Balancing Barn
- Location
- Suffolk
- Size
- Sleeps 8
Balancing Barn, designed by the Dutch practice MVRDV, stands on the edge of a tranquil nature reserve a few miles inland from the Suffolk coast, near the historic towns of Walberswick and Aldeburgh. Clad in elegant reflective steel tiles, the house dramatically cantilevers over the landscape, providing views from its huge panoramic windows over woods, ponds and meadows.
Accommodation
Stay from £1200 for 4 nights (for up to 8 guests)
- Striking cantilevered house with glass floor, walls and skylights.
- Six acres of private gardens and terraces to eat, cook (outdoor fire-pit) and play.
- The only swing suspended from underneath of a house (in Suffolk).
- Wonderful traditional pubs and restaurants nearby.
- For up to eight guests of all ages, and within easy reach of local transport networks.
- Four bedrooms, each with an en-suite bathroom.
Located at the end of a private tree-lined lane, Balancing Barn is set in 6 acres of gardens and surrounded by 138 acres of Suffolk Wildlife Trust land. Within easy reach of local towns and the coast, it is the perfect setting for a holiday or long weekend away.
With a large fully-equipped open plan kitchen/dining room at one end of the Barn, connected to an equally generous sitting room at the other, guests have plenty of space to experience all that this remarkable house has to offer.
The creatively designed interiors and flexibility of space, allow for sliding back the large full height windows to open up the house to the garden. Whether eating on the terrace or around the outdoor fire pit, just strolling in the gardens, or whiling away a few hours reading a book in a far off hidden corner, there is much here to please everyone who comes to stay. The more energetic can relive childhood memories on the swing suspended at the far end of the 15-metre-long cantilever, as can the children, if given the chance…
In the cooler months, retreat to the large sitting room; light the wood burner, relax, choose from a selection of books, listen to music, or just enjoy a real sense of being suspended in space as you look out through large windows set into the floor, roof and walls onto the garden, nature reserve and sky.
At night, enjoy the comfort and privacy of each of the thoughtfully designed bedrooms, with their solid oak handmade furniture, and fall asleep to the feint murmurings of the surrounding fauna.
Balancing Barn is fully equipped to allow you, your family and friends, to have a memorable and inspiring break, in this much revered modern home.
Location
About Your Stay
During Your Stay
Floor Plan
What Guests Say
Really enjoyed our stay - will recommend. Came away with lots of design ideas!
Place was immaculate - and such stunning design. Wonderfully equipped, not just in terms of everything provided for but in terms of the design choices.
The Balancing Barn brings design and functionality in a warm and comfortable matter together! Compliments this is to me the real challenge to architecture - make it liveable!
We were very enthusiastic about the Hanging Barn, the quality of the spaces, the attention to detail, and the sense that no expense had been spared.
The Barn is an absolutely wonderful place to stay; extraordinary architecture that is still warm and beautiful. It is so much more dramatic and "bigger" than you imagine! We particularly loved sitting round the huge table eating and chatting, and reading and relaxing in the sitting room.
I had very high hopes and the house more than met them. It is truly iconic and I look forward to coming back.
Quality just superb - loved everything about the house and its contents.
The outside space surrounding the barn was absolutely beautiful and was something I was not expecting - the fire-pit, the outside tables and benches dotted about, again the generosity of space was much appreciated.
Just amazing - the Balancing Barn totally surpassed my expectations. I thought I knew what I was going to walk into having seen the photography but the space was so much more than I was expecting.
Book selection terrific - I was in heaven; Overall the whole concept superb and everyone recharged their busy city batteries - landscaping wonderful; peaceful environment and ever changing skies and colours - just so well thought out and so playful as well as being an amazing feat of engineering.
About The Architecture
We commissioned Dutch practice MVRDV due to their adventurous and playful approach to design; the resulting Balancing Barn is the perfect exemplar of this.
This thirty-metre-long house, half of which is suspended in space over the hillside and completely clad in reflective steel tiles, references the local typologies of metal clad farm buildings. The Barn, rather than sitting on the landscape, appears to meld with it, both in reflecting the surrounding landscape and sky, and by traversing the two levels of the site.
Built on a site where old dilapidated farm buildings once stood, memories of this have been retained by utilising the footprints of the buildings to create planted areas, raised lawns, a fire pit with seating area, and terrace.
Internally, the Barn is no less remarkable. MVRDV, working with long-time collaborator Studio Makkink Bey, created a simple palette of Ash lined walls and ceilings, cloaking the interior surfaces and accentuating the physical structure of the house.
Makkink and Bey have designed a bespoke series of canvases and carpets based on paintings by John Constable and Thomas Gainsborough (who both painted in Suffolk). These abstracted works bring a rich colour and depth to the spaces, providing a sense of familiarity, whilst creating a contemporary environment. A carefully considered collection of furniture and lighting, some designed by Bey specifically for the Barn, reflect the best of creativity in Dutch design.