Webb built little because he built with such care and Standen is a testament both to his love of fine craftsmanship and materials, and to his essential modesty.

The house enjoys the best of the views to the south, but nestling into the hillside, does not dominate the prospect. Webb carefully preserved the existing old buildings on the site and made them the starting-point for his new house. It was built to last, of sandstone quarried from the site, local bricks, hanging tiles, oak weather-boarding and render. All these materials were manipulated to create an eminently practical country house but in a manner that is unmistakably Webb's.

Webb designed the interior of the house with the same care, paying equal attention to the needs of the family and their staff. He created light-filled rooms in which plain panelling was attractively combined with the colour and pattern of wallpapers and fabrics. Standen is one of his last and least-altered country houses.

Building a house is never an easy business and Webb was not an architect to pander to a patron's fancy but he got on famously with the Beales, who understood exactly what he was about and were delighted with their new house. Shortly after they moved in they presented Webb with a silver snuff-box complete with a jokey inscription at their own expense: 'When clients talk irritating nonsense I take a pinch of snuff'.