Valley Spring

A house built in 1968 to a design by the architect Peter Womersley, for his brother John.

MATERIALS: the house consists of three flat-roofed pavilions with plate glass walls set between tall red brick towers in Flemish bond, with the roofs and floors resting on tall U-shaped piers.

PLAN: The building has a linear free-flow plan set along the north-east/south-west axis. The central brick tower incorporates the stairs, and is set between two-storey pavilions, with that to the south-west incorporating the dining room and kitchen, with two bedrooms and a bathroom above it on the first floor. The north-east pavilion contains the former children's playroom / study, with two smaller bedrooms and a bathroom, with a large living room above it. The flat roof above the living room formerly served as a sun terrace, and is accessed via the central stair tower. The third pavilion, attached to the south-west, contains a single storey one-bedroom flat with its own entrance. A flat-roofed carport projects from the north-west, front, elevation.

EXTERIOR: The glass pavilions have horizontal timber cladding to the eaves and floors, now cream coloured, but originally painted dark brown. Two of the original frameless plate glass walls with distinctive mitred corners have survived, including a number of the original louvred ventilation windows. These were introduced to offer uninterrupted views of the surrounding countryside and to see from one room into the next. The others have been replaced with UPVC framed windows using the existing openings.

INTERIOR: The internal layout including most of its finishes and a number of original features and fixtures, has survived intact. The living room has a square-shaped snug, with built-in tiled seating around a large brick fireplace. The majority of ceilings are faced in sycamore, with the original ceiling lights surviving in places. Where exposed, as in the master bedroom, the ceiling beams, clad in sycamore, are resting on exposed U-shaped concrete supports to the brick piers. The U-shaped piers in the main bedrooms, children’s playroom and the annexe contain full height built-in wardrobes faced in sycamore. The stairs have chunky timber handrails to the inner walls, and the treads are covered in black marmoleum tiles with hardwood nosing.

SETTING: Valley Spring occupies a rural site on the southern outskirts of Bath. It is built on a terrace set on the slopes of a south-facing hillside, offering panoramic views over Horsecombe Vale, a wooded valley which stretches out in front of it. The house is approached by a private drive leading off Southstoke Road leading along the hillside in an easterly direction, before it turns back on itself to lead down to the forecourt and carport attached to the front of the house.