Dinbych / Tŷ Brombil

We’re only twenty yards off the High Street but here we have a remarkable twenty first century home built by local architect Chris Sanders. So often we build on the outskirts of towns, but here the house sits comfortably within a stones throw of the shops.

Built in 2005, this project is uncompromisingly modern. It isn’t trying to fit in, and yet the scale, colours and shapes used make it sit comfortably in its surroundings.

It is built with a steel frame – rather like most agricultural buildings are built – because you wouldn’t get lorries with heavy materials through the medieval gate.

The steel frame also helps with the plot as it is steep and the house now sits on stilts – saving expensive and bulky masonry foundations.

Despite looking so expensive, it wasn’t too expensive to build – about £200,000 of which £36,000 was glazing. And the plot was cheap as nobody else really knew what to do with it.

The main glass box here is North facing – a good idea to save overheating in summer. So many people make the mistake of over-glazing conservatories and then find they can’t use them during the summer – the one time they want to use them!

This is a good ‘all lifetime’ house as you can walk into town, work from home, you don’t need a car if you live here and it is a manageable property in old age. I think it is one of the most successful urban houses we’ve ever seen.