Originally an unimproved Victorian house on a small holding with the ruins of earlier outbuildings, I was asked to renovate and extend the property to form two self-contained units, together with a large garage workshop with loft storage.
The house part has been added to by a ‘cottage’ extension, partly on the footprint of the old barns, providing a large living/dining area with views along the coast to the north west and a large bedroom with shower room and second smaller bedroom upstairs. A south west facing kitchen and entrance porch flank the new extension from the parking courtyard, entered down steps across a channelled mountain stream. The remaining house provides three storeys with four bedrooms, two in the attic. The single storey outbuilding to the east has been converted into a large farmhouse style kitchen.
The work was carried out in 1999-2000 and the standards of insulation are very high. Day lighting is supplemented in two areas by sun pipes. Space heating is by LPGas fired underfloor heating, supplemented with two wood stoves and planned passive solar gains. Water heating is also by LPGas and roof mounted evacuated tube solar hot water heating arrays. A large electrical, grid connected, photovoltaic array has been added this year.
The original fields have been transformed by the owners into a sheltered, highly productive and very attractive vegetable and fruit garden, with deep beds and organic methods. The property is the second highest up the mountain road, and is surrounded by mountain moorland which is grazed by sheep, cattle and ponies, requiring a cattle grid driveway entrance to ensure that livestock are excluded from the grounds.