Linden House

A traditional Cotswold home reimagined for contemporary living

“Ashleigh is fantastic. He genuinely wants to give his clients the best possible solution to match their needs – and he won’t rest until this is achieved.”

Chris and Andrea Gant

Our brief – a complicated side and rear extension

Linden House is a detached, eight-bedroom traditional house with a mature garden, which enjoys stunning views over the Cotswolds. 

Andrea and Chris approached us with an ambitious and exciting brief. This was our second project at Linden House, as we had already worked with them on a complete refurbishment and we were delighted to receive a second commission. This new project was, in their words “a very complicated and complex side and rear extension.”

Like most clients, Chris and Andrea had a clear vision of what they wanted. To them, the existing living room didn’t match the size of the house and couldn’t accommodate their family and friends.

It was cramping their style, in all senses of the word. Their brief to us was to design a brand new, multi-functional contemporary extension that combined both living room and garden room – connecting to the stunning garden views. They also wanted a larger patio area for entertaining and relaxing, and a more accessible connection between the new living space and the kitchen.

Our solution – a space for indoor and outdoor living

Because we’re Cotswold architects we create architectural designs both sensitive and sympathetic to their surroundings. For us, Linden House is a perfect example of this.

Our design concept for a spacious living and garden room included striking, full width glazing with sliding doors, a contemporary fireplace in the living space that cunningly conceals the structural pillar necessary to support the new extension and enlarged access to the existing kitchen.

Viewed from the front, the new extension mirrors the steeper roof pitch lines of the original building, so a sense of symmetry is maintained between old and new. We also chose a Cotswold stone to match the original building. Our aim was to blend traditional and contemporary aesthetics so well that from the front of the property, you wouldn’t guess the space that exists behind.

While at the back of the property, the newly constructed flat roof is hidden by the full width glazing and glazed panel above the doors, disguising the addition of the new, luxury living space that now connects the house and the garden.

Chris and Andrea loved the design from the first sketch.

The challenge

“Ashleigh’s eye for detail is second to none – he will detect every potential problem in advance and be ready with a solution for it. And we loved that he was always open for a good brainstorm!”

Andrea Gant

Every location comes with a challenge or two! At Linden House, we discovered that the planned foundation line for the new extension was sitting on top of the existing drainage access.  But by re-siting the extension slightly, away from the existing drainage pipe, we solved the problem.

We also needed to find a way to support the top of the existing chimney when we removed the lower half to open up the living room space – causing as little disturbance to the upstairs bedroom as possible.  Working together with our builder and structural engineer, we revised the temporary structural design and devised a permanent solution for both the new extension and supporting chimney.

Working in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty

Linden House is in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB), which means that there are stringent planning restrictions and policies to follow. At Ashleigh Clark, we specialise in converting, renovating or building within an AONB, and work closely with a network of trusted specialists and experts. Our design follows the Cotswold Design Code with high-pitched roofs which are subservient to the steep roof lines of the original main building. The new flat rooves at on the rear extension are also subservient, so the new extensions appear to be a natural addition to the original house, without overshadowing it.

Linden House – designed for living

Linden House now has a spacious living and garden area, in keeping with the character of the original property. It’s been an absolute pleasure to work with Andrea and Chris and watch their dreams become reality. Our clients and their friends can now enjoy floor to ceiling views of the garden and surrounding countryside, whatever the weather.

“Ashleigh has been our architect on 2 projects at Linden House now. The way he keeps us up to date, and also communicates with everybody else involved in the projects is amazing and rare. Such a lovely guy. We would work with him again anytime and cannot recommend him highly enough!”

Chris Gant

Read another case study of a stunning extension to a traditional Cotswold property here.