Lady Radnor Award: Extension at Cabbage Cottage, Netton

Cabbage Cottage is an attractive single story thatched cottage, listed, and prominently located by a road junction in the Woodford Valley.  It is partially shielded by a roadside cob wall, which had hidden from public view a previous small extension, of no merit at all.  The judges had no hesitation in agreeing that a new extension which sought to match the original building, with its ‘cottage orné’ character, was unlikely to have worked, and that the modern approach chosen, with timber cladding and a barrel roof in copper, had been entirely the right choice.  This still required high quality design and execution, and the judges saw this everywhere they looked.  The original building remains fully readable, with a modest link section between it and the extension, tucked under the thatch.  Inside the link, the rough cob walls of the cottage retain their character, around a new doorway.  The new copper roof was seen as an outstanding achievement, both visually and because of the skill with which it had been created, with full attention paid to every detail.  Glimpses of it over the top of the roadside wall create interest in what the full picture may show.  The interiors of the extension are simple and well planned, with maximum advantage taken of the view down the valley.  The judges felt that the whole project was an object lesson in how to add successfully to a listed building, with a completely different stylistic approach having enhanced the cottage, while creating a new building of high quality in its own right.  It seemed only proper to recognise the project with the Lady Radnor Award, as the most outstanding of all this year’s award winners.

Architects: Favonius Architects, Salisbury