Beach house with a £2m price tag

It could be in the Caribbean or perhaps in Cape Town. But in fact this modern, light-filled property is in one of the most sought-after locations in the UK. Mary Wilson reports from Sandbanks, Poole

One of the most expensive strips of land on the south coast - Sandbanks in Poole, Dorset - is a place where both locals and celebrities are desperate to live. Former cricketer Geoffrey Boycott and the manager of Portsmouth football club, Harry Redknapp, have homes there, as does Sir Peter Ogden, the computer millionaire who owns a mega-mansion. And, according to local agents, both Jamiroquai and David Seaman are looking.

Some people love the area so much - the social life, the location, the proximity to the water - that they stay on the spit, moving house every so often for a better position or a larger home. Property here sells for around £600 per sq ft, with the entry level at well over £2m. Houses come in all shapes and sizes, from older single-storey cottages to massive multi-million-pound luxury houses. Many are bought just for the plot, with a new house being built in place of an older one.

The Beach House is a very good example of a modern house which has been built on the site of one of the original cottages. "It was the first contemporary house to be built on Sandbanks in 1991," says Daryl Lord, who bought the house with his partner, Steven Fairbrother in 1999. "The architects, Potts & Potts, won a Poole Borough Council Pride of Place award for it."

Before he bought the Beach House, Daryl had owned a holiday home - a converted boat-house right on the water's edge - further along Sandbanks. This needed some alterations, but he and his partner couldn't agree on what to do, so they decided finding another house would be the easier option. "I knew the people who had built the Beach House and had always been interested in it," says Daryl. "It wasn't for sale, but we gave an agent the names of five houses we were interested in and this one came up first. I just adored it as soon as I saw it. At the time there was nothing else like it."

He loved the architecture and its position. As well as the boats and ferries coming and going across Poole Harbour, there's all the action at the Royal Motor Club to the left and the Sandbanks Yacht Club, next door to the right. The house was also in complete contrast to the one he previously owned in Suffolk - where he still owns a hotel. "That was an old farm, full of antiques. When that was sold, I put all the furniture into auction as I wanted to start completely afresh," he says.

The property has a striking and very unusual design. It is basically three separate units linked by walkways and gardens, with three turrets covered in deep blue glazed tiles - a style that has now become rather popular on Sandbanks - and the feel of the house as a whole is very cool, calm and full of light.

In the centre is an open-plan kitchen and breakfast room, with black-granite work surfaces, double American-style fridge/freezer and a large skylight. To one side of this is one of two interior courtyards, the other is between the dining and drawing room. These are planted with palm trees, huge ferns, Japanese maples and strelitzia (Bird of Paradise flower) - all of which need little or no maintenance. The ground of each is covered in pebbles and rocks, under which there is a membrane to stop the weeds growing. "The courtyards are open to the elements, so we never have to water them and the ferns will grow anywhere, even in concrete," says Daryl. At night, they can be lit up.

Along both sides of the house are long corridors. One way leads to two bedrooms, in between which is a matching bathroom and shower room with large skylights. The main bedroom at the end of the house has a vaulted ceiling with a gallery of windows running around the top of the wall allowing light to pour in. All the doors and windows along the corridors and overlooking the courtyards are in wood with large panes of glass - again designed to let as much light through the house as possible. "This is what the house is all about," says Daryl.

From the kitchen, going towards the sea, there is a dining room with a white-painted, timber-vaulted ceiling, the second courtyard and a large living room, which also has a vaulted ceiling over one half of the room. Off this, there is a large decked balcony with sliding roof to make the most of the sun and wooden steps down to the garden which, again, is easy maintenance with shingle, a few larger pebbles and rocks, decking and bushes. From here you walk through a gate onto your own square patch of private beach surrounded by a white picket fence.

At spring tides (the highest of the month) the sand is covered about a third of the way up, making it an idyllic holiday home for anyone with children. Go through another gate and you are at the water's edge for fishing, swimming or launching a boat. On the lower ground floor on one side is the guest bedroom which leads directly onto the decked garden, a bathroom and shower room and kitchenette. Under the other end of the house is a double garage and a study.

David and Stephen have not altered the house structurally, but they have brought it up to date and simplified it. Now it is thoroughly contemporary, with a Bang & Olufsen system fitted in most of the rooms, modern lighting and good security - each room has an intercom linked to a TV, so you can see who is at the entrance gates. The Beach House would not look out of place in Cape Town or the Caribbean. The only thing which might make you suspect you were still in the UK is the temperature outside.

The Beach House is on the market at £2.25m, through FPDSavills (01202 492502).