Saturday, November 2, 1985

Exercise In Underground Relaxation Spa In Cave Only One Surprise In Dramatic Landscape Project

It is perhaps the ultimate in outdoor privacy: a spa enclosed by a cave.

In what was a boringly flat, oddly shaped back yard, Bryce Baker has created an outdoor environment dramatic in its design and filled with visual surprises.Not the least among the novel touches is a boulder-flanked hill topped with delicate trees and small shrubs that from most vantage points cleverly hides the entrance to the cozy cave concealing the underground spa.

The hill provides a spectacular view from the interior of an open, airy, glass-filled $700,000 home in Heathrow built by The Bridgewater Companies of which Baker is president.

The four-bedroom home, says Baker, is ''an entertainment home,'' and the landscaping serves to reinforce this theme.

Baker designed the landscape to create two separate living areas -- the home and the pool/spa. The curious, inviting configuration of plantings, pathways, a stream and the hill evolved from Baker's efforts ''to use every square foot of space'' on an irregularly edged, pie-shaped lot that narrows from the back of the house down to frontage on a small lake.

Saturday, November 2, 1985

Exercise In Underground Relaxation Spa In Cave Only One Surprise In Dramatic Landscape Project

It is perhaps the ultimate in outdoor privacy: a spa enclosed by a cave.

In what was a boringly flat, oddly shaped back yard, Bryce Baker has created an outdoor environment dramatic in its design and filled with visual surprises.Not the least among the novel touches is a boulder-flanked hill topped with delicate trees and small shrubs that from most vantage points cleverly hides the entrance to the cozy cave concealing the underground spa.

The hill provides a spectacular view from the interior of an open, airy, glass-filled $700,000 home in Heathrow built by The Bridgewater Companies of which Baker is president.

The four-bedroom home, says Baker, is ''an entertainment home,'' and the landscaping serves to reinforce this theme.

Baker designed the landscape to create two separate living areas -- the home and the pool/spa. The curious, inviting configuration of plantings, pathways, a stream and the hill evolved from Baker's efforts ''to use every square foot of space'' on an irregularly edged, pie-shaped lot that narrows from the back of the house down to frontage on a small lake.