Warwickshire
Grade II Listed - Renovation and extension
Concept design through to construction information.
Generous and well-proportioned sash windows dot the facade constructed in bricks kilned a few hundred yards from the site. Bright formal interiors were perfect for the status enjoyed by the incumbent parish priests here – accustomed to keeping a good table for the visits of neighbouring gentry. Although perhaps at the expense of the upkeep of the house itself.
Situated in a village overlooking a rolling landscape of hills and valleys, the continuing presence of agriculture and absence of industrial development has ensured that remarkably few physical changes have taken place over the past hundred years. Anecdotal evidence of thirteenth-century origins, close association with an Oxford college and a resident niece of George III nevertheless provide this house with an intriguing narrative.
The creation of a warm and dry semi-subterranean ground floor studio results from attention to the poorly maintained external fabric. Repaired windows no longer rattle in the wind, and new dormer windows fill the naturally insulated attic rooms with natural light for children to play. The soundtrack of a twenty-first-century family home replaces the polite chit-chat of parsonage life.
Generations of thrifty make-do-and-mend repairs had resulted in this elegant house deteriorating. Distinctive brickwork crumbled as a result of hard cementitious mortar repairs, and structural timber had been allowed to decay and rot. The re-introduction of lime plasters, mortars and oak-lathed ceilings replaced damaging modern counterparts. Fine panelling, previously crudely repaired and covered with hardboard, was reinstated, providing a backdrop to a beautifully elegant new Kitchen.
