Ide Cottage, Ide Hill

This house is situated in a prominent position on the village green within a conservation area, AONB and greenbelt, just outside of Sevenoaks in Kent. The original property was comprised of a series of extensions created over the course of 300 years which led to charming, yet higgledy piggledy spaces with low ceilings and dark rooms. The property also backs onto a church yard and woodland owned by the National Trust, lending itself to a more challenging planning process.

Our client was looking for a better connection with the surrounding garden, more family friendly spaces at ground floor as well as somewhere to entertain and have guests. Upstairs, they asked for equal sized bedrooms for their three children and an ensuite for some adult privacy amongst general updates to the décor. The landscape was also to be factored into the design to create a more generous parking area and a pool with terrace as well. One of our aims is to always be as sustainable as possible and this project was no exception as it was upgraded to use a ground source heat pump as opposed to oil.

We really enjoyed working closely with our clients to ensure we created a series of spaces that flowed freely and maximised the natural light into the rooms, optimised views to the garden on all sides and factored in the needs of each family member to create a calm, peaceful but joyful home.