Friars sits in the Saxon Ring village of Holywell. Positioned overlooking water meadows and the Great River Ouse to the south, the house is located at the very south of a large plot extending to the North. Used as a kennels through the later part of the 20th century, the house still contained evidence of its history as a hostelry during the second world war, serving American servicemen based nearby. The previous owners had paid little regard for the conservation of the house.
When our clients, purchased the house in 2013 it had been unoccupied for many years and poorly maintained previously. The house had been placed on the At Risk Register by Huntingdonshire District Council. As an unoccupied house all work to bring the building back into occupation benefited from a lower VAT level of 5%.
Our approach to the restoration and extension was to strip away the 20Th Century lean-to’s and extensions, to reveal the original cottage. A new extension providing a kitchen, dining room, living room and master bedroom suite was designed to sit adjacent, negotiating a level change, and offset to create a south facing sheltered terrace overlooking the water meadow. The new extension was designed to sit subserviently from the cottage, devised as a collection of buildings, eclectically arranged where once a barn stood. Materially the extension is linked to the oak framed cottage through vertical oak cladding and a wonky brick chimney.
The planning officers and parish council recognised the client’s commitment to rescuing the house and make a stunning home, and supported the proposal, however badger activity in the garden delayed planning, which was eventually passed in 2015 after 10 months.
Working closely with the Conservation Officer from Huntingdonshire DC a programme to restore the house was devised, which allowed for a rolling programme of improvements with flexibility to replace or repair historic fabric as it was uncovered.
The house had been covered in pink cement render, which is a disaster for a timber framed building. The render was so hard, and offered no flexibility, a timber frame moves and wasn’t able to support the additional weight, and ultimately cracks appeared. The old oak rotted away as water made its way through the cracks and was unable to escape through encapsulating impermeable render.
Whilst the cement render created many problems, ultimately it also formed the external skeleton which held the remaining threadbare fabric together.
Most of the wattle and daub walls needed replacing, and we used a natural woodfibre insulation. New green oak replaced rotten timbers, by an amazingly skilled builder, FA Valiant & Sons, using traditional joinery methods. The timber frame is then wrapped with a further 15cms of woodfibre insulation before being coated with lime based render. Through these changes we were able to produce a house which far exceeds current building regulations thermal performance requirements, and is a healthy, breathable wall construction, letting any moisture trapped in the structure escape.
During the restoration we were keen not to wipe away the character of the old building, the broken saddle roof and the wonky walls and chimney, each retained through the rebuild, telling the story of the 350 year life. Many features lost in layers of plasterboard and boxing out were exposed, the large ingle nook fireplace, Stones believed to have been from the dissolved Ramsey Abbey used as rubble infill in timber walls, and historic timber panels also believed to have been reused from a much grander source.
Windows in the existing house were all replaced with double glazed bronze casement windows housed in oak frames. The windows in the extension were slim line aluminium double glazing, allowing the glazed screen connection new and old to be fully opened to the garden. In the first floor bedroom, the glazed screen disappears back into a pocket in the wall, providing uninterrupted views across the meadow.
An Air Source Heat Pump provides heating to underfloor heating across the ground floor and the first floor of the extension. Heating is supplemented by two wood burning stoves providing heat into the main living spaces. The total electricity usage is testament to the care and attention taken during design and construction phases and meets Passivhaus criteria for total energy usage.
The main house has been refurbished using traditional building skills alongside modern materials:
The oak frame has been repaired, and PIR insulation added between the frame as well as fixing Diffutherm woodfibre insulation externally. This has been rendered using an NBT Lime render system. Traditional oak windows have been bespoke made to accept double glazed units to replace existing joinery. The roof has been repaired using traditional clay plain tiles over external woodfibre insulation as well as filling rafters with flexible woodfibre batts.
The new building is constructed off traditional strip footing and beam and block floor,, with an internally insulated cavity masonry construction to first floor level, in order to accommodate tanking as the building is partly below ground. The upper floor and roof is framed in timber, with insulation between studs and cold flat roof construction. Walls are clad in timber; stained shiplap for the rear, and green oak vertical boards with a shaped cover mould for the main front building.
