Inside a unique 'tin box' on the Duryard Estate near Exeter

It was a dog walk that led Zoe Gelis to the site, not far from Exeter University, where she would build her dream home. This modernist building, referred to by locals as ‘the tin box’, is not to everyone’s liking, but it oozes individuality

Zoe Gelis has Coco and Dolly to thank for leading her to a place that she now calls home.

‘Had I not been walking the dogs, I never would have known that this area existed,’ says Zoe. ‘Most people that come here now immediately say, oh! I didn’t know this bit was here.’

Zoe and Mathieu (Image: SG Haywood Photography) This incredible spot teeming with wildlife is just north of Exeter University’s Streatham campus. It was on one of her regular dog walks that Zoe first discovered this rural haven – and a site for sale.

‘I’d always wanted to build something modern but just wasn’t sure how it was going to happen,’ says Zoe, who was living with her young daughter on the other side of the city while her partner Mathieu was working in Paris. ‘He was due to come back and we knew where we were living was going to be too small. I’d seen this site coming on and off the market and it got me thinking.’

Zoe made some enquiries and found out that a planning process had been started and stopped over many years because of various issues surrounding the land, which is owned by the Duryard Estate. Most unsuspecting buyers had been put off, but Zoe was intrigued.

The house is deliberately modest and low-key inside (Image: SG Haywood Photography) The estate agent advised her to get a good lawyer and a decent architect if there was going to be any hope of making this complex undertaking work.

‘I got a good lawyer and then I brought Annie up here,’ says Zoe, referring to local architect Annie Martin. We give each other a knowing look. I’ve met Annie a couple of times now on her previous projects and she’s talented and gets stuff done.

Zoe continues: ‘It was a beautiful evening; the sun was setting over there and I said to Annie – are you up for this? She just said, ‘yep’!’

Dining is a pleasure in a room that overlooks the views outside (Image: SG Haywood Photography) Restrictions meant the design of any new dwelling here had to conform exactly to the footprint of the existing building.

Both Zoe and Annie share a passion for modernist architecture, so were on the same page when it came to the look and style of the house.

‘It’s definitely not everybody’s cup of tea,’ says Zoe, describing some of the reactions so far. ‘People call it the tin box!’ she says, laughing. ‘But the beauty of the building is from the inside, out.’

Inside is sleek and uncluttered with just enough on show to make the building feel like home (Image: SG Haywood Photography) It’s true - never judge a house by its zinc cladding. No one setting foot in here could fail to be amazed by the views out of the solar glass windows. We’re in the city but it looks and feels like the middle of the countryside, with birds of prey flying high in the sky, trees, flora and fauna everywhere you look, plus the local resident deer. We spot one having a nibble of a nearby hedge.

‘What I love about being here is not so much arriving,’ says Zoe. ‘It’s coming into the house because I notice what’s going on outside. There are so many different levels. I’ll walk down the stairs and see what the trees are doing. The animals all hang out there,’ she adds, pointing towards the dining room window. ‘And the terrace is really nice for a drink in the evening because the sun sets over there. It’s a question of noticing, I think.’

It sounds idyllic, and it is. But like anything in life worth having, getting to the ‘watching the sunset on the terrace’ stage hasn’t been easy. For instance, there was the caravan phase (shudder).

Vintage furniture has been bought online and everything else has come from the family's previous home (Image: SG Haywood Photography) ‘We were up there on that flat bit at the top for four or five months,’ says Zoe, describing how she and her daughter, then aged 13, (Mathieu was away working) camped in a 1980s touring caravan with their two dogs while the bulk of the building work was done.

‘We used to go to the gym to shower and then come back and sleep in there.’

Zoe says one of the low points for her came during a heavy storm when a branch from a nearby oak tree fell off, narrowly missing the caravan.

Open plan living makes the inside space feel welcoming (Image: SG Haywood Photography) ‘You just hunker down,’ says Zoe, a psychotherapist who was working full time during the build. ‘I just kept looking at the alternative – rental contracts, moving the dogs, not being on site… You have to get through it day by day.’

Zoe is full of praise for her ‘resourceful’ daughter who adapted to living out of a suitcase on a construction site for the best part of a year pretty well.

The builders took pity on the pair at one point and built a temporary kitchen in the downstairs annexe of the developing house. It didn’t have windows or doors but at least it was somewhere to cook and eat.

Open plan living makes the inside space feel welcoming (Image: SG Haywood Photography) Morale was also boosted by watching the key milestones.

‘The windows going in was a really exciting day because we had a massive crane hoisting huge bits of glass from the top to the bottom, swinging about on ropes,’ says Zoe. She lists the other defining moments of the year-long project, including the zinc going on and the scaffolding coming down.

‘And then people start turning up with the finishing stuff,’ she adds. ‘Not the building stuff, but light fittings and soft furnishings.’

It was important to get the inside right and not just in terms of aesthetics. Zoe wanted to use local firms and has upcycled and reclaimed wherever possible.

Splashes of colour bring warmth and style (Image: SG Haywood Photography) Ashburton-based craftsman Ambrose Vevers has used timber from the site’s cleared trees to make bar stools, chopping boards and bathroom accessories for the house. Curtain maker Barbara Rouse, based in a studio in Clyst St Mary, took care of the textiles.

Vintage furniture has been bought online and everything else has come from the family’s previous home.

‘I tried as much as possible to be environmentally friendly and frugal,’ says Zoe, before adding. ‘This is not a stupid statement, but you get quite tired of spending money. Even if you’ve saved and you’re on a budget, when you actually get the bills coming through, it’s like, oh my god!

‘I just felt that I wanted things to be made or sourced as much as possible.’

It always refreshing to hear some self-build home truths. Zoe is also honest about the fact she hasn’t finished here yet. The family moved in during September 2022 but there is still some work to do inside. Zoe wants to add to the look of the upstairs rooms and plans to make the lower ground floor feel cosier.

‘What was going to be interior budget ended up being garden budget because it was pretty bleak out there,’ she says. ‘So, I got on my hands and knees with a friend and we planted more than 300 plants over a couple of days. I’ve never gardened in my life and I absolutely loved it. It’s so satisfying. And then watching it all happen and come into bloom. It’s extraordinary.’

It's a crowd divider from the outside, but Zoe and her family are delighted with their contemporary looking home (Image: SG Haywood Photography) The garden, the house, the family – everything has joined together rather nicely in this fascinating little green pocket of the city.