We relished the opportunity to engage with this home having worked on the building 15 years previously but with different owners and in a purely furnishing capacity. With nearly all the furniture and textiles transferred to the new owners this second engagement was more challenging and architectural.

The building sits on land once linked to the wealthy Benedictine Abbey of Bury St Edmunds, dissolved by Henry VIII in 1539. The oldest part of the building dates to around 1600 but by 1900 it was a functioning farm. In 1965 it was taken on by the SPAB (Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings) – we carried the ethos of prominent founder, William Morris, during the first iteration of works and wanted to continue this spirit of the handmade to this latest phase of works: rather than adopt a stylistic approach to one particular period.

A dark insulated former barn, grade II listed, adjoining the main building and dating to the C17th was loved but deserved more than being used as a spill out zone and gigantic natural fridge in winter. With insulation being key we had to carefully remove and replace the barn’s roof; insulating it from the outside to ensure the internal frame of the interior was uncompromised. Underfloor heating was introduced and not wanting to use more brick and avoid the pitfalls of expanding or shrinking timbers we came up with a flooring design inspired by local Framlingham Church and using wide oak boards from a local salvage yard.

Arne Maynard realised the garden design and we all benefitted from the intuitive sense of connecting the building into the landscape; wild meadows, ponds and extending materials from the interior out to connect the two.