The Gardeners Cottage

: R Moulding & Co

PAD studio’s Gardener’s Cottage is a new four bedroom eco-conscious family home in the sensitive New Forest National Park district with intimate connections to the surrounding landscape.

Making the environmentally-driven decision to downsize from their existing six-bedroom home located next door, clients Graham and Charlotte Thompson briefed PAD Studio to design a compact family home with minimal energy usage and upkeep. Nestled in the dense woodland surrounding their plot, the new home sits in an area formerly occupied by the old gardener’s cottage to their former home, with sweeping views over the hills beyond. As keen gardeners, the couple were intent that their new home mirror their love of landscape and the outdoors, so PAD Studio developed a series of versatile, stepped outdoor spaces. All hardscaping features integrated planters, with the majority of the garden designed to be low maintenance using wild and natural grasses. The new build was carefully inserted into the verdant site so as not to disturb the existing forest, with only three trees transplanted. A zinc roof steps upwards in line with the slope of the site and deep overhangs mitigate solar gain to the south façade. Sealed for airtightness, the Gardener’s Cottage is heated by a ground source heat pump and insulated with triple glazed windows. Photovoltaic solar panels on the roof generate additional power for the home, ensuring its mains energy usage is low and light touch.