David Granger Architectural Design was engaged in this project in the winter of 2016 when our clients approached us to help them renovate and extend their property, known as ‘The Cottage’ in Kegworth.
The property sits in a relatively private, secluded location with a long access drive. Our clients had realised the property had quite a lot of potential and engaged us to help them understand this and how they could achieve their aspirations.
Our client was in the process of purchasing the property, so it was Spring 2017 before any design works got underway once they had completed.
By this point, our client had given the project some considerable thought. Between their ideas and our suggestions, we put together several sketch schemes for them to consider the project’s possibilities.
The proposals involved some fairly considerable extensions, and given the width of the cottage and the desire to extend across all of this, we adopted a three-gables approach to ensure the wall plate widths and gable width were still complementary to the style of the cottage, whilst achieving the size of extensions needed.
The property underwent a complete renovation, both internally and externally, helping to return some of the cottage-like features externally whilst making some layout alterations to allow the property to flow better and the introduction of a more contemporary large open plan kitchen/living space to the rear of the property in the new extension.
The first-floor extension saw the introduction of an additional three bedrooms, making the property into a six-bedroom house, including a generous master bedroom suite with a dressing room and en-suite.
To the rear of the property on the first floor were French doors with Juliet rails to take full advantage of the secluded location and mature garden spaces.
North West Leicestershire District Council granted planning permission for the proposals in July 2017. The works were undertaken on a phased approach over time, and the clients managed the project as they worked with the construction industry and had the knowledge to do so.
We had the opportunity to revisit the property in July 2021 to see the outcome. I am pleased to say that the attention to detail has been a top priority and has resulted in a superb family home in a fantastic location.
This project is an excellent example of how a relatively quaint cottage can be adapted and remodelled to produce a substantial family home whilst still retaining its quaint feel and having minimal impact on the feel of the property.
