Watercress Cottage

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The charming thatched, Watercress Cottage, is nestled beneath the dramatic landscape of Farleigh Hungerford Castle ruins in Hungerford, Bath.The project is an example of working both within a sensitive location, a Conservation Area, and with a Grade II Listed building dating back to before the 1500’s.

The historic cottage combines a new extension that is not incongruous within this historic and traditional setting due to its elegant simple form. The client felt that the Listed stone and thatched building was cramped and dark inside, and detached from the spectacular views and nearby spring fed pond. Greenaway Architecture has adapted the historic building, to accommodate a sensitive single storey glazed pavilion complete with sedum roof. A clever design without disturbing views from the derelict castle, nor jarring with the historic cottage or the character of the Conservation Area, simply providing a connection with the abundant natural environment. The new light weight glazed addition was chosen as it maintains established hierarchies and a legibility in reading the buildings form and development as well as maintaining views through, and reflecting the landscape around, particularly the adjacent water. It is recognisably of our age whilst respecting the prominence of the existing principle building in its subservience through being: lower, narrower, transparent and complimentary contrasting material form and detail. Watercress cottage demonstrates that it is possible to extend a historic building in a way that respects it whilst making a positive contemporary architectural statement, the result of which is a new life for the building.