architecture planning urban design conservation

Town and Country Homes

Introduction

The English country house is such a familiar element of the structure of our rural landscapes that it is easy to overlook

how much personal attention, planning and estate management, repairs, renovation, garden and interior design has had

to be considered to make this the enduring legacy of many centuries.

In the past, as much as now, the country house was only one aspect of the pattern of life of its owners, an antidote to the

house in town. In our home City of Bath the rampant development and social imperatives of the 18th century created a

wealth of fine town houses, many now enjoying Grade I or Grade II star listed status.

Those embarking on the acquisition of a fine country or town house may need professional advice on many aspects of its

care and reuse. In twenty years of work in Architecture, conservation projects and estate management, planning, garden

design and Horticulture, Nash Partnership has become experienced in the needs of such buildings, and the issues

facing their owners. Our staff include many Architects with specialist qualifications and experience in conservation,

former conservation officers or English Heritage staff, a construction surveyor, planners, interior designers and a garden

designer/horticulturist.

We are able to assist with; -

• The evaluation of all historic property

• Theassessmentofcondition,advisingand specifying necessary repairs appropriate to the building’s circumstances

• Proposalsforalterations,extensionsorconversionto suit the aspirations of owners

• Theinterfacewithacomplexplanningprocessasfar as it affects listed buildings, conservation areas and all planning issues

• Fixtures,fittingsandfashion;restoringandupdating houses for contemporary needs, services and patterns of living

• Thedesignofnew,andtherestorationofexisting, gardens, garden features and management of rural estates, parks, woods, paddocks, facilities for rural pursuits and water features

• Theinstallationoflowcarbonandrenewable technologies.

• Therenewalanddecorationofinteriors.

• Seekingandinstructingcraftspeoplewiththe appropriate skills likely to be required in historic buildings from medieval to modern.

• Thedesignofnewdwellingsintownandcountryand the development of strategies necessary to best procure planning permissions.

Working with historic buildings and their landscapes involves

assembling teams and skills, the careful evaluation of the

strengths and weaknesses of any design context and the ability

to manage costs across a wide spectrum of work, paying

particular attention to detail.

Not all large town and country houses are in single occupier

private hands. But whether a building has been converted to

multiple use or operates as a tourist attraction in charitable

hands, an institution or private sector function, issues of repair,

viable continued use and context all need careful handling.

The following examples will illustrate the range of experience

our work has given us since the establishment of the practice

in 1988.

King’s Circus, Bath

Bath’s finest residential address, The Circus

was built over many years and crucial to the

early success of the project was the decision

by William Pitt, the 18th Century British Prime

Minister, to acquire three plots, for himself, his

sister and his aunt. Behind wholly symmetrical

façades these houses vary enormously in size

from two to five bays of width.

One of Pitt’s plots afforded only a single reception

room on the ground floor since his aunt felt no

need to dine at home! We were engaged to restore

the entire property and advised the addition of

this octagonal dining room. This proposal was

resisted by the local planning authority but won

at appeal on design grounds.

Belcombe Court

Belcombe is one of a handful of delightful villas by John

Woodtheelder.SetinWiltshireithasariverfrontageinthe

heart of a small country estate of woodland, streams and

pasture.

We were engaged over a period of years to assist in the

restoration and expansion of its 18th and 19th century

gardens and aspects of repair and re-use within the Grade I

listed house. We converted Belcombe’s magnificent dovecot

to a guest facility, restored a variety of 18th century garden

structures and features, renovated the estate’s extensive

waterworks, installing new woodland ponds, repairing

culverts and installing controls. We designed new garden

buildings and restored old ones, created an oak framed

pool house complex, a floating riverside boat house and a

SummerHousesetwithinanewflowergarden.Weforged

new routes to join disparate areas of the gardens together

with gateways, seats and facilities by working closely with

Belcombe’s owners and garden staff at all times.

Claverton Manor

The manor is an exceptionally fine classical country house

oftheearly19thcentury,designedbySirJeffreyWyattville.

Setonalargeplateau,thehousehascommandedanestate

of over a thousand acres, including the village of Claverton,

rural farms and its own coachhouse, stables, outbuildings

andextensivewoodland.For40yearsClavertonhasbeen

home to the American Museum in Britain, for whom we have

worked continuously since 1996 on a series of projects to

restore areas of historic buildings, create new basement

exhibitions and put their existing buildings to optimum

uses. We have advised on re-servicing and extending the

Grade I listed manor to create a new Orangery Restaurant.

With historic assets of this quality, all work has to be based

on a sound Conservation Management Plan justified through

a long term development plan process, which justifies any

change against the value of optimum management of such

assets.

Church Hayes; North Wiltshire

Here, we were engaged to transform a rather indifferent Cotswold

house into a much larger property. All work was specified to the

very best of the Cotswold building traditions. The work included

a range of outbuildings and works to gardens and grounds.

Great Pulteney Street, Bath

GreatPulteneyStreetisBath’sfineststreetflankedbyterraces

all of Grade I listed status, many reaching 6 storeys in height.

We were engaged to return two of these magnificent properties

to individual use after over a century’s use as a hotel.

The principal challenge here was to develop a layout that served

a modern family within a structure created when servants

were common and the rooms were designed accordingly. The

removal of the services and partitions associated with the use

as a hotel required extensive repair and renewal to the original

wall finishes and decorations.

Kelston

SirJohnHarringtonwasaprominentCourtierintheCourtofQueenElizabethI.

His great house at Kelston in Bath was once famous for the scale of its gravity

fed water gardens. Although the house was demolished in the 18th century

when Kelston Park was built nearby, many of its outbuildings and garden features

remain and much can be understood from what still lies beneath the ground.

The tithe barn, enormous dovecot, bowling green and other structures surround

Kelston’s pretty medieval church. We secured planning permission for its owner

to restore his buildings and combine them in one single large dwelling with guest

suites and workrooms therefore securing the future legacy of Harrington’s great

house, after many decades of redundancy.

Rode Manor

Alarge18thcenturycountryhouseatRodeinSomersetwasdemolishedinthe

1950’s,leavingit’sstablesandoutbuildingsattheheartof20acresofornamental

gardensandanimpressivearboretum.ForseveraldecadesRodewasknown

as a popular family visitor attraction, Rode Bird Gardens. When this closed,

we judged the quality of the arboretum merited retention under appropriate

management and built a case with the local planning authority to covert the

stables to a number of dwellings and build two extremely large and fine villas in

the grounds, each commanding several acres of land. By showing the quality of

landscape that could be achieved and the consequences of doing nothing, our

planning arguments were ultimately supported at local planning authority level.

Titan Barrow; Bathford, Bath

This early villa, characterised by an intimate scale and delicate

ornamental detailing on its main façade, had been operating

for several decades as a nursing home. Our work began for

the building’s charitable owners assisting them in its disposal

as part of a long term plan to consolidate their activities within

purpose designed premises. We had been consulted by several

prospective owners but we have been re-engaged by its ultimate

purchaser keen to restore the building as a private house and

put its range of outbuildings to appropriate uses again.

Warleigh Manor; Wiltshire

Warleigh Manor is a battlemented castle from the early 19th

century of a mock gothic style. This large building enjoys an

impressive setting within pastureland alongside the River Avon

and issetagainstabackgroundofextensivewoodland. For

many decades it had been used as a school for disruptive

teenagers. We worked over a period of years to bring new life

to its main building, coach house, stables and garden buildings

to create a small number of particularly fine dwellings restored

within their original intimate garden landscape, which was lost

when the whole property passed into institutional use around

50yearsago.

New Country House

This new country house was designed for family use on one of the southern escarpments of the Cotswolds, commanding extensive views and set within a large swathe of pastureland. Our design particularly set out to show how a large range of facilities and rooms could nevertheless be arranged conveniently for everyday family use. This cruciform plan is one we have employed many times enabling a variety of major and minor functions to be accommodated at each level with adjoining spaces closed down and opened up according to need.

Lebanon

We were engaged by a member of the Royal House ofQatar todesign thisextremely largevillawithguestsuites and sporting facilities on an attractive wooded hillside overlooking the Mediterranean north of Beirut, in Lebanon. It’s owner had specifically chosen an English Architect, of the English country house tradition and its sensitivity to landscape setting. Lebanon enjoys an extraordinary richness in its building stones and a very high level of craftsmanship can be brought to work of this kind.

Gardens

These are illustrations of gardens we have conserved, designed or contributed to in town and country to suit the needs and aspirations of each individual owner. Our garden designer and horticulturist will drawing out the optimum relationship any garden or site can achieve with its

landscape and building contrast.

architecture planning urban design conservation

Nash Partnership23aSydneyBuildingsBath,BA26BZ

www.nashpartnership.commail@nashpartnership.com

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