Fitting In
When designing the cottages it was important to us that we fitted in with the overall architecture and feel of the village. Buildings made to last should not just be physically solid but architecturally sound as well.
The street-scape of West End is predominantly cottages on the street with a small footpath separating them from the road. This is the traditional look in villages across the Cotswolds when many people had business’ on the ground floor and the niceties of gardens were generally small practical spaces behind for laundry or storage.
Therefore although the abandoned building site we used had foundations for a home set back from the road we re-designed the space for 2 cottages on the street continuing the visual line of West Street as it turns into West End. These cottages are Kite’s Gate and Ryeworth.
The Loft was created above the Sequoia room, behind which is the pool. This building looks like a converted coach house which has given a much better setting to Kingham Lodge since the house was originally designed to look straight down West Street but at the turn of the century the entrance to the drive was moved off centre creating a much more private feel but also off-setting the house. The new ‘coach house’, set perpendicular to the house gives it a setting it lacked. The Loft fits with converted Coach Houses which would have had hay lofts above them.
Berry Pen was a clever creation out of 2 properties, The Old Coachhouse and what is now Pegasus Orchard (formerly Stable Cottage). Originally coach house, stable and gardeners cottage to Kingham Lodge many years ago these buildings were converted into domestic accommodation in the 1980s and sold off from Kingham Lodge. Having bought them back over several years the redevelopment of the 3 properties was completed in 2016. Berry Pen has been redeveloped with easy accessibility in mind, with a ground floor en-suite bedroom.
The Inspiration for the Cottage Names: The cottages have been named taking into consideration local history. Kite’s Gate refers to the old name of the bridle path leading from the front door to Daylesford. The name was clinched when a Red Kite, newly re-populating this area, flew in front of Chris as it swooped down into the drive whilst he was mulling over names. It was a sign! Ryeworth is the name of an ancient field next to the cottages and Berry Pen is the name of the field behind the cottage, between Kingham House and the football field.
