In South Wales, a remote coastal farmhouse flaunts its modern revamp, primed for hosting

A new farmhouse redesign on the Gower Peninsula in South Wales, Delfyd Farm is a remote coastal residence lapping up its expansive vistas across an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The project's clients asked Rural Office, a Welsh architecture firm based in Carmarthen, to reimagine the ground floor of their home, to add space for hosting friends and family.

Inside a cosy rural farmhouse in South Wales

The clients, a creative couple, are keen hosts and wanted to subdivide the layout of the ground floor to reflect this. In response, Rural Office created two domestic extensions, including a guest wing to the east and a dining and sitting room to the west, adjacent to the existing kitchen.

The home was first constructed around 1895 with a solid stone wall construction. It featured a simple rectangular plan with a porch to protect against the weather. ‘The rigid ground-floor layout of the existing farmhouse didn’t really work for the clients, so we designed the extensions to add accessible pockets of space that can be opened up or closed off as needed. This newfound flexibility and adaptability allowed us to bring the old farmhouse up to date with modern living preferences, and in turn extend the home’s lifespan for generations to come,’ says Niall Maxwell, principal of Rural Office.

Maxwell continues, ‘We were also inspired by the home’s setting and the vernacular of the Gower. We saw this as an opportunity to honour the hierarchy of the original farmhouse, while introducing a new, contemporary design language – using natural materials to root the project in this beautiful coastal landscape. This closely echoes the development of other rural settlements in the region, where further structures were often added over time, to support the changing needs of their occupants.’

The extensions read as four distinct volumes. The guest wing to the east comprises a bedroom, bathroom, living room and kitchen, and has its own separate entrance from the driveway. Parts of it are also used as a gym by the client. On the opposite side of the plot sit a dining and sitting room. These are adjacent to the existing kitchen, and in combination serve as the perfect space for entertaining, overlooking the hillside, pasture and coastline of Broughton Bay.

Due to the project’s location, the build wasn’t easy, Maxwell explains: ‘The biggest challenge was the project's extremely remote location in the Welsh countryside, which is prone to strong prevailing winds and harsh salty air. To navigate this, we chose to bookend the farmhouse with the new extensions and add sheltered entrances and covered external terraces to provide a buffer from the wind.

‘In addition, the farmhouse itself can only be accessed via a narrow, single track, so it wasn't possible to bring materials to site in conventional delivery lorries. This meant that we had to consider the length and bulk of every component, to ensure that these could be transported via a smaller tipper truck.’

The architects used a minimalist material palette, which consists of quarry tile, beaded oak panelling and vaulted plaster ceilings. The home is designed to be flexible, conceived to adapt to its residents' current hobbies, while also accommodating ageing parents with potential access needs in years to come.

However, it is the strategically framed views to the garden and coastline that are Maxwell's favourite design element. He explains: ‘This transforms the experience of living in the property. A lot of time was spent framing these views on site and refining the scale and fenestration of the window units, with views over farmland, rolling hills, coastline and garden.’

rural-office.co.uk