The more than 220-year-old tree was grown from a pip planted by Mary Anne Brailsford between 1809 and 1815. Its apples were discovered nearly 50 years later by local gardener Henry Merryweather in a garden owned by Matthew Bramley. Merryweather was given permission to take cuttings from the Bramley seedling as long as the apples he sold bore Bramley's name. Steven said her great-grandfather, Merryweather, believed in that apple, he commercialised it, he marketed it, he promoted it he called it the King of Covent Garden'.
This elongated entrance sequence establishes a gradual transition from the public urban environment to the private domestic space. Enclosed by stone walls and a timber ceiling, the passage leads into a double-height living area that opens onto the central courtyard, creating immediate visual and spatial continuity across levels. The courtyard functions as the core of the house, mediating environmental performance and spatial organization.
Set on the outskirts of Bharuch, this weekend retreat grows out of the land as much as it rests upon it. The plot came with mature fruit-bearing trees like mango (Mangifera indica), chickoo (Manilkara zapota), and jamun (Syzygium cumini), whose presence defined the layout from the very beginning. Rather than clearing the site, the house was conceived as a curving form that gently weaves around the existing canopy, allowing architecture and landscape to remain in dialogue.
