Growing new roots

We drove through winding hillside roads and stopped in front of a house that was built on a mountainside. The house’s façade is deceptively small and simple, and it was only when we entered that we were able to comprehend the spaciousness of the structure. What is visible from the road is only the top floor, and the front door opens to reveal generous living spaces.

"My working life is entirely made up of Japan," says Rosemary Cragg who has imbibed some Japanese habits. As is customary with the Japanese, visitors to her home are requested to take off their shoes. We did not mind at all. Taking off our footwear allowed us to appreciate the feel of the highly polished narra wooden floors. "I love natural wood but I don’t like dark wood," says Rosemary, as we appreciated the natural grain of the shiny yet unstained yellow narra planks.

From the foyer, one can ascend a few steps to the level where the bedrooms are situated. There is a smaller guest bedroom that faces the road and a master’s bedroom that commands a spectacular view of both the farm lots below and mountains in the distance. On clear days, Taal Lake is visible from this vantage point. However, it is cloudy on the day of our visit and what we saw was a distant blue-green ridge. Closer, we saw a farmer tending his crops. An equally minuscule carabao grazed nearby.

Surrounded by sliding glass doors that lead to a balcony, the bedroom seems to encompass the magnificent surroundings. One can spend hours gazing at this moving, constantly changing diorama. "What amazes me is that Ayala Land Premier has been able to develop a subdivision in such a beautiful place," she enthuses. 

Although an air-conditioner had been fitted in the bedroom, it has never been used. Even during summer, the ceiling fan was used sparingly because the mountain breezes did a wonderful job in cooling the room. As expected, however, watching a typhoon wreak its havoc was both an awesome and humbling experience. The force of the wind of Typhoon Caloy was powerful at this height, necessitating the use of tempered glass.

The steps in the foyer also lead down to the living room. Like the bedroom, glass doors surround the space. We opened these and went out to the suspended balcony. A gust of wind blew the hair into our faces and we mentioned that being there felt like we were on the deck of a ship. To which Rosemary laughed, "That’s funny because my husband always says that this balcony reminds him of a ship. Because of the steel cables, the wind comes whistling through. He stands outside with a glass of beer in the evening and jokes, ‘Port in a bit.’"

Dr. Chris Cragg has installed a thermometer, barometer and hydrometer bought from a ship chandler in England in one wall near the dining area.

The walls of the house are painted white and sparingly adorned with Japanese paintings, photographs and other memorabilia. "What’s wonderful about white in the bedroom, for example, is that it changes with the light. In the morning the room sort of glows, and at sunset there seems to be an orange light. White changes all the time. It’s like having lots of colors," explains Rosemary.

Throughout the house are native sculptures sourced from Palawan. She points out an imperfect frog carved from a heavy block of wood. "They weren’t selling it and a workman was sitting on it. I did a little tawad and got it down to P350," she smiles. It seems that she has been able to assimilate some Filipino customs as well, and has incorporated an essential to most Filipino homes: the "dirty" kitchen. "So you don’t smell anything," she explains.

Her future projects involve landscaping the garden and putting together photographs taken when the house was being built. "I became involved in the building process. I got into the habit of coming down here six days a week. At lunchtime when everything was deathly quiet, I would tiptoe down and catch workers sleeping in different positions. I’ve got the electrician on the bookshelf and workers sleeping in the trees. They are wonderful lunchtime pictures. We have bayawak but I try not to mention it to the workers because their reaction is ‘Yeah, that tastes good.’ I want this place to be a wildlife sanctuary."

An enormous polished tree root from Isabela is an imposing natural sculpture that dominates one wall. "I didn’t think that we could get it into the house but our architect got his men to carry it there. I think it is beautiful."

Rosemary continues, "I think our architect John Pangilinan was very brave because this is a very difficult piece of land to build on. It’s very steep. We have been incredibly lucky. I probably wouldn’t have known where to live without coming and seeing Ayala Greenfield Estates and getting such a good feeling about it; and then finding a very imaginative architect. Fate guides you."