Lilies Farm House

Lilies Farm House was sensitively restored and given a touch of contemporary minimalism to allow the exposed parts of the historic fabric to show its beauty.

Working with timber frame buildings is a specialist subject, not just in how to handle aesthetic choices but down to the detail of specifying the right mortars and plasters to allow the building fabric to breathe. Restoring a building of this nature takes a forensic approach, first to correctly identify the historic materials used in the past, and to ascertain how much of that material can be preserved. After specifying sensitively selected materials, it takes a high degree of oversight and supervision to network with professional craftspeople to deliver the right standard of finish. On the one hand, crafts-people with knowledge of historic building methods are few and far between. On the other hand, there has been a recent boom in the production of breatheable insulation and natural building products as the world moves away from flammable foams for safety and health reasons. The combination of fewer knowledgeable tradespeople, yet more specialist products, means that architects with conservation knowledge are essential to ensure they are applied appropriately.

In these stunning interior photographs you can see the roof trusses and purlins that form the principal members of the original roof. These have been carefully restored and exposed within the open plan living space of Lilies Farm House.

Our team has significant experience in navigating the planning process concerning historic buildings and has worked on projects concerning World Heritage Sites, Scheduled Ancient Monuments, and listed buildings. Follow this link to view selected heritage projects from our portfolio.