The name of the property may prepare a visitor for the profusely colourful garden, but as glimpses of the house are gradually revealed it is an unexpected delight: a unique example of mid c.20 modernist architecture brought to a steep Cornish valley by its architect, whose interest in the work of renowned modernist Richard Neutra inspired this close homage to houses designed in Southern California and particularly Maison Delcourt in France.

The hallmark characteristics of the style are represented in this lovely house with dramatic effect and more than a little suggestion of luxurious living.

The recessed front entrance opens into a wide foyer, quarry tiled and naturally lit by the floor to ceiling windows. To the left is an office and spare bedroom with en suite bathroom. This leads to a sauna, solarium and plant room. To the right a door opens into the double garage.

The ground floor has four double bedrooms, three along the front of the house. Each of these has the luxury of space, natural light from the south facing aspect and floor to ceiling sliding French doors opening to the front garden. The en suites have been modernised recently and are wet room/shower rooms with luxurious fittings. A fourth bedroom is a self-contained studio with a small, fitted kitchenette and ensuite bathroom. Its window looks on to the interior swimming pool. This is where the long hall arrives at a garden room with a beautiful L shaped blue tiled pool. An external door opens to the garden and external pool terrace.

Carpeted low-rise stairs ascend from the foyer to the first floor where the living room reveals the most impactful experience of the house, a stunning frontage opening onto a continuous external balcony that wraps around the whole house. The first floor is where the influence of Scandinavian design is most evident, with simplicity of line and form in both the architecture and the fittings, combined with high quality materials. Ceilings are panelled with clear hemlock wood (no knotted panels) door frames are teak or mahogany and the whole interior appears sumptuous in its details.

The living room is T shaped with three distinct sitting areas. A wood burner is set into a flat chimney breast with large, recessed wood store as a feature. The effect of continuous floor to ceiling glazing along the entire room is that it floats, unmoored from fixed points. The room lends itself to entertaining on a generous scale with easy blending of interior and exterior space via the wide expanse of glass doors onto the balcony.

The principal bedroom is off the living room, through a short corridor flanked by an en suite shower room and deep, spacious fitted wardrobes and shelving system. Inbuilt storage is a feature throughout the house, in hallways and bedrooms. A sunken marble bath is the real surprise here, as well as the vast expanse of windows and sliding doors to the rear and the front of the house. A beautiful view extends over the tops of mature trees to the hillside beyond and the valley leading down to the coast.

A dining room extends along the front aspect. It also opens to the side onto the continuous balcony. With plenty of room for a large table this is a generous space which flows into the kitchen, divided by an interesting system of shelves and a wine rack accommodating dozens of bottles.

The kitchen is fitted with a full height, shelved, dry larder and plentiful cupboards under teak and slate worktops with two ovens and two hobs and an extractor hood. As with the rest of this floor, the kitchen is full of natural light, with windows along the whole east facing aspect.

A rear hall leads to the cold store, a walk-in refrigerated cold store. Opposite this is another deep storage cupboard and the laundry area in the rear lobby beside the back door and path to the garden.

Garden House offers a genuine experience of modernist architectural history. While its composition is rigidly horizontal, topped by a flat roof, the lofty ceiling height and huge expanses of glass create an interior of beautiful light and space.

Over a period of 45 years the owner developed the garden to create a haven of spectacular beauty, each season bringing new colour and interest by way of bulbs, perennials, shrubs and trees. The upper level is quite steeply terraced alongside the drive which descends to the house. A large front lawn creates space for views over the lower garden which drifts down to the wooded lane beyond the perimeter fence.

The second swimming pool, deep and wide, is at the south-eastern corner of the front garden. A set of attractive granite steps leads to the rear balcony and network of paths up through the higher terraces.

At the top of the drive is a useful garage and garden tool store.

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