Rignalls Lodge

This project was the complete refurbishment of a well-loved home in an old stables/garage building, called Rignalls Lodge. 

Undertaken and completed in 2017, the house was the garage and stable building for the main house, Rignalls just outside Great Missenden. Rignalls was designed by Charles Holden with the gardens designed by Gertrude Jekyll and built in 1912. Rignalls Lodge had been converted and the gardens divided in 1959 and was now in need of a significant updating.

Designed in an early Arts & Crafts style and arranged around a courtyard which was originally the car working area, we were careful to retain the original features and design wherever possible. However, a new kitchen and additional bedroom/studio space were needed as the original conversion had created a series of linked rooms with limited privacy.

It was also essential that any new interventions respected the remaining elements of the Jekyll garden.

Several solutions were explored. In the end two extensions were added to the building. A new kitchen was created at the western end of the house where with careful use of the existing ground levels around the house, a semi-basement was created below the kitchen containing a utility room and larder as well as a multi-use cinema room/den for the family’s children. The kitchen was carefully designed to provide views out along the valley to the west and through and down to the existing mature garden. A second extension was created at the eastern end of the house to accommodate a new studio/bedroom space, a new shower-room/WC, storage and a. service management space. This eastern extension sat behind and hidden by the boundary wall and designed to float over the edge of the remaining Jekyll water garden. This extension was also extended to create a new glazed lobby to the original entrance on the north of the house.

The original building was stripped completely back to brickwork and structural timbers. A replacement tiled roof was fitted after insulating the roof structure throughout with bat boxes fitted to the replaced vertical tile hanging. 

All the original external render/pebble dash was removed and replaced after all the external walls were insulated. Internally, all the external walls were insulated. The original overhanging eave details were carefully retained.

The new extensions were clad in untreated oak slats to echo the surrounding woods and to highlight that they are the newer elements of a refurbished house. The cladding will continue to weather down to a silver tone.

The house was completely rewired and replumbed with new underfloor heating throughout using an air source heat pump. The property is only served by electricity.

All the windows were replaced with double glazed timber ones to match the originals. New large pane double glazed timber and triple glazed aluminium doors and windows were used in the new extensions. Photo Voltaic panels are being installed on the flat roofs.