Old School House

Project Info

Situated in the picturesque Brue Valley in Somerset, this Grade-II listed house has been sympathetically extended with a highly crafted timber-framed and clad building.

Set within the small hamlet of Pitcombe, the original building was constructed as the village school in 1864. It was converted into a home after the Second World War and underwent several further changes, including an unsympathetic extension in the 1970s.

Drawing inspiration from the scale and proportion of the original School House, the new building comprises a sensitive, contemporary replacement for the earlier extension, providing three bedrooms and bathrooms for its residents. The extension is fully clad in locally sourced English sweet chestnut, chosen for its sustainability, stability and elegant grain, as well as its silver patina which complements the weathered Hadspen stone of the main house.

The cladding has been carefully designed with an open arrangement at the roof and first floor levels and a closed board at ground level, breaking up the mass of the building. Bespoke chestnut pivot windows were crafted to match the cladding, avoiding surface treatment and allowing the whole building to weather evenly.