Another country house, another elegant staircase design.

For this project we designed this beautiful staircase which showcases traditional detailing at its best. The traditional wreathed volute at the end of the oak handrail compliments the single curtail of the bottom step and juxtaposes these traditional Georgian details with more contemporary metal spindles.

First impressions count. First impressions for a home, really count.
The portico of this elegant Grade II* listed town house was in need of some real tender loving care before we started our restoration project. The restored timberwork provides the sort of entrance you would expect and really sets the tone for the beautifully restored interior within.

We are passionate about proportion. Get it right and the elegance it creates is a given, you accept that things look right. Get it wrong and the fact something is amiss is obvious. The Golden Section (or Ratio) is a proportion system we often apply, using the mathematics of nature as described in the Fibonacci sequence, seen throughout nature and in Classical architecture. We used the Golden Section to get the proportions just so for this house in Wiltshire, and we were pleased when it won Best Traditional House in the Daily Telegraph Homebuilding and Renovating Awards The Telegraph.

Even working on historic buildings, sometimes we get a chance to do something really striking, and we love to seize those opportunities!

This historic barn conversion in Wiltshire had views to the South over an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and we were able to secure consent for this feature dormer window. Not only did it allow views out, but it also allowed the previously uninhabited roofspace to be flooded with light, transforming the space from dingy loft to a light flooded and airy space.

We feel that when working on listed buildings we have a responsibility to be sensitive to them and their history. Over restoring a building is often as bad as doing nothing at all.

This Georgian townhouse was in a very poor state of repair having been both a hotel and offices for many years. Lots of elements needed repairing, but we had to be careful to do it in such a way that the repairs were not obvious. The craftmanship in this field of Moulding The Builder is evident on this rubbed brick window head and key stone where they have executed our repair scheme in such a way that looking at it now, it simply looks ‘right’ rather than rebuilt.

We consider ourselves very lucky to work on some beautiful barns. A key principle we adopt is to ensure that wherever possible the building keeps its character and still retains a barn like quality rather than that of a regular house.

Our scheme for this Grade II listed barn in Wiltshire carefully exposed the historic timbers in the former hay loft to ensure the buildings history could still be read. Careful placement of elements ensured we could incorporate the office and home cinema the brief required, without compromising the listed structure.

We don't only work in the country; our projects often take us into the town.

This project in a Conservation Area reworked a former car dealership in a pair of Grade II Listed buildings dating back to the late 1700s/early 1800s. The key move was to treat both buildings as separate, removing the unattractive and awkward 1970s single frontage and replacing with two new timber shopfronts more in keeping with the style of the individual buildings.

We love a challenge, whether that be a demanding brief, tricky topography or environmental restrictions. We find these challenges result in a solution which is robustly and intrinsically rooted in the place, making the building feel 'at home' in its surroundings from day one.

This award winning house in Wiltshire brought us a seriously challenging site in a UNESCO world heritage site and in an area of particular interest to the County Ecologist. The result is a comfortable home for a young family that feels like it's always been there, sitting comfortably in relation to the church, the conservation area and the rest of the village.

As it’s the first day of Summer we’ve been looking back at some photos of a pool house we designed at a country house in North Hampshire a few years ago.
The building was designed to compliment the Tudor Gothic Revival style of the main house and sits within a new landscape design by our talented client around the existing pool.

Sometimes a client comes to us with an existing property which may look like it’s been altered too much to make something promising out of what’s there. Looking closely can sometimes give the germ of an idea for a rescue rather than a rebuild.

This 1908 country house in Wiltshire had been much modified over the years, but the striking gable of the original proved to be an excellent starting point for a triple gabled reworking as seen here in these before and after photos. Brickwork painted in a carefully selected shade, better proportioned timber sash windows and a reclaimed Welsh slate roof have completed the transformation.

How much detail is there in a staircase?

Quite lot as it happens. The staircase in this award winning home we designed in Wiltshire is the result of careful decisions over lots of details. A cut string. Scotia mouldings. Full height balustrade. Rotated spindles. Contrasting finishes between riser, tread and string. All these decisions and more come together to create the design we were looking to build, the trick is to make it look obvious and therefore simple…

Old buildings often throw up unexpected challenges… For example, how to access the wine cellar of the Grade II* listed Georgian townhouse without compromising the original plan form of the room it is accessed from.

The solution was perhaps more Thunderbirds than George III, but installing a gib door and floor hatch minimise the visual intrusion and negate the need to bisect the space with an alien staircase. Sometimes our conservation work can challenge us, but the opportunity to work out neat solutions like these is why we relish that challenge.

We think Georgian architecture is gorgeous, so we were very pleased when Jason Orme applied the same term to our work in the title of his article about one of our country house projects in Wiltshire. The article, in the April 2015 issue of Homebuilding and Renovating Magazine, illustrates this beautiful family home across 9 pages with pictures by Simon Maxwell.

The beginning of the article sums up our approach to this style of home perfectly... "Creating a well-executed new home in traditional style requires the services of a skilled designer and a willingness to stress about the details".

When working in traditional styles of architecture it is important to get things ‘right’. Many different elements need to coalesce correctly for the finished scheme to look comfortable.

Take for example this country house in the North Wessex Downs AONB. Carefully modelling the form of the house by breaking the mass of the building into two forms with different but complimentary looks, rather than simply using the same style of all elevations gives the overall scheme a more interesting aesthetic of contrast that reflects a narrative of development over time.

The application of the Golden Section ratio to plan, elevation and openings of the building ensures comfortable proportions in keeping with traditional forms. Careful selection of materials (reclaimed brick, render and timber windows) allows the building to feel grounded and ‘at home’ on the site from day one.

All of these carefully considered choices add up to a whole greater than the sum of its parts.

When working in traditional styles of architecture it is important to get things ‘right’. Many different elements need to coalesce correctly for the finished scheme to look comfortable.

Take for example this country house in the North Wessex Downs AONB. Carefully modelling the form of the house by breaking the mass of the building into two forms with different but complimentary looks, rather than simply using the same style of all elevations gives the overall scheme a more interesting aesthetic of contrast that reflects a narrative of development over time.

The application of the Golden Section ratio to plan, elevation and openings of the building ensures comfortable proportions in keeping with traditional forms. Careful selection of materials (reclaimed brick, render and timber windows) allows the building to feel grounded and ‘at home’ on the site from day one.

All of these carefully considered choices add up to a whole greater than the sum of its parts.

There’s just something very welcoming about a portico. Not only does it provide shelter from the rain when opening the door on a purely practical level, but aesthetically it also provides depth and interest to the façade of a building.

A portico can also set the tone of the experience of being in the building, from the very grand and formal, to the more relaxed and welcoming as seen here. The portico on this country house in the South Downs is elegantly restrained so as not to feel overpowering and is immaculately executed by Agincourt Contractors.

Our conservation expertise mean we are privileged to get invited to visit some amazing buildings which aren’t open to the public and see ‘through the keyhole’.

Case in point, this Grade I listed castle from the 1840s. We were appointed in an advisory role by potential purchasers to inspect the condition of the building and examine the feasibility of reconstructing a lost orangery building. We often get involved with properties during a purchase or sale and being involved at an early stage allows us to develop a thorough understanding of both the project and the client brief and requirements.

Sometimes things which were never supposed to be seen, reveal themselves during the course of our work on historic buildings. Carefully incorporating these features into our work gives an opportunity to celebrate the inherent beauty of this kind of vernacular detail.

In this case while undertaking conversion works to an historic barn in the Vale of Pewsey, we uncovered a series of roof trusses, which we subsequently exposed and incorporated into the spaces we created within the roofspace. Historic notches from previous configurations add to the narrative of the history of the building and this layer of history is now able to be appreciated, rather than hidden away in a dusty loft.

We don’t only design new buildings. We often work on schemes to extend and enhance much loved family homes with new spaces.

This scheme for a garden room helped to improve the connection between the main house on a country estate in the Test Valley and it’s beautiful English Country Garden. Classical proportions and details were meticulously married with glazing styling to harmonise with the existing Edwardian house.

Our conservation work gives us the opportunity to visit lots of interesting historic structures and, these can range from the humble to the imposing. It is unusual to find that juxtaposition in one project, but here is a hand drawn elevation of a complex of buildings we assessed for a Condition Survey where we found just that.