When I saw the plans, my immediate impression was unbelievable. I thought this can’t be The Cotswolds. It must be California or Switzerland or anywhere else on the globe where good, modern architecture seems to happen naturally. But I was wrong. It is believable and it’s really happening in Gloucestershire. Masterpiece architecture is exciting enough wherever it is built, but there’s something extraordinary are in the deeply conservative English countryside. For too long the culture of the country has been sentimental and backward-looking: quite literally afraid to change
