This C17th lobby entrance thatched cottage is Grade II Listed with an oak frame.

The aim was to upgrade the cottage sensitively to improve the thermal performance and bring it up to modern standards of living.

The cement render, which was causing damp to the old frame, was replaced with a wood-wool board, sheep wool insulation and finished in soft breathable lime plaster.

The walls incorporated breathable lime perimeters to help alleviate damp, whilst including underfloor heating.

The house lacked a decent kitchen as is common in historic houses and indeed in this case, the Kitchen was just a galley type, without room for a family table.

We designed a new Boot room Hall linking element, which was timber-framed, zinc roofed, with oak sprockets, oak weather boarding and windows/doors. Then onto the end of the cottage we created a large vaulted Family Kitchen.

The Kitchen extension was made of oak frame on a brick plinth, the same as the house, but with contemporary slimframed aluminium windows and doors.

This blend of new and old is subtle but works really nicely and gives the benefit of a modern Kitchen that harmonises with the old cottage.

The whole house is heated by a borehole ground-source heat pump with photovoltaics on the garage roof.