Small, heavily barred windows in the old stables intentionally kept animals safe and cool in summer as well as nice and warm in winter. However, with no other natural light, the stables are dark and claustrophobic, hardly ideal for future guest lounges.
Planned as full height glass doors opening to the south facing garden and views beyond, early demolitions very soon made clear what a difference this would make to the guest apartments!
Existing stone frames, cills and lintels, all weakened by heavily rusted iron grilles, quickly fragment and cannot be recovered and reused in the rebuild …
… so new brick frames and lintels are created, with concealed steel reinforcement and reused stone, to match existing period detailing elsewhere on the building.
As these openings are created the incredibly bright winter sun quickly pierces the gloom, dramatically illuminating the interiors.
The garden and views beyond can now be seen and enjoyed, the thought of summer breezes effortlessly wafting through these rooms no longer a distant dream … but an increasingly imminent reality!
"Let the sunshineLet the sunshine inThe sunshine in.”
Humming these well known lyrics to myself I suddenly realise we are at the end of January … maybe this really is "The dawning of the age of Aquarius."
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