Garden Cottage Renovation 2019 – 2025
New cottage exterior. Picture taken in December 2024.
The Garden Cottage was built in the late 16th century, at the same time as Swafield Hall, as many 16th century 2-inch-thick bricks were used for the brick and flint South Elevation. The proportions of cottage gables are also similar to the 16th century gables of the Hall. As part of Swafield Hall estate, the Garden Cottage was listed Grade II in 1955.
Oval Window on the top of South Elevation, bricked up many decades ago (Picture taken in Feb 2021)
In 1571 brick sizes were standardised by statue to 2.25 inches, and many of the bricks used on the West Elevation of the old cottage (facing the Hall) had that thickness. The cottage was altered may times over the centuries, a lot of windows were changed, some of them were re-built with 2.5-inch bricks, which became the norm by the end of 17th century.
The symmetrical south facade of the garden cottage has a very interesting brick pattern reflecting the various alterations to the building, with the remains of the old windows that have been bricked up or rebuilt, the arrow slit windows and beautiful ornamental oval window on top of the gable. The oval window opening was built from 2-inch bricks, typical of the 16th century.
The first picture of the Hall and the cottage (or rather its roof and chimney as the walls of the cottage in the picture are hidden by the trees) was a watercolor that was made in 1847 by Captain Robert Blake, the owner of the Hall at the time, with his whole family in the painting.
The Blake family in front of Swafield Hall, 1847. Watercolour by Robert Blake, with his sister Judith, wife Charlotte and children on the Main Lawn: 6-year-old Margaret, 4-year-old Robert (on the horse), 3-year-old Tomas and one-year old Eleanor.
The double-height utility room in the northern part of the old cottage had a limewashed stove. There used to be a staircase on the right side of the stove, and the door leading to the upper bedroom was still there.
Dilapidated south wall of the old cottage from the inside (upper bedroom), with a bricked-up oval window and remains of a square blocked-up window below. This not so thick wall was covered with deep cracks, the plaster began to crumble, many flints fell from the wall. Photo taken in June 2021.
Ground floor bedroom in the south part of the old cottage, with a steep wooden staircase leading to the top bedroom (picture taken in May 2021).
Unfortunately, over time, the old Grade II Garden Cottage had leaned heavily towards the road and became unsafe for pedestrians and passing vehicles. Deep cracks began to separate the walls of the cottage at its corners. At some point, a buttress was built on the roadside to support the east wall of the cottage, but this did not stop the building from deteriorating.
The mortar began to turn to dust, flints were falling off the wall, and the building became so dangerous that in 2018 the current owners were told by a conservation officer that the cottage must be dismantled completely, and a new cottage has to be built “like for like”, but on a modern foundation, using modern building technologies, and reinstalling the saved original features such as shutters, fireplace & beams. The cottage’s historic layout also had to be preserved.
East wall of the old cottage was heavily leaning towards the road (picture taken in May 2021, during demolition of the old garage)
The basic architectural plan for the re-building of the cottage and garage was developed by Norfolk architect Tom Ground. In particular, he proposed building an extension connecting the previously separated cottage and garage to create a kitchen-dining room, and an attic extension above the garage with the triangular gable roof that would complement the style of the cottage’s gables. He also proposed opening the oval window of the South Elevation (previously bricked-up) and re-creating on the north gable the brick and flint pattern from the south gable, with the oval window also being repeated there (before the renovation the north gable of the old cottage was covered with grey wooden planks).
Basic architectural plan for the re-building of the cottage and garage, created by local architect Tom Ground (GROUND DESIGNS) in October 2019.
Brick and flint pattern project for the south elevation of the cottage (April 2021), based on using 57mm bricks 9 x 4¼ x 2¼” (228 x 108 x 57 mm).
Prior to building work beginning, the owners of Swafield Hall measured and photographed every part of the old cottage and garage, with the aim of reproducing as accurately as possible the valuable elements of the brick pattern formed over the centuries as the result of numerous alterations to the buildings (see pictures below).
Some photographs of brick and flint patterns of the old cottage and its measuring (February 2021)
Fragment of a PPT presentation page (February 2021) showing measurements of the cottage as well as various sizes of bricks used for the building and alteration of the cottage. 16th century 50mm (2in) thick bricks were used on the south facade of the old cottage, except for the later rebuilt large window on the ground floor with 65mm (2 1/2in) thick bricks. Various bricks of 50mm, 57mm and 65mm thickness were used on the west wall.
Following consultations with a conservation officer, Norfolk Red Heritage bricks 9 x 4¼ x 2¼” (228 x 108 x 57mm)were chosen for the rebuilding of the cottage and garage. Bricks of this size were used in England from the second half of the 16th century until the end of the 17th century.
Although bricks of 50 mm thickness (2 in) were predominantly used on the South Elevation of the old cottage, the thickness of the mortar joints between the bricks was quite large and varied a lot, between 15 and 25mm. So, it was logical to use 57mm thick bricks with a cushion between them of 15 mm, to maintain the proportions of re-created brick elements such as arrow slit windows and oval windows (modern standard of mortar joint thickness is 10-12mm).
Most of the old bricks of the cottage were very fragile and could not be saved when the old building was dismantled, but all the flints had to be saved, carefully cleaned of the old limestone mortar and re-used again in the construction of the new building.
Based on the measurements and photographs taken, the owners of Swafield Hall developed design projects of the brick and flint patterns for each wall of the cottage and garage, not only to preserve the historic appearance of the cottage, but also to unite buildings into a complex of matching style.
Brick and flint pattern project for Swafield Hall new garage (April 2021)
The cottage’s renovation began in May 2021 with the demolition of the flat-roofed garage next to it. The garage was built in the 1980s and was out of style with the 16th-century cottage and the Tudor brick and flint North Elevation of Swafield Hall.
The old garage was demolished in May 2021, the dismantling of the old cottage was completed in July the same year. This expensive procedure required the installation of traffic lights on the road next to the cottage for many months (until the rebuilding of the East Elevation was finished).
Traffic lights on the road next to the old cottage. (June 2021)
Old metalwork from the large stove and fireplace and old wooden ceiling beams, where possible, were saved for reuse in the new cottage. Similarly, old doors, door frames, windows and shutters were saved for reuse or, if they were badly rotten or eaten by woodworm, to serve as templates for recreating similar looking elements for the new building.
All the old flints were saved, carefully cleaned from lime mortar and stacked in piles.
Dismantling of the old cottage. Flints are piled in the middle, ready to be cleaned (June 2021)
During the process of dismantling the fireplace from the lower bedroom, all its important elements were numbered, measured, photographed, and after dismantling, stored with markings, awaiting return to the new building.
During the dismantling of the old fireplace, all its bricks were numbered and stored (June 2021).
On July 7, 2021, the dismantling of the old cottage was completed. Two months later, concrete was poured to make a deep foundation for the new building.
6th September 2021: pouring concrete to make the foundation of the cottage (fireplace and stove area)
Our main contractor returned to work only in November 2021, and after that, construction work proceeded in the mode of “done – stop – dismantle – redone”. Overconfident and, as it turned out, not knowledgeable enough about modern building technologies, the main contractor couldn’t stop talking about how good he was “had been in the building industry for forty years” but worked slowly and didn’t care about deadlines. A year after completing the foundations, the cottage was not even half finished.
In December 2022, with the assistance of Building Control, we found out that some building regulations had not been followed and corners had been cut. As the result, we were told that the internal walls of the cottage must be torn down to the foundations and rebuilt, expensive insulation panels (that had been incorrectly held together with black gaffer tape) had to be removed, thrown away and replaced, window arches had to be rebuilt and so on. We had no choice but to say goodbye to our initial main contractor and start it over again, correcting all the old mistakes with someone new and more knowledgeable. It was a difficult time, full of regrets that we had ever agreed to start renovating the cottage.
The cottage in November 2022. Insulation panels had been incorrectly held together with black gaffer tape and incorrectly positioned inside the cavity wall.
Finding new builders was not an easy task, as no one likes to correct someone else’s mistakes. But just at that time, a new construction company Hollow Tree Construction was founded in a neighbouring village by two young, but already well-established builders. Swafield Hall Garden Cottage became the first large construction project of the new company, and time showed how lucky we were to start working with them.
Ashlee Cotter, co-founder of the Hollow Tree Construction, in the process of levelling the concrete floor in Swafield Hall garage (January 2023).
Anything that was not up to high standards had to be torn down and redone. Although it was heartbreaking to see a huge skip in the courtyard filled with demolished breeze blocks, and insulation panels from the walls that had had to be torn down, we were determined to get the job done right.
A large skip filled with demolished breeze blocks from the walls that had to be torn down and rebuilt, at Swafield Hall courtyard (November 2023).
During the renovation of the cottage and garage, our new builders from Hollow Tree Construction demonstrated knowledge, professionalism, creativity, integrity and passion for achieving the best possible results. They worked fast and did a brilliant job.
They started to work in January 2023 by building the kitchen extension and the garage next to it. In just one month the breezeblock walls and brick elements of the garage were erected.
By July 2023 the garage was almost complete, including brick and flint walls and the tiled roof. The final element of the garage, Tudor-style automatic wooden doors, were installed by the owners of the Hall in August.
20th June 2023: the garage is almost complete. Co-founders of the Hollow Tree Construction Ashley Cotter (left), Tom (middle) and their employee (right) in front of the Garage.
Work to correct all the mistakes made by the initial builder during his work on the cottage began in October 2023.
Building of the replacement internal wall in the Ground Floor Bedroom (November 2023).
Fixing the poorly built cavity tray above the doorway arch (December 2023).
Building cottage gable (February 2024).
Making the Cottage roof (March 2024).
Building the internal stud walls – Ground floor bedroom and bathroom (April 2024).
Lounge internal walls covered with plasterboards (20th May 2023).
Installing underfloor heating (30th May 2024).
Applying flow screed to create the floor surface on the ground floor (31st May 2024).
Plastering work completed in the Ground floor bedroom (26th August 2024).
While the cottage was being rebuilt, the cast iron fireplace insert from the Ground floor bedroom was cleaned of rust, restored and prepared to be returned to the cottage. The Greek key pattern of this insert and the colour of the cast iron become the basis for choosing decorative elements for the bedroom, such as wall sconces, picture frames, cupboard door handles, standard lamp base and so on.
Restored cast iron fireplace insert from the ground floor bedroom (12th December 2021).
In July 2024 the original fireplace has been returned to the ground floor bedroom of the cottage.
Brick and flint walls were completed in September 2024.
After the old cottage was dismantled, the old front door and its thick oak frame were put into storage. Unfortunately, the frame and door were in such a bad condition that they couldn’t be restored, but later they were used as templates to make a new frame and door similar to the original. The new door and frame were handcrafted from iroko hard wood by a local carpenter, the thickness of the frame is 5 inches. The door was installed in September 2024, and later darkened slightly outside with outdoor varnish to much the colour of the Garage doors and the dark main entrance door of the Hall. Inside the cottage door was treated with just clear varnish and has the original orange-purple iroko colour.
The cottage’s two chandeliers were purchased at an antique auction in 2021 and were in very poor condition. The chandeliers were restored, completely rewired and installed in the cottage along with other electrical equipment in September 2024.
In order to stay within the renovation budget, which was already stretched due to all the corrections and alterations advised by Building Control in December 2022, the owners of the Hall decorated all the rooms themselves, laid the final flooring and assembled kitchen furniture. The walls were painted with spray guns, it was a challenging job, especially in the double-height Lounge, requiring the use of a high scaffolding platform.
Top floor bedroom decorations (September 2024).
The installation of the Cottage kitchen took place at the end of November 2024. To give the room a special a cottagey feel, we partially exposed the roof beams, creating a geometric pattern on the ceiling. The roof beams are precisely coordinated in their position with the kitchen cabinets, extractor hob and skylight window. The chandelier above the antique oval dining table is made of high-quality full-lead Bohemian crystal.
The kitchen design was created by the owners of the Hall, who also assembled all the kitchen furniture and decorated the kitchen (except for the installation of the worktop with a rounded corner, which required some special tools and templates).
Design project of the cottage kitchen (created by Boris).
The kitchen was completed in early December 2024.
For decorating the Ground floor bedroom, two main colours from the background of the painting by Vasily Kandinsky (above the fireplace) were used: ivory on the fireplace wall, linen on the others. The colour of the cast-iron fireplace insert is repeated on the picture frame, mirror frame and wall sconces.
Decorating of the ground floor bedroom (September 2024).
Flooring on the ground floor is completed (14th October 2024)
In the old cottage, the Ground floor bedroom had a large south facing window with the original 6 panel internal shutters. Unfortunately, only 4 panels of the old shutters survived, some of them were rotten, most of the old fittings were missing. Shutters are a vital but often overlooked feature of many historic houses. In the medieval period, when most windows were unglazed, shutters kept out wind, rain, insects and birds. In later periods, when houses had cosier rooms with fireplaces and glazed windows, shutters provided extra draught-proofing and privacy. We had no doubt that the internal shutters must be returned to the re-built cottage, and during the demolition of the old cottage the original shutters were carefully dismantled and put into storage. Their condition was so bad that restoration was practically impossible, so we asked local carpenter Kevin Lawson to make new identical looking shutters. The biggest difference is that they are now white, not brown. The new architraves around the window also exactly match the shape of the old ones.
In the final stage of decorating the cottage, the oak veneered internal fire-doors were given a clear varnish. Similar clear varnish was used on the stair railings and newel caps, which are also made of oak. The stair posts were given an iroko wood finish to match the front door, which was also finished with a clear varnish on the inside. To make the staircase safer, a special intumescent white paint was used on its cladding boards.
The decoration was completed with the placement of furniture and pictures. The largest picture in the lounge is the original poster for the Italian release of Andy Warhol’s Flesh, an American film starring Joe Dallesandro as a hustler working on the streets of New York City. Flesh was released in Europe in 1970, and over the years, the film has gained a cult following. An image of Joe Dallesandro in Flesh was used on the front cover of The Smiths, the debut LP by The Smiths released in 1984.
On December 9, 2024, the first guests arrived at the cottage to spend their holidays there.
Old cottage utility room, view to the north wall. Picture taken from the door opening to the upstairs bedroom (23 June 2014).
New cottage lounge, north wall – with the original 1970 poster for the Italian release of Andy Warhol’s Flesh. Picture taken from the staircase balcony next to the upstairs bedroom door (February 2025).
Old cottage utility room. Picture taken from the corner opposite the main door (May 2021) .
New cottage lounge. Picture taken from the corner opposite the entrance door (February 2025).
Whitewashed stove in the old cottage (May 2021).
The same view in the new cottage (December 2024).
Old cottage, ground floor bedroom. Picture taken in June 2014.
New cottage, ground floor bedroom. Picture taken in December 2024.
Old cottage, ground floor bedroom. View to south wall window. Picture taken in May 2021.
New cottage, ground floor bedroom. View to south wall window. Picture taken in February 2025.
Old cottage, ground floor bedroom. View to the fireplace. Picture taken in May 2021.
New cottage, ground floor bedroom. View to the fireplace. Picture taken in December 2024.
Old cottage, ground floor bedroom. View to the west wall, second entrance door and wooden staircase to the top bedroom. Picture taken in May 2021.
New cottage, ground floor bedroom, view to the west wall. The old cottage’s second door is now replaced by a window. Picture taken in December 2024.
Old cottage, ground floor bedroom. East/south walls corner. Picture taken in May 2021
New cottage, ground floor bedroom with en-suite in the corner of the east and south walls. Picture taken in December 2024.
Old cottage, top floor bedroom. South wall with an oval window. Picture taken in June 2021.
New cottage, top floor bedroom. South wall with an oval window. Picture taken in December 2024.
Old cottage, top floor bedroom. View to the internal wall next to the lounge (on the left). Picture taken in June 2021.
New cottage, the same view – top floor bedroom. Picture taken in January 2025.
Old cottage, top floor bedroom. View to the west wall window. Picture taken in June 2021.
New cottage, top floor bedroom. View to the west wall window. Picture taken in January 2025.
Gap between the old cottage and garage. Picture taken in February 2021.
New cottage, kitchen-dining room in the extension which was built in the gap between the cottage and garage. Picture taken in December 2024.
Old cottage exterior. Picture taken in June 2014.
New cottage exterior. Picture taken in January 2025.