New home · Nailsworth, Gloucestershire

From overlooked garden to Hidden House.

A difficult planning opportunity, a highly insulated timber-frame home and a tightly managed build—taken from the first idea through to completion.

Type: Contemporary four-bedroom home on a garden plot
Role: Site identification · lead designer · planning · project management
Construction: Highly insulated timber frame with timber cladding and metal roof
Key challenge: Restricted access · tight boundaries · neighbours · build logistics

The opportunity

The garden nobody saw as a building plot.

Hidden House began while Anthony Webster was working on an entirely different commission: a contemporary extension to a house in Nailsworth.

As the design developed, Anthony mentioned to the client that his garden had the potential to become a separate building plot. He could see the planning opportunity. When the client asked what he should do with it, Anthony’s answer was immediate: “Sell it to me.”

After acquiring the land, Anthony designed a new home specifically for this compact, secluded site. The plot was tucked away from the road, surrounded by existing houses and reached through a narrow access. Those constraints eventually gave the project its name.

“What should I do with the garden?”
“Sell it to me.”

The original garden plot before work began — The original garden. A promising site, but enclosed, overlooked and difficult to access.

Hidden House completed around its private courtyard and parking area — The same site after completion: a private contemporary home shaped around its boundaries.

Planning

A tight site needed a precise answer.

Planning permission was not easy to achieve. The new house needed to make full use of a restricted plot while protecting the privacy and amenity of the surrounding homes.

Anthony worked constructively with the allocated planning officer, testing and refining the proposal until the design realised the opportunity and gained the support of the planning department. Rather than fighting the site’s limitations, the architecture grew out of them: controlled views, carefully positioned openings and outside spaces placed where they could receive light without compromising neighbours.

Once consent had been secured, Anthony sold the plot. The new owner then commissioned Webster Architecture & Interiors to take the project through construction.

The sunny roof terrace at Hidden House — The roof terrace lifts the principal outside space above the enclosed plot and into the sun.

Project management

Every trade. Every stage. One point of responsibility.

Anthony oversaw the complete build from start to finish, dealing directly with each trade as the project moved through excavation, retaining structures, foundations, frame, envelope, services and finishes.

The confined site made sequencing and deliveries unusually demanding. Major components had to be planned around the narrow approach, including a coordinated crane operation. At the same time, the concerns of neighbours needed to be heard and managed throughout the works. The job required constant communication as well as control of programme, quality and detail.

Excavation of the Hidden House garden plot — Clearing and reducing the site to establish the new building level.

Hidden House foundations under construction — Setting out and constructing the foundations within the confined plot.

Retaining wall construction at Hidden House — Retaining structures resolve the change in level and tight site boundaries.

Crane installing structural elements at Hidden House — A planned crane operation brought structural elements into the restricted site.

Timber structure being assembled at Hidden House — The highly insulated timber-frame structure taking shape.

Roof structure under construction at Hidden House — Roof construction and weatherproofing bring the house towards enclosure.

Hidden House exterior nearing completion with scaffolding — Metal roofing, render and timber cladding define the finished form.

Hidden House nearing completion — The completed architectural form emerging at the end of the managed build.

Completed Hidden House viewed from the garden — A secluded, light-filled home now occupies the former garden plot.

The design

Lift the outside space into the sun.

On a plot enclosed by neighbouring gardens, useful outside space could not simply be left at ground level. The roof terrace became a central part of the design, lifting everyday outdoor living above the site’s boundaries and into the sunlight.

Below, large openings connect the kitchen, dining and living spaces to sheltered terraces and the garden. The timber frame creates a highly insulated envelope, while timber cladding and a standing-seam metal roof give the house a contemporary identity suited to its secluded setting.

The result is not a standard house fitted onto a difficult plot. It is a home whose privacy, light, form and outside spaces all came directly from understanding that plot.

The rear ground-floor room at Hidden House overlooking the garden — The rear ground-floor room, with daylight and views into the garden.

The finished house

Private outside. Open and light within.

Open-plan kitchen inside Hidden House — The kitchen and family space opens directly towards the garden.

Completed living room at Hidden House — A calm living room with broad glazing onto its private outside space.

Hidden House courtyard and timber-clad exterior — The enclosed approach: render, timber and carefully framed openings.

Completed roof terrace at Hidden House — The roof terrace—the design decision that gives the house a sunny, private outdoor room.

The result

Opportunity identified. Consent secured. Building delivered.

Hidden House demonstrates the value of keeping design and delivery connected.

The project began with seeing potential others had overlooked. It continued through a difficult planning process and ended with the hands-on management of a complex residential build. One person retained an understanding of the original idea while coordinating the many decisions, trades and technical requirements needed to make it real.

Planning a new home or a complex residential build?

Webster Architecture & Interiors can provide one experienced point of contact from early feasibility and planning through design, technical coordination and construction.

Discuss a project