Castle High / Hyde + Hyde Architects

Architects: Hyde + Hyde Architects
Area: 490 m²
Year: 2021
Photographs: Martin Gardner
Planning Consultants: Asbri Planning Limited
Sustainability Consultants: Melin Energy Consultants
Structural Engineer: CD Gray & Associates
Design Team: Hyde + Hyde Architects
Access Consultants: Acstro
City: Broad Haven
Country: United Kingdom

Castle High, designed by Hyde + Hyde Architects, is a contemporary farmhouse in Pembrokeshire National Park, built over a decade as a self-build project. Commissioned in 2010, it replaces a deteriorating 1950s farmhouse, restoring the sheltered horseshoe-shaped courtyard by integrating a contemporary wing with traditional stone outbuildings. Designed for resilience and transparency, the ground floor features an open-plan living space with curtain wall glazing, while the first floor frames views of the Irish Sea. A repurposed outbuilding houses guest accommodations, a games room, and a study. The material palette, inspired by the coastal setting, includes white fair-faced concrete, black titanium-coated Anthrazinc roofing, and a Corten rain-screen, ensuring durability and harmony with the farmstead.

Castle High is a contemporary farmhouse located in Pembrokeshire National Park. This remarkable coastal home, constructed by the owner for his family over a decade, reflects a commitment to hard work, persistence, and dedication. In 2010, the owners enlisted Hyde + Hyde to develop a master plan for their smallholding, situated on an exposed site near the Pembrokeshire coast. As the latest generation of a longstanding farming family, they were determined to remain on the site but found the existing 1950s farmhouse to be in poor condition, thermally inefficient, and no longer suitable for modern living. This structure had replaced the site’s original working farmhouse, which had once formed a functional, sheltered courtyard alongside the traditional stone outbuildings. However, the replacement house lacked the integrity of the older buildings, and its placement left the courtyard exposed to strong prevailing winds and severe storms, leading to gradual disrepair.

The new farmhouse embraces a simple and minimal design, combining robustness and resilience with openness and transparency. A key aspect of the project is its ability to restore the courtyard’s original form, completing the horseshoe-shaped arrangement of the existing outbuildings with a contemporary new wing. Its location within the National Park required a high-quality and contextually sensitive approach, ensuring that the new home harmonizes with its surroundings in both form and scale. The design carefully integrates old and new elements, responding to the site’s location, climate, and character. This project was a true labor of love for the clients, undertaken as a self-build effort over ten years, progressing in alignment with their time and budgetary constraints.

The ground floor features a spacious open-plan living area, with curtain wall glazing offering views of both the courtyard and the sea. Maintaining visual transparency between the inner courtyard and the surrounding landscape was essential, creating a seamless and intimate sense of flow. On the first floor, a corridor overlooks the courtyard, while the children’s bedrooms are positioned along the faceted outer facade, with windows carefully angled to maximize the views. The master bedroom, located to the west, is more secluded and benefits from expansive views of the Irish Sea. In addition to the contemporary wing, a repurposed adjacent outbuilding retains a more traditional, cellular layout, accommodating guest quarters, a games room, and a study.

In response to the site’s exposed conditions, the project incorporates a durable, low-maintenance material palette. Drawing inspiration from the weathering of pebbles along the nearby shoreline, the new wing is constructed from white, fair-faced concrete, offering a sculptural solidity that contrasts with the farmstead’s traditional buildings. This material is complemented by expansive glazing, enhancing both tonal and textural variation. Furthermore, black recyclable titanium-coated Anthrazinc roofing and a Corten rain-screen were selected for their longevity, each reflecting the materiality of the surrounding agricultural structures.