Tangley Way, Sampleoak Lane, Blackheath, Surrey

Also known as            Birchgrove, Thatched House (1924), Westward Ho! (1940-1943)

Set in a secluded rural location amidst 100 acres of National Trust heath land. The layout of the house and outbuildings form a cobbled courtyard ideal for parking with access to the double garage. It was commissioned for the first chairman of the National Grid and retains many wonderfully characterful features such as the original telephone room which once serviced the whole village. The principal reception rooms are expansive and all interconnect via sliding panelled doors. With the dividing doors open, the full length of the drawing, dining, and sitting rooms measures over 60 feet. All are south facing and from the dining room original bi-fold doors open to the garden creating a wonderful summer entertaining space. Gertrude Jekyll was responsible for the design of the gardens and recorded of despatch of plans for gardens at Tangley Way, Blackheath, Guildford, Surrey in  1921, 1922 and 1928.

THE THATCHED HOUSE, BLACKHEATH, NEAR GUILDFORD - Two factors determined the design of this house—the site, high up on sandy ground, with silver birches all around, and the client’s desire for a long, low house clothed with elm- boarding and roofed with reed thatch. The result, as the illustrations show, is delightful. Nothing could suit the site better, for elm and thatch are in the happiest companionship. The house is planned with the approach on the north side, and all the rooms face due south, overlooking a beautiful piece of Surrey countryside. There is no garden in the ordinary sense, for the site does not call for one, nestled as it is among the gorse and the woodland; but along the south front of the house a terrace extends, and is continued by a paved walk on the east to a gazebo. The walk is backed by a thatched wall, making it a veritable sun path, with a seat ensconced in the centre of its length; but the wall serves also as a screen, giving privacy from the approach. There is a courtyard on the north side of the house, and the entry to it is through an archway formed in the wing seen in the upper illustration on this page. On the opposite side of the courtyard is a balancing wing, with a second archway leading through to the garage and covered washing space. Centrally placed is the porch, which opens into a corridor that gives access to the living-rooms and the service quarters. The client’s wish was for one really big living-room which could be divided into two portions when desired, making a hall and a sitting-room. This division has been ingeniously effected by a counterbalanced partition that can be raised like a sash, disappearing entirely into a space provided between the bedrooms above. In the portion which becomes a hall when the partition is pulled down a further transformation can be effected, for it has a 10 ft. opening filled with steel casements which can be folded back on either side, thus giving an un-obstructed view of the prospect beyond. In this way all the advantages of an open loggia are gained without any o! the discomforts of such a place. The floors and walls are finished in oak, the walls being panelled. The disappearing partition is panelled like the rest, and when in position it gives no suggestion that it is not part and parcel of the four walls. When the whole space is clear an admirable room for dancing is provided.

At one end is an open fireplace—the only one in the house, and, to save labour even with this one fireplace, an ash chute is provided in the hearth, in the American manner. This ash chute delivers down into the heating chamber, where coke- fired boilers are the source of heating for the radiators liberally distributed throughout the house, and for the hot-water supply. At the opposite end of the living-room is the dining-room. It is on a slightly higher level than the main floor, and can be curtained off when desired. Adjoining it are the service quarters, planned and equipped in the most modern fashion, as the plan serves to indicate. About one point the client was obdurate, inasmuch as he had made up his mind that there should be no plaster inside ; hence the oak panelling throughout, and the ceilings formed with fibre board. Ceilings so formed involve the use of wood cover strips along the lines of jointing. They are inevitable, but they give cause for criticism, because they create a feeling of sham half-timber. Their compen- sating merits are that they eliminate the plasterer, are speedy in erection, and leave the house bone-dry from the very beginning. The first floor provides six good bedrooms, each having a hot and cold water fitment; and there are two excellently fitted bathrooms. Cup- boards in abundance are also provided. In one of the northerly wings the upper floor space has been utilised for home craftsmanship. The corresponding space in the other wing is at present used for storage, but could be apportioned to further bedrooms, if desired. The children have their play- room on the ground floor in the little room that is cut off by the entry, and the owner’s workshop is accommodated next the garage, in a corresponding position. On the west side of the house a hard tennis court has been laid down, easily accessible but fairly concealed, and nearby is a windmill which generates electricity in a manner that is certainly economical, and has so far, I believe, proved quite satisfactory. - R. RANDAL PHILLIPs [Country Life 3 May 1924 page 711-712]

Westward Ho! Tangley Way, four miles from Guildford, a house designed by Mr. Morley Horder, in two acres of garden laid out by the late Miss Gertrude Jekyll, [Times 24 May 1940 page 8 - advert]

UNIQUE CHANCE. BEAUTY SPOT IN SURREY. BETWEEN DORKING and GUILDFORD. ISLAND SITE ON A COMMON with LOVELY VIEW TO SOUTH DOWNS. half a mile bus service. ENCHANTING and LUXURIOUSLY APPOINTED HOUSE. designed by MR. MORLEY HORDER. in grounds of 2 ACRES planned by the late MISS GERTRUDE JEKYLL. It is impossible to extol too highly the merits of this country home, which affords 4 reception rooms. 9 bedrooms, and 4 bathrooms. Running water in every bedroom, oak joinery throughout. Main drainage. electricity, and water. Large Garage. [Times 1 February 1943 page 8]