Category 2: Small Renovation Projects
Professional residential/domestic restoration, refurbishment or extension costing less than £50,000
Project: Sympathetic, seamless extension to 500-year-old listed house
Builder: Character Builders South West Ltd, Okehampton
Client: Richard and Anne Jones
Small, but perfectly formed
It was vital to Richard and Anne Jones that they find a builder with the same passion and feeling for their beloved listed 16th century home as they had.
In family-run Character Builders South West Ltd, the couple found four brothers - Sam, Simeon, Matt and Tom Diffey - who had a love of old houses and expertise in traditional building skills. Richard and Anne saw that their project had really fired up the interest of the Diffey brothers, who were determined to create a beautiful garden room completely in harmony with the rest of their house.
The Devon-based couple wanted to convert a run-down, dilapidated lean-to with corrugated iron roof into a light garden room with a view over the valley. The garden room needed to be completely in keeping with the nature of the 500-year-old house, using traditional materials such as cob, thatch and limewash to mirror the original construction.
Character Builders promised a progressive approach to restoration using both modern and traditional techniques to incorporate the new room seamlessly into the house. They were determined to recreate the look and feel of the existing cottage.
According to client Richard Jones, they more than delivered on that promise: “Character Builders produced the most comprehensive quotes I’ve seen and also seemed to really understand the importance of doing a sympathetic job, harmonising the new build with the rest of the house.”
His wife, Anne said: “We knew we were in safe hands with the Diffey brothers. The way they kept us informed and kept to plan was fantastic. They provided us with detailed flowcharts so we had a really good understanding of what was going to happen ahead of time. They excelled in terms of care and attention to detail, as well as clearing up on site.
“Best of all was the spirit in which they carried out the project that made them so brilliant – they had a real feeling for the house. All problems were resolved together and it really felt as if we were working as a team on the project. The whole thing was a great experience,” she said.
The garden room was constructed very sensitively using cob and lime render on both exterior and interior walls to blend beautifully with the fabric and character of the house. The roof structure is produced in green oak and is covered in reclaimed Delabole slates. All the joinery is in oak.
The result of Character Builders South West’s work is a seamless extension to the original cottage, which has achieved exactly what the clients wanted and breathed new life and light into their home. It has created a relaxing, garden room, where Anne and Richard eat breakfast every day, gazing out at the orchard, the woodland beyond and the hills across the Teign Valley in the distance.
