Challenge
It’s easy to imagine all listed buildings are big and grand. But that’s not the case - the listing process covers all scales of properties, including many originally humble terraced houses and cottages.
A cottage is what our clients had purchased - small, thatched roof, with lots of charm, but cramped inside. It is Grade II-listed, but it didn’t take an expert’s eye to tell it had been much changed over the centuries. And when a historical study was done, it revealed many of the “old”-looking elements were, in fact, clumsy 20th-century additions, based on a misunderstanding of what an 18th-century cottage should look like.
Of course our clients wanted more room to move, but more importantly, they wanted usable space. Nothing greedy - all they wanted was the ability to walk around their bed, not over it, and to not bump their heads on the ceiling. As well as the listing though, there was another issue: the cottage is in the Green Belt.