A Castle In Scotland

There has been a castle on this site since the 13th century. This house, masterplanned and designed by our senior design director, Rupert Cunningham, represents the latest phase in a storied building programme that saw the house largely rebuilt in the 17th century, enlarged again in the 18th century, enlarged again and considerably remodelled in the 19th century, and then suffering ruin in the 20th century.

In the 1970s, the Victorian work was demolished and the tower house beautifully and imaginatively restored to its 17th century form – once again becoming home to the family that have owned it for the last 650 years.

As part of a new remodelling and restoration, Rupert was asked to execute an initial proposal by Groves Raines Architects, for a substantial new wing to the west, which houses a large new family room and kitchen.  To the rear is a large new service court.  The work is beautifully detailed and conceived in the Scottish vernacular-classical tradition, with a steeply pitched roof of Westmorland slate and walls in rough harling with natural stone detailing, to create a building that is at once completely timeless, authentic and convincing.

Rupert conceived the new spectacular staircase and the interior architecture of all the new rooms.

A Farmhouse in Oxfordshire

This handsome Grade II listed Cotswold farmhouse had fine bones but had suffered a number of poor quality extensions over the years. New owners were seeking to restore it as well as to extend it very signficantly, and we were called into to advise.  Our initial thoughts were to turn the building entirely around, creating a new entrance front that better responded to the existing farm buildings and approach, and to create a far more private garden realm beyond.

The house is built in natural local stone with a reclaimed Cotswold stone roof, and careful, authentic detailing to create an immediately settled feel. One of the most interesting parts of the commission was for a substantial new swimming pool complex.  On the north elevation, facing the entrance court and old farm buildings, the pool house is conceived as a very simple vernacular structure, with a bread oven offering the only architectural form.  To the south, an arcaded loggia makes a beautiful sitting room overlooking the new swimming pool.

The garden and wider landscape were conceived by the renowned designer Jinny Blom.  The building was executed to our design in collaboration with a local architectural practice, Christian Fleming – a way of working that we find is extremely conducive and which makes excellent use of our skills and time.

Remodeled Manor House

At a beautiful site above Beaminster, in West Dorset, we are working on a major remodeling of a recently constructed house (completed in 2000) that lacks character and is very poorly planned and detailed.

In the building’s favour, it has a sensational location, with fine views in every direction and a south-facing main elevation – not always the case in Dorset. Moreover the scale and shape of the existing house was not without merit. As is so often the way, its failings were in the detail – making for a building that could and should have been beautiful, but was in fact dull, lifeless and without character.

Over a period of several months we have developed a re-working of the internal layouts to make a much better-planned family home, and developed ideas for the complete remodeling of the exterior which will involve construction of new stone mullioned bay windows, incorporation of new stone and leaded light windows throughout, replacement of the poor quality slate roof and demolition of a large and ill-sited conservatory to form a new much smaller garden room attached to the house.

We have worked alongside the landscape architect Pip Morrison to create a much finer setting for the house, and which links the building to the wider landscape through a series of low terraced walls and classic English borders.