Holiday home A House for Essex

Just an hour’s train journey from London, at the mouth of the River Stour, a truly surreal holiday home opens up between meadows, fields and woods.
The extro­verted building, which oscil­lates between cathedral-like and Alice-in-Won­derland, was com­mis­sioned by Living Archi­tecture, who ven­tured into a further expe­riment: the col­la­bo­ration between the architect Charles Holland from FAT — one of the most pro­vo­cative voices in British archi­tecture — and the artist and Turner Prize winner Grayson Perry, who both come from the county of Essex and share a love for deco­ration, ornament and their homeland.

Living Archi­tecture was founded by the phi­lo­sopher Alain de Botton with the aim of sti­mu­lating dis­cussion about modern archi­tecture. The orga­ni­sation has rea­lised various holiday homes in the UK, which were designed by renowned archi­tects and artists and made signi­ficant con­tri­bu­tions to the archi­tec­tural debate.

The building is a con­tem­porary, secular inter­pre­tation of the wayside and pil­grimage chapels typical of the region and draws on a range of influences including Russian stave churches, Arts and Crafts houses and English Baroque archi­tecture. Secondly, A House for Essex explores the role of nar­rative in archi­tecture, here dedi­cated to the fic­tional cha­racter Julie Cope.
From the façade to the interior design, visitors are immersed in the life of Julie, a classic ‘Essex Ever­y­woman’. The exterior con­sists of four arche­typal house shapes arranged like a babushka. The house is clad in some two thousand handmade tiles which, like the roof sculp­tures, were all created by Grayson and depict Julie and sym­bolic objects from her story. The colour of the green and white tiles refers to the sur­rounding land­scape, the golden brass roof to the corn­fields in summer.

The extra­va­gance con­tinues inside the house with multi-layered, detailed and colourful rooms, in which further relics from Julie’s ‘life’ can be seen. The spatial layout is inspired by a chapel com­bined with a com­for­table, prac­tical house. A skull mosaic greets you at the ent­rance before you pass through bright red double doors into the no less striking kitchen and dining area. Hidden doors next to the fire­place and wood-burning stove lead into the impressive double-height living room, which fea­tures a life-size ceramic statue of Julie, interior bal­conies, deco­rative wood panelling and intricate tapestries. French doors open onto a covered veranda with views down to the Stour. Ups­tairs, guests will find two bath­rooms and two double bed­rooms with huge arched windows and walk-in ward­robes, the backs of which open out onto the bal­conies in the living room. A house that is excep­tional in every detail and filled with sur­prises.

What to do

Walks, hikes and bird watching tours through the nearby Nature Reserves of Wrabness or Stour Wood, the Essex Way walking route also runs below the site, swimming at the beaches of Dovercourt Bay, Walton-on-the-Naze, Frinton-on-Sea, Brightlingsea and Clacton, seal watching, ferry trips from Essex to Suffolk, excursions to Colchester Castle, Hedingham Castle and Gardens, Layer Marney Tower and Historic Harwich, a visit to the award-winning Firstsite Gallery in Colchester and dining in the many pubs and restaurants

Why we like this house

A wild, crazy house full of creative intention - and an architectural love story and ode to storytelling.

This house is great for

Architecture and art lovers (children must be over 10 years old due to the artwork); the house is also suitable for special occasions such as birthday trips or honeymoons.

Sustainability

E-charging station at the house, public transport: by train to Wrabness, the house is a 3-minute walk from the station

Details

Availability calendar

The calendar shows the current availability of the accommodation. On days with white background the accommodation is still available. On days with dark gray background the accommodation is not available.

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