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<\/p>\nMowing the communal gardens of Hoathly Hill in rural West Sussex taught the teenage Andre Templeton Ford lessons that would shape his life. This 30-home community, founded in 1972, was based on the philosophical and spiritual teachings of the early 20th-century thinker Rudolf Steiner. Growing up here in the 1980s, sharing grounds, allotments, a pottery studio and a communal barn, young Andre learned that spaces, resources and ambitions can flourish when shared and built together.<\/p>\n
Decades later, I\u2019m standing with him in the entrance hall of his own self-built house, which sits on the plot right next to his childhood home. Clay Rise was designed by Andre himself, now an architect, and was recently shortlisted for the Manser Medal, the UK award for the best newly completed house. Curvaceous lines of lime-plastered walls sweep upwards into a smooth, rounded ceiling, oak handrails coil around balustrades. \u201cThese organic forms have been around me for a long time,\u201d says Andre, referring to the undulating ceramic sculptures created in Hoathly Hill\u2019s Sculpture Studios, which are dotted around the grounds outside.<\/p>\n
The house is the fruition of a seed first planted four decades ago. When his parents, Mike and Helena Ford, bought their house in 1986, they thought they might use the property\u2019s generous garden as a plot on which to build an additional home they could share, rent out or grow into. The idea lay dormant for years, surfacing occasionally in sketches and conversations, until finally Andre stepped in. \u201cEventually we realised what my parents really wanted was a\u00a0home that could expand or contract,\u201d he says. \u201cEither a six-bed family house or two entirely separate units.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Learning curve: architect Andre Templeton Ford designed Clay Rise to suit both his parents (top floors) and his own young family (ground floor)<\/p>\n
Two years into the build, Andre and his wife Jessica decided to put their flat in Walthamstow, east London, up for sale and move permanently to Hoathly Hill \u2013 despite the fact that Jessica, a\u00a0stylist and photographer, was at the time heavily pregnant with their second child. \u201cIt slowly became obvious: the childcare was already here, our lives were already here,\u201d he explains. \u201cIt wasn\u2019t the plan at the start, but the project drew all of us in, financially, emotionally, physically.\u201d<\/p>\n
The young family settled into a\u00a0ground-floor dwelling, with access to the garden<\/a>, while Mike and Helena occupied the middle and top floors, which offer generous views across the South Downs. \u201cI am a great believer in the tribal belonging of an extended family,\u201d Mike says. Helena agrees: \u201cBeing part of a multi-generational household has enriched my life on so many levels.\u201d<\/p>\n The curving staircase that joins the two homes<\/p>\n Andre and Jessica\u2019s children \u2013 Felix, four, and Juniper, 16 months \u2013 roam freely throughout the house, bouncing about between the floors. But the adults still maintain boundaries. \u201cIt\u2019s important to respect each other\u2019s space,\u201d Mike says. \u201cI tend to knock before entering their home. It just works better\u00a0that way.\u201d<\/p>\n Building on the Hoathly Hill community site meant securing not just planning approval but the blessing of the community itself. The house had to sit harmoniously alongside its 1970s Steiner-inspired neighbours, which carry a distinctive northern European chalet-bungalow vibe. Andre, happy to work within these constraints, crafted a home defined by sweeping curves: a pitched red clay-tiled roof, traditional Sussex redbrick walls and expansive oak-framed picture windows. He also dug 1.5m into the hillside to create the lower floor, keeping the house\u2019s height in line with its neighbours.<\/p>\n The downstairs kitchen open out to the garden<\/p>\n Jessica, who met Andre at a comedy club in east London, designed the interiors. \u201cOur vision was for a restful environment,\u201d she says. \u201cWith three generations under one roof, including two young children, it was important that the home feels peaceful.\u201d The floors, doors and cabinetry are all made from pale oak boards. Delicate droplet-shaped lights are placed within hidden recesses in the walls, which have been painted in eco-friendly white clay paint from Earthborn<\/a>. With the lighting, Andre explains, \u201cThe\u00a0idea was to make it holistic, seamless, to create a sense of calm.\u201d<\/p>\n On the middle floor, in Mike and Helena\u2019s sitting room, rounded window casings, flowing lines and a\u00a0neutral backdrop enhance the peaceful atmosphere. Jessica, whose artworks also hang on the walls, introduced bolder pieces, including a cherry-red Vico Magistretti chair and a Pierre Paulin lounging tongue chair in a deep claret, both drawing in the rusty notes from the Sussex bricks and wall-hanging tiles of the exterior. She also added a stout wooden sculpture by artist David Gilbert.<\/p>\n Pale oak floors and lime-plastered walls in the open-plan living-room<\/p>\n Downstairs, Jessica and Andre\u2019s own living space mixes inherited and contemporary pieces: an antique sideboard and vintage leather-and-wood armchairs alongside a Choppy stool from Temper Studio<\/a> and a black and white print by British artist Emily Crookshank<\/a>. Both kitchens, upstairs and down, were sourced secondhand through Rehome<\/a> (a\u00a0platform for reselling ex-display kitchens and bathrooms) and covered with custom oak-veneer doors.<\/p>\n Throughout the house, each window has been designed to be as large as structurally possible, flooding all three floors with light and capturing long views of the Downs. Micro-cement, a\u00a0smooth, thin coating, sweeps across counters to form the bathrooms, continuing the organic language of Andre\u2019s architecture.<\/p>\n The idea of multi-generational living, pioneered in the past, alongside experimental communities and the alternative lifestyles of the 1960s and 70s, waned with the rise of the modern nuclear family. But today that tide might be turning. Families drawn to flexibility, shared resources and deeper connections are rediscovering its benefits. In Hoathly Hill, the Templeton Ford family has reimagined the model for the 21st century: a sculptural home that grows from the land and the shared lives within it.<\/p>\n NewslettersChoose the newsletters you want to receive<\/p>\n Clear, calm analysis on the stories driving the day\u2019s news.<\/p>\n The very best of our journalism, reviews and ideas \u2013 curated each day.<\/p>\n A dispatch from The Observer\u2019s kitchen table \u2013 from Nigel Slater\u2019s recipes to interviews, features and hot tips.<\/p>\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/84350.jpeg\")
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