The Meadows
An extraordinary grade II* listed 16th century residence, with grade II listed barns and outbuildings, set just outside the AONB in the foothills of the Kent Downs.
Type Dwelling
Client Confidential
Location Kent, UK
Size Hectares
Budget Undisclosed
Status Built
The existing development comprised a principal house plus outbuildings that had been modified over the 20th century with a series of poorly thought-out and unsympathetic additions, lacking a coherent design narrative.
The challenge was to create a sustainable home for life that would enhance and restore the forgotten character of the main house, as well as that of the surrounding cluster of barns.
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Finely crafted details and innovative use of space create a beautiful and functional family home, enhancing the historical character whilst adding new design using a balance of contemporary and traditional techniques, allowing the history of the place to be clearly read alongside carefully considered new interventions.
A harder task is to expose it, to work with it and to weave it into new unexpected layers, that will enrich and sustain future generations.
A new addition to the north-east improves on the piecemeal 20th century modifications by working in harmony with the intended character of the historic spaces. Internally buildings have an emphasis on re-instating a natural appearance, focussing on honest, hand crafted, high quality materials, lending each building a distinguished but domestic character: one that exemplifies a beautiful, yet functional family home.
Together with a wholesale restoration of the architecture, a careful restoration and management of the existing landscape took an holistic and considered approach to ecological enhancements, allowing these to sit eloquently alongside the works to the buildings.
The creation of a new courtyard connecting the long barn and main barn with a series of carefully placed new additions evoke a character reminiscent of Claude Monet’s ‘Farmyard in Normandy’ painting.
A strong sustainability strategy sits side by side with the historic site to achieve an exemplar of modern green living, sympathetically delivered in a heritage setting.
Measures such as zoned underfloor heating, smart lighting, slimline double glazing and a water sourced heat pump system within a new lake have all contributed to the buildings improved energy efficiency.
This project epitomises that the new is seldom a clean break with the past, but is rather more often an evolution of it. Working with what is already in front of you demands a different way of looking, along with an imagination that necessitates a more patient way of realising projects.
Working with old buildings is a slow process. In a society where we appear to be fixated on chasing the new, the old has a stubbornness to buck new trends and to weather most storms, yet, however much we seem to cling to the old, times and life constantly continue to change.
The Hall has been reinstated as an elegant family property, rich in character and sense of place, that feels like it has evolved naturally from its original intention and landscape.
Too often in restoring old buildings it is far easier to cover over the layers of history. A harder task is to expose it, to work with it and to weave it into new unexpected layers, that will enrich and sustain future generations.
By carefully peeling back layers of history and weaving together the old with the new, The Hall delivers a home, which through its design ambition and sensitivity to the past, speaks beautifully of the value heritage can contribute to elegant living spaces for the future.
TaylorHare led an extensive design team that included Stirling Prize winning structural engineers Price & Myers, acclaimed historical building consultants Donald Insall Associates and award winning House and Garden top 100 Landscape architects Marian Boswall.
The house has won a RIBA South East Award 2024 and was shortlisted for the RIBA’s House of the Year 2024.
Project Team
Christopher Taylor, Timothy Hare,
Karl Bowers, Charlie Whittington
Structural Engineering
Price & Myers
Specialist Contractors
Various
Building
B & B Builders
Historic Building Advice
Donald Insall Associates
Interior Design
Stephen Richardson-Pope
Landscape
Marian Boswall Landscape Architects
Joinery
Saw Joinery/Nick Waldron/
DB Joinery/Chartwood Design
Photography
Building Narratives & David Cleveland
