Listed Thatched Cottage

The ground floor layout for this grade II listed cottage was not working for our clients. The original front door was rarely used by them or their visitors, as parking is at the rear, yet the rear entrance passed through the utility room. A poorly laid out kitchen with no dining space and disconnected to the dining room made it difficult to prepare food and supervise their young children at a dining table. The Clients also wanted a space that would allow the house to have a better connection to the garden.

 

The process we take our clients through always starts the same, we listen carefully to them to find out what works and doesn’t work for them. It is from this starting point that we then develop our ideas, present options, and again listen to the feedback. Of course, where this project differs from many is that it is grade II Listed which meant that any proposals had to be sensitive to why the house was Listed.

 

Due to the house being Listed it was important to minimise the extent of alterations to the structure of the building. The proposals resisted opening up and demolishing the wall between the existing kitchen and dining room, instead the kitchen and dining room, and the play room and living room have swapped sides. By reviewing the layout of the house we were able to minimise the impact on the Listed building whilst providing for modern family living. The utility has been moved to where the existing kitchen was previously, this allows for the rear porch to just be used as a porch and  visitors don’t have to pass by drying laundry to get into the house. There is now an open plan kitchen - dining room that can now open to a new garden room designed to create a space within the house that can allow the applicants to enjoy the garden. The surrounding courtyard will be landscaped to enhance the use of the garden room.

​