NEWCOMERS to the winners for their “outstanding” scheme of 18 townhouses built in a woodland setting close to Gateshead.
DARE (Northern) won the overall award at The Journal/Evening Gazette 21st Century Living Awards for their “brave, bold and truly impressive” townhouse scheme at Axwell Gardens, Axwell Park, near Blaydon. The development also won the Best Townhouse category (see below).
The properties are set amid 35 acres of forgotten woodland near the Derwent Valley, only a few miles from Gateshead and a mile from the MetroCentre.
DARE has been in existence for only eight years having been founded by chartered surveyors Alex Dawson and Tony Stubbs. Having acquired Axwell House and its substantial grounds a few years ago, they set about creating a rural retreat within easy reach of the city centre. The first part of the scheme was to develop Axwell Gardens, 18 contemporary townhouses with exclusive use of the restored walled gardens. Next year they begin work on converting the Mansion House, now a ruined shell, into 22 luxurious properties, to be followed by an adjacent Palladian-styled courtyard offering more townhouses and apartments.
The park and grounds at the 35-acre estate and the historic bridge at the entrance to the development are also being restored.
DARE director Alex Dawson said: “We are absolutely delighted to have been recognised in this way, winning not only the townhouse award but the best overall award. We have always believed we were creating something very special at Axwell and it is reassuring to know that the judges agree with us.
“There is so much planning and preparation which goes into creating a development like this and we really have been painstaking in trying to create the right atmosphere as an exclusive rural retreat.”
The award judges said the contemporary townhouse scheme was a very brave and very different scheme to create impressive, yet practical contemporary homes. The judges said the development was “very different and brave”, with the homes built to a particularly high quality with great attention to detail, a high specification and achieving a good feeling of luxury.
The houses are built over three storeys. The ground floor has an integral garage, hall, cloakroom, storage utility and two versatile rooms which could be used as bedrooms or perhaps a study and sitting room.
The first floor is devoted to the open-plan living accommodation, with kitchen, lounge and dining areas plus a full-width glass wall at the back of the property which opens out completely on to the large terrace overlooking the walled garden. The second floor has the main bathroom and two bedrooms, both with large built-in cupboards. The master bedroom, with en suite, has a full-width glass wall overlooking the walled garden.
The homes, which will have exclusive use of the renovated walled garden of the former Axwell Hall estate, were in a “stunning setting” which was being carefully restored and managed. The hall is to be converted into apartments.
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