Therefore we do not work in lime mortars externally between late Oct and the end of the serious frost in the spring. This is the time of  year when  we undertake the majority of our bespoke internal renovations.

At present we are the main contractors for a complete renovation of a very interesting period town house.

The property has had many phases of additions and alterations, a good part of it dates from around the 1550s, with ‘Tudor’ bricks and extensive oak timber framing.

There is a large Georgian section to the upper floors,built on top of the earlier phase, which might just coincide with a fire we think,which swept through the area.

There is a basement to the property and in it we uncovered an amazing  and very early feature which had been bricked in -looks a bit like a small cave,  lime rendered ,with small niches to two sides-see pics.

The current thinking is that it may well have had a religious function- the to niches are apparently the right orientation for an altar and ‘lady chapel’.

Anyway, a great feature to restore and quite a challenge too- will add photos and an update as we progress with it.

Have also uncovered an inglenook fire place,again bricked up which we will be restoring soon and to one upper room an interesting oak framed window,which we will be restoring.

The clients are very keen to restore the property, bringing out as many of the relevant phases as practical, but also bringing the home up to modern standards of comfort- a real bespoke project which takes time & understanding of traditional building techniques,skill and patience!