hobby room that runs above the kitchen space. space. Opposite the kitchen a small study is concealed behind the staircase while upstairs is a library-snug area that overlooks the steel rafters and a magnificent cinema room beyond.

A wood-lined corridor on the opposite side of the house leads to the bedrooms; the principal suite is carpeted and has a Sandberg mural of an inky blue forestscape contrasting against green garden views and an en suite shower room with floor to ceiling tiles in matt blue and double sinks. There are three further bedrooms rooms, two with solid oak flooring, garden views and loft areas above and a smaller double room which receives northern light. A nearby family bathroom has grey marble floor offset with green painted wooden panels with double sinks and a bath-shower combination.

Accessed externally, a one-bedroom guest house contains an open-plan kitchen and living room with a beautiful parquet floor. The bathroom is also on this level, with a Mandarin Stone terrazzo floor. The bedroom is upstairs and overlooks the main space.

Beautiful gardens surround the house; a lawn of wild grass, and an arched pagoda covered with climbing flowering vines is perfect for outdoor lunches. Planting borders are also filled with flowers and herbs. Mixed hedges delineate the ceramic pool which has plenty of room for sun bathers and, for those cooler days, there is a wonderful sauna inside a repurposed shipping container, reused from when the house was transformed. 

An orchard has a variety of apples, along with gooseberry, red, black and white currants, plum, greengage, damson, pear, morello cherry and quince. There are also raised beds, ideal for growing vegetables. Beyond the house lies a lovely wild wooded area, filled with birch and spruce trees. For the keen gardener, three timber sheds provide space for storing garden equipment and logs.

It seems perfectly peaceful and serene, and quite self-sufficient.

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 The Modern House