a clifftop house above the chine with a private lift to the sand

The house sits high on the cliff above Canford Cliffs, where the land falls away through pine and gorse toward the chine and the water beyond. It was rebuilt in the last decade behind a render-and-glass elevation that keeps a low profile from the road and saves its full reach for the rear, where three storeys open south-west across Poole Bay to the Purbeck hills. The orientation is the point: the principal rooms are arranged to follow the afternoon light and to hold the long view of Brownsea Island and the harbour mouth.\n\nThe main floor is given over to a single, level run of living space — a kitchen of pale timber and honed stone, a dining area, and a sitting room that steps down a half-level to a glazed wall and a cantilevered terrace. Sliding screens draw back so the inside and the open air become one room in summer. Below, four of the six bedrooms occupy the lower floors, each with its own bathroom and most with a balcony; the principal suite takes the top of the house, with a dressing room and a bath set to the window. A lift runs the full height of the building and continues, by way of a tunnelled shaft through the cliff, down to a private gate onto the beach — a rare thing on this stretch, and the feature that defines the house.\n\nThe garden is terraced into the slope, planted with the maritime pine and holm oak that give the road its character, and sheltered enough for a level lawn and a heated pool on the upper terrace. There is parking for several cars behind electric gates and a double garage. Sandbanks, the chine, and the shops and cafés of Canford Cliffs village are all within a short walk, and the chain ferry to Studland is minutes by car.