Client: Private Individuals
Project: Cumbria Country House

For many the beautiful landscapes of the Lake District are a powerful draw. This was the case with our clients who bought a large mansion set in six acres of grounds to create bespoke family home.

The house, which is well-known locally because of its previous owner’s model railway which he opened to the public, is unusual in style, having an Austrian/Italian, slightly Alpine look. Set against a backdrop of the Old Man of Coniston, the house sits on rising land. Its grounds feature mature trees and a river with fishing rights and a hydro-electric station.

First built in the 1890s the original Victorian house had been extended a number of times, leading to a large number of rooms but many small in size and leading from one to another. Our brief was to redress this and make the house more suited to modern living and entertaining, while retaining a strong sense of it being a family home. We were also tasked with addressing issues like the darkness of some of the interior rooms, due to the depth of the house, and the better utilisation of some of the outside areas, especially in inclement weather.

architectural design

interior design

The fire-table room features a high table and stools. Atop the table is a French-made JC Bordelet circular open fire, with flue that exits through the glass roof. The fire, which has a glass safety surround, can simply be enjoyed or used as an indoor barbecue or marshmallow toaster. The glass roof of the room also extends across a courtyard at the back of the house. Previously a damp space, slippery underfoot, it’s now a covered, dry, all-weather area with soft seating, a fire and a table tennis table. It’s a great space for unwinding and relaxing, or as a shaded refuge when the sun gets too hot at the front of the house.

The first floor of the house is divided into two wings. In one there is a master bedroom, a dressing room,

a children’s bedroom with ensuite and two further bedrooms. In the other wing is 4 more guest bedrooms each with ensuites. This configuration has been designed to give our clients the option of locking off their master bedroom and letting out the house for weddings and high-end stays.

One of the distinctive aspects of the house is its three-story tower. Somewhat Arts & Crafts in style, with quirky windows and a ‘witches hat’ roof, the tower has a new staircase and viewing platform at the top. Equipped with a telescope and soft seating the spot is ideal for surveying the landscape or quiet reading.

The house has its own stable-block and we’ve converted this into a separate residence. This will be the living-quarters of a house-keeping couple, who will manage and tend to the house when it’s empty and look after wedding parties and lets.

We began by conducting a space planning exercise and a mapping of the sun’s journey across the site during the day to best understand its orientation and the fall of light during the different parts of the day. Our breakthrough was to reorientate the kitchen and to remove some of the walls which connected it to the courtyard. This allowed light to flood into the centre of the house. We then created a huge, interconnected space comprising a breakfast area (which now incorporates a former conservatory) the kitchen, a breakfast coffee/ evening drinks bar, and a new fire-table room. The latter is a glass box which sits in a courtyard at the rear of the house. The new space is light and airy and with the removal or opening up of some walls now has plentiful views of the beautiful countryside.

The new space is linked to a refurbished drawing room with new fireplace, a new media room with TV and movie-type set-up, a comfortable lounge-type day room, and a formal dining room with table seating for 16 people, which is connected to the new kitchen.