Gorge View Cottage (now available for holiday letting: www.gorgeviewcottage.co.uk)
So here is the new cottage conversion. Using money from Huw's early retirement from HP (aka redundancy) and inheritance from his parents (Cyril passed away in 2005), the old decrepit garage building was made over. Quite a saga.
The garage was itself a very old little barn, a two-up two-down affair, adapted (we know not when) to have garage doors. On old deeds it is mentioned as a gardener's cottage and perhaps indeed that is what it had been - you can just about imagine someone living in there. Looking closely at the stone work you can see that it was build up higher at some stage ... so maybe it was single storey back in pre-Victorian times.
Of course like many we did not use it as a garage but for storage. The main garage-y bit had the trailer and lots of stacked bits on old tables. Next door was the side entrance which was our log store, camping bits and bikes. Up the ladder-cum-steps through a hole in the ceiling to the workshop room above - blanked out windows, but a very substantial fitted workbench. And through a door to a dingy second room above the garage.
The trouble was that most all the timbers, roof and floor were heavily wormed and rotten. As the tiles started to slip we knew it needed a major overhaul, even if we kept it as is. Then we thought it would be nice to convert it to a more usable space - maybe an office, extra bedroom, place for Mary to do art, or practise Ayurveda or her psychotherapy. And whatever we did it would have to be very sustainable. After a few year's planning and investigating and we found a good local architect and began thinking it through.
The garage was itself a very old little barn, a two-up two-down affair, adapted (we know not when) to have garage doors. On old deeds it is mentioned as a gardener's cottage and perhaps indeed that is what it had been - you can just about imagine someone living in there. Looking closely at the stone work you can see that it was build up higher at some stage ... so maybe it was single storey back in pre-Victorian times.
Of course like many we did not use it as a garage but for storage. The main garage-y bit had the trailer and lots of stacked bits on old tables. Next door was the side entrance which was our log store, camping bits and bikes. Up the ladder-cum-steps through a hole in the ceiling to the workshop room above - blanked out windows, but a very substantial fitted workbench. And through a door to a dingy second room above the garage.
The trouble was that most all the timbers, roof and floor were heavily wormed and rotten. As the tiles started to slip we knew it needed a major overhaul, even if we kept it as is. Then we thought it would be nice to convert it to a more usable space - maybe an office, extra bedroom, place for Mary to do art, or practise Ayurveda or her psychotherapy. And whatever we did it would have to be very sustainable. After a few year's planning and investigating and we found a good local architect and began thinking it through.
The idea, to keep things simple and, we thought, pacify the planners, was to revamp the main stone "barn" and to make a bit more space have a proper stairs on the outside - wooden framed. So essentially you'd have to go out to go up. The architect came up with some nice visualisations, including extending the roof a little to shelter the stairs. Great - planning permission went in. And was duly rejected!
It seems they did not like a wooden end to the building (even though to original barn did have a wood-fill end, and it was on the far side from the road so few would even see that). They wanted it all built in stone. We thought that would cost a lot more, so our architect adapted the design to compromise half way. Again no. So once more (like the plan for the Annexe) we were faced with either acquiescing, or mounting an appeal. We cogitated, and got our chosen local (sustainably sound) builder to give us a re-quote for all-stone. As it turned out the extra cost was not that great, Huw was leaving HP and so we now had the wherewithal, and it would mean both more room inside, and an internal stairs - so very liveable. We went with it - new designs were forthcoming - and planning was approved. Hooray.
After getting the very kind cooperation of our neighbours, Trevor and Anne at Ulverstone, work started in February 2010. Ahead of that though we had to work out what would happen to the stuff we stored in the garage. It would not be going back in if we were going to make it a living space. So sheds were needed. Huw did the research and we had a large and small shed build at the end of the garden - the bigger one for storage, and the smaller one to become Huw's new workshop. Just sorting and moving everything out was quite a job.
The plan was that the main work would take around 3 months to complete. It was rather frightening how immediate the work started and how quickly the old barn, barring the stone walls, got dismantled. A small digger was in to clear the floor and dig foundations. We asked to keep all the old (nail-y) wood so we could burn it in winter and that was a job keeping up, moving and sorting the wood to the end of the garden.
What was brilliant was that the builders were excellent (big plug for Gillam and Chivers, and in particular the lead builder Chas). They worked hard but sensitively. They took on board our wishes. Always tidied up at the end of each day.
But it is still a very messy, noisy business. And for most of the time our cars could not be in the drive and so had to be parked elsewhere - avoiding the wrath of neighbours who took (perhaps understandable) exception to more vehicles than necessary being parked out on the narrow lane - so we dutifully moved them further afield.
It seems they did not like a wooden end to the building (even though to original barn did have a wood-fill end, and it was on the far side from the road so few would even see that). They wanted it all built in stone. We thought that would cost a lot more, so our architect adapted the design to compromise half way. Again no. So once more (like the plan for the Annexe) we were faced with either acquiescing, or mounting an appeal. We cogitated, and got our chosen local (sustainably sound) builder to give us a re-quote for all-stone. As it turned out the extra cost was not that great, Huw was leaving HP and so we now had the wherewithal, and it would mean both more room inside, and an internal stairs - so very liveable. We went with it - new designs were forthcoming - and planning was approved. Hooray.
After getting the very kind cooperation of our neighbours, Trevor and Anne at Ulverstone, work started in February 2010. Ahead of that though we had to work out what would happen to the stuff we stored in the garage. It would not be going back in if we were going to make it a living space. So sheds were needed. Huw did the research and we had a large and small shed build at the end of the garden - the bigger one for storage, and the smaller one to become Huw's new workshop. Just sorting and moving everything out was quite a job.
The plan was that the main work would take around 3 months to complete. It was rather frightening how immediate the work started and how quickly the old barn, barring the stone walls, got dismantled. A small digger was in to clear the floor and dig foundations. We asked to keep all the old (nail-y) wood so we could burn it in winter and that was a job keeping up, moving and sorting the wood to the end of the garden.
What was brilliant was that the builders were excellent (big plug for Gillam and Chivers, and in particular the lead builder Chas). They worked hard but sensitively. They took on board our wishes. Always tidied up at the end of each day.
But it is still a very messy, noisy business. And for most of the time our cars could not be in the drive and so had to be parked elsewhere - avoiding the wrath of neighbours who took (perhaps understandable) exception to more vehicles than necessary being parked out on the narrow lane - so we dutifully moved them further afield.
Problems arose as the building went on - but usual for this kind of thing. Weather was not great to start with, but by knocking out the one wooden wall, and keep the roof on to the last moment, the builders could work on in relative shelter. Later on the good weather was perfect for getting the new roof on. As the old wood came out the builders discovered a 1914 newspaper under the upstairs floorboards, and we assume that was when the upper extension was done. When they removed the stair-cum-ladder they found a beautiful hand carved relief hare and squirrel on one of the stones (something we've retained as a feature). Whilst the outside original stone work was cleaned and re-pointed, the extension work was a beautifully executed bit of new stone-work, carefully blended in to the existing stone, and best of all using the stone we had in abundance in our garden (saving us hundreds of pounds as we went) and meaning no carbon-miles! Chas suggested, we agreed, and he took great care in making all the new window openings slightly arched for visual effect and in keeping with the style of older buildings in the area.
The inside design was more complex than we'd imagined because the space was so tight. Upstairs we wanted a small shower/toilet, but headroom was marginal. Downstairs we wanted a wood burning stove, and a tiny kitchenette. Lots of thinking and rethinking but the end result is a wonderfully neat use of the space.
The inside design was more complex than we'd imagined because the space was so tight. Upstairs we wanted a small shower/toilet, but headroom was marginal. Downstairs we wanted a wood burning stove, and a tiny kitchenette. Lots of thinking and rethinking but the end result is a wonderfully neat use of the space.
Technically we used lots of very sustainable approaches and materials: timbers all FSC, insulation as effective but as green as possible, under-floor heating, reclaimed wood for the kitchenette units, LED lighting for all the main lighting, water saving taps and shower, metered everything, and photovoltaic panels on the roof. However the one thing you quickly learn is that there is no perfect way to do thing sustainably. There are always trade-offs. For example do you go for the best insulation which will reduce heat loss and so reduce energy consumption and in turn carbon emissions? Or do you go for insulation that uses recycled natural materials but which is less effective?
The single biggest compromise was the heating. We wanted solar thermal hot water from the roof to help with a under-floor heating with a secondary source in winter of something sustainable – maybe a woodchip boiler or a ground- or air-source heat pump.
Truth is that all these options require a big water tank – a heat store and exchanger – as we have in the main house. And in this cottage there was simply nowhere for it to go. And a wood-chip boiler would be big. And heat pumps very expensive for what was needed and with a need for the length of our big garden dug up to sink the pipework.
Reluctantly at this stage we went for a gas combi-boiler. It turns out in practise the wood stove if more than ample in many cases. However we have all the pipe work sorted so that one day we can add a small ground floor stone boiler room at the back to house both the boiler of choice and the water store. And pipes have been run from the roof ready to have the solar panels added with minimal disruption.
Another twist was the drainage. The original plan was to run the sewer to a sceptic tank dug in our garden – easier than piping out to the main sewer. But late in the proceedings a ruling was laid on us requiring mains sewer connection and a further lot of trenching was needed. Indeed at times the drive looked like the Somme with trenches and mud everywhere. And it never ceased to amaze us how earth dug from a hole or trench seems to multiply four times in bulk before it is trailered away. The upside was that we went ahead with the deep “septic tank” hole. But Mary had the neat idea to use it for rainwater harvesting and a suitable tank was dropped in and connected to not only the cottage rainwater drains but also many from the main house.
The predicted work of three-months did stretch to five then beyond that by the time little things got fixed – the kitchen install, the drains, the sewer connection, power connection, decorating, the wet-room tiling of the little toilet-cum-shower room.
In the end we were not able to use the cottage properly until September - 7 months in all.
But now it is there. We are delighted. It is a much bigger, lovelier space than we could have imagined. The theme inside developed to have lots of natural curves. The walls are part exposed. The kitchenette works beautifully. The (LED) lighting is flexible, effective and if required subtle and low key. A few niggles here and there but – hey.
And what to use it for? At first just guests and indeed Stephanie and Lisa, with boyfriends, when back. Then some friends who were in-between places. Thoughts of an office or art studio for Mary. But in the end we thought to make it work for it's keep and make it available as a sustainable holiday cottage. More planning permission application for change of use (sigh) but it all worked and is now being remarkably successful and getting great reviews. So we are really chuffed.
The single biggest compromise was the heating. We wanted solar thermal hot water from the roof to help with a under-floor heating with a secondary source in winter of something sustainable – maybe a woodchip boiler or a ground- or air-source heat pump.
Truth is that all these options require a big water tank – a heat store and exchanger – as we have in the main house. And in this cottage there was simply nowhere for it to go. And a wood-chip boiler would be big. And heat pumps very expensive for what was needed and with a need for the length of our big garden dug up to sink the pipework.
Reluctantly at this stage we went for a gas combi-boiler. It turns out in practise the wood stove if more than ample in many cases. However we have all the pipe work sorted so that one day we can add a small ground floor stone boiler room at the back to house both the boiler of choice and the water store. And pipes have been run from the roof ready to have the solar panels added with minimal disruption.
Another twist was the drainage. The original plan was to run the sewer to a sceptic tank dug in our garden – easier than piping out to the main sewer. But late in the proceedings a ruling was laid on us requiring mains sewer connection and a further lot of trenching was needed. Indeed at times the drive looked like the Somme with trenches and mud everywhere. And it never ceased to amaze us how earth dug from a hole or trench seems to multiply four times in bulk before it is trailered away. The upside was that we went ahead with the deep “septic tank” hole. But Mary had the neat idea to use it for rainwater harvesting and a suitable tank was dropped in and connected to not only the cottage rainwater drains but also many from the main house.
The predicted work of three-months did stretch to five then beyond that by the time little things got fixed – the kitchen install, the drains, the sewer connection, power connection, decorating, the wet-room tiling of the little toilet-cum-shower room.
In the end we were not able to use the cottage properly until September - 7 months in all.
But now it is there. We are delighted. It is a much bigger, lovelier space than we could have imagined. The theme inside developed to have lots of natural curves. The walls are part exposed. The kitchenette works beautifully. The (LED) lighting is flexible, effective and if required subtle and low key. A few niggles here and there but – hey.
And what to use it for? At first just guests and indeed Stephanie and Lisa, with boyfriends, when back. Then some friends who were in-between places. Thoughts of an office or art studio for Mary. But in the end we thought to make it work for it's keep and make it available as a sustainable holiday cottage. More planning permission application for change of use (sigh) but it all worked and is now being remarkably successful and getting great reviews. So we are really chuffed.