Thornborough Park, Ufford, Suffolk

The result of a collaboration between design-led Suffolk developers Nest and Andrew Hughes Architects, this exceptional cluster of three and four-bedroom net carbon zero homes occupies a wonderful elevated parkland setting. All unfold over a single storey and creatively embrace a minimal palette of contemporary materials. Each has a sheltered patio, turfed garden, two private parking spaces and wrapping hornbeam hedging. Ufford lies three miles north of Woodbridge, and one mile from Melton, where trains run to Liverpool Street via Ipswich in around 90 minutes. Ipswich itself is around a 20-minute drive away and runs services to the capital in under an hour.

Please note that listing relates to house seven; three and five are also still available.

The Architect

With a primary focus on residential projects, the work of the RIBA award-winning Andrew Hughes Architects encompasses both new builds and contemporary interventions within historical buildings. Much of the firm’s work lies within East Anglia, where it has established a reputation for skilfully combining space, light, and form with a finely tuned material palette.

Thornborough Park is one of their latest collaborations with Nest Development, also an award-winning company and named East Anglian House Builder of the Year 2024. Emphasis throughout was placed on reducing the embodied carbon of the new homes, while also ensuring that their contemporary design offered a beautiful way to live.

The Development 

Located at the northern fringe of Ufford, a small rural village in south-east Suffolk, the houses at Thornborough Park form a peaceful cluster configured around a shared access drive and an array of mature broad-leafed trees. The houses have been orientated to maximise individual privacy and enhance views towards the village below. Surrounding the development is an expansive and leafy agricultural landscape.

The four houses currently for sale have three or four bedrooms, configured across a single floor. Thornborough Park III relates to the medium sized house; please see Thornborough Park I and Thornborough Park II for the other homes on this estate available through The Modern House.

Environmental Performance

Each house has an air-source heat pump to provide efficient and low-carbon heating and hot water. This is augmented by solar panels which will help to generate electricity, along with the banks of triple-glazed windows and doors that will further reduce energy use and costs.

The Tour

Juxtaposed monopitched slate roofs and geometrically-shaped walls in white gault brickwork, laid out in both stretcher bond and decorative herringbone patterns, establish each home's striking architectural profile. All are similar in shape, orientation and layout; inside, Nest has created a series of generous and open interiors that beautifully complement the disciplined use of a carefully chosen minimalist palette and restrained detailing.

Lofty sloping ceilings rise with the rooflines and large sociable spaces are gently delineated from circulation areas by beautifully crafted freestanding partitions, deepened to house handy cloak storage and display shelving. Rooms are bathed in natural light via slimline windows and doors, while oversized Italian floor tiles with a concrete-style finish are warmed by the underfloor heating that runs throughout.

A light touch has been applied to the internal fittings, allowing the materiality of the houses to take centre stage. Bespoke contemporary kitchens, hewed by local carpenters Hart and Craftsman, are formed of composite marbled worktops, painted flush cabinetry and integrated appliances. Astro light fittings are offered in a white finish, while bathrooms house clean-lined Duravit sanitary ware and Grohe and Hans Grohe chrome taps and shower fittings.

The bedrooms are equally considered and finished as calming retreats to suit both study and sleep.

Outdoor Space

Each house at Thornborough Park alights in the middle of its own private lawned garden edged with newly planted hornbeam hedging. There is space aplenty for the green-fingered to create and cultivate.

In addition a sheltered paved patio lies adjacent to the open-plan living/dining and kitchen spaces, providing lovely spots for morning coffees and outdoor dining.

Each house has an approaching shingled driveway with two parking spaces. The development shares neatly concealed communal bin stores.

The Area

Situated in the Deben Valley, a designated Special Landscape, the bucolic village of Ufford clusters around a 15th-century church, St Mary of the Assumption, and a host of gently flowing brooks. The village has a wealth of historic buildings along with two local pubs, including The Ufford Crown, noted for its excellent food. Nearby is the Ufford Park Resort, sitting in majestic historic parkland and with an award-winning golf course – with Suffolk’s only two-tiered driving range – and a new spa. There is also the enchanting Rendlesham Forest nearby.

The larger town of Woodbridge is a three-mile drive south. Described as the ‘gem in Suffolk’s crown’, Woodbridge combines culture and scope for all outdoor activities in this Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. There is an excellent bookshop, Woodbridge Books and an independent cinema, The Riverside, together with a comprehensive range of shops and restaurants. The Unruly Pig crops up again and again in gastro awards and is well worth a visit.

Framlingham is a pretty market town reached in only 15 minutes by car. The Station is a local favourite, as is the Michelin-recommended Italian restaurant Watson and Walpole. Suffolk’s County town, Ipswich, reachable in under 30 minutes by car, offers theatre, gallery and museums life. It too has plenty of shops and restaurants, with Butterworth & Son and Applaud Coffee terrific coffee destinations.

The picturesque Suffolk coast which is famed for seaside towns and villages, including Aldeburgh, Southwold, Walberswick and Thorpeness, is also in close proximity. Nearby Snape Maltings is an internationally regarded cultural centre; a mix of converted malthouses and granaries dating from the mid-19th century, several exhibitions occur here throughout the year. It also hosts the Aldeburgh Festival, a 24-day event celebrating music & the arts, opera, comedy and film. The popular Shingle Street is a 15-minute drive from the houses, defined by its beautiful stretch of pebble and shingle beach, and the sea pools which form along its ever-shifting coastline. It is also home to an incredible range of domestic architecture, from a converted Martello tower, to a single-storey house designed by architect John Penn in the 1970s.

There are several highly rated state and private schools in the area, including Farlingaye High School in Woodbridge.

There are easy transport links to to the rest of East Anglia and London. Melton station connects with Woodbridge trains for services to London Liverpool Street in around 90 minutes; alternatively, trains run from Ipswich, a 20-minute drive away from the house, to the capital in under an hour. The A12 travels along the Suffolk coastline towards Norfolk or connects with the M25 heading to London.

Council Tax Band: TBC