We found James Darwent Architecture online along with a couple of other firms experienced in dealings with the Peak Park Planning and Listed Building Consents, and after a couple of zoom meetings decided to go with James and his team. The whole process was complicated by the fact that we were living in the States with only brief visits to the property over the period of construction.

From the design process, to working with the local authorities, and over-seeing the whole building work from start to finish, James, Carys and Joanna were fantastic. We had weekly zoom meetings with James and the construction crew to go over progress and any issues that arose, and they were patient with our questions, and several changes of ideas which often involved re-drawing and re-submitting to the planning authorities.

We are thrilled with the end result and would not hesitate in recommending them!

We explained what we liked (including some of their existing work) and what we wanted. James and Jo’s initial designs were great, with strong guidance on what we should consider in finalising.

It was drawn up into a comprehensive pack that, with a few modifications, went through planning and to tender. James recommended a good selection of builders – with good examples of work they’d done.

Work got underway. James and Jo were able to guide the builder around the inevitable things that come up along the way to make sure it all went smoothly. Covid made things tricky – but everyone stuck with it.

We've ended up with a fabulous extension and outside areas. Light, good space, beautiful, comfortable, modern and yet building out from what we already had. We love it. And appreciate the careful consideration that went into the design, the build and throughout the process to help us.

Lofty words, with ideas potentially leading towards glass-panelled clichés that would detract from the local architecture; this is proud dry-stone wall country. In addition, such ideas would betray our day-to-day reality: we are (were?) a young family wanting to create a house that must soon become a home. And in this home we would need to have the space where we can enjoy and accommodate all that life will throw at it in the coming decades, without us becoming overly precious about mess or blemishes; it would need to be resilient. In the original brief we summed this up somewhat more succinctly: it would need to be somewhere we would want to spend Christmas.

And here, wallowing in the seeming contradictions between a contemporary new-build and a classical family idle, an inspired piece of architecture was created.

But how did we get here? We knew we loved the area, having lived and played nearby for six years. We were after a farm house, ideally with some land, on a quiet road with quick access to a village and train station. Alas, very few places exist within the area, and soon we came to the idea, born of necessity rather than desire, of building a house from scratch. This opened the door to viewing more properties, but with the advantage of only seeking the perfect plot (for us, a great house could only exist when set on a great plot). We viewed the original Sunart on a damp December morning, where the battleship grey cladding did little to enhance the multitude roof elevations and angles. Yet inside the house, with all its jumbled rooms and connections, we were surprised: we quite liked the place. It felt, well, rather homely. How so? Because the house was very well positioned, oriented and sized. Its rooms were also well positioned, yet they were completely the wrong size and shape for the house and plot, and the less said about thermal efficiency the better. An internal damp and unwelcoming courtyard also did little to suggest that this house should stay. We then contacted Darwent Architecture about the idea of altering the property, and James came to visit the house with us on a second viewing. He too saw the multitude possibilities, and that the house did have positive qualities which would be good to keep. And so we decided not to entirely kill the place off, but instead give it a reincarnation. In so doing we would take the best attributes from its Arts and Craft heritage, and do away with the multiple extensions it had subsequently endured.

Next came the difficult part: what should a new house look like, have, be composed of, and be for years to come. Almost unspoken was the fact that the house must be highly energy efficient. The list of requirements from us was rather brief: a short list of rooms, where tension was sought between open spaces and too many rooms. We wanted the house to not feel open-plan, yet we also never wanted to feel lost in a sea of rooms within our own home. Perhaps strangely, our list of external requirements was similar in length: such as a barn, guest annex, glasshouse and kitchen garden---these were our real luxuries, and the house would have to be married to them. On the back of this, James worked his magic and came up with a design that was very close to what we idealised, requiring very little iteration. Interior design and landscaping were considered as an integral part of the initial design phase, which is evident in the end result – a coherent and fully considered scheme.

Recognising the potential of the adjacent two-acre field and the energy requirements, he suggested the heating and hot water for the house could be provided by a ground source heat pump, serving underfloor heating throughout. He also identified a hidden south facing roof elevation onto which solar panels could be mounted, without detracting from the traditional look of the roof. Further solar panels could be mounted on the south facing elevation of the barn roof providing a reasonable percentage of the electrical requirements of the property, when the sun shines. A solid house was important for thermal efficiency whilst also giving a high quality acoustic feel and as such many of the internal walls were designed to be brick, whilst the exterior to have a blend of reclaimed gritstone and cream render. The gritstone theme was also to be brought inside with a full height atrium wall of exposed gritstone laid in the traditional manner, and a similar effect at the main fireplace and gym walls. The house was to look like it had been in the landscape for decades and that has been achieved – several people have been amazed to discover this is a new build house. Darwent Architecture went above and beyond our expectations throughout, bringing a high level of competence and recognising the importance of complementary skills to his own; our interior designer and landscapers were people James had worked with before and recommended, and we can see why.

There are so many individual elements of Sunart that we love; the traditional pantry, library lined with full height book cases, Arts and Craft style snug, bay windows that maximise the view whilst managing the solar gain, kitchen garden that seems to extend from the kitchen itself, the practical and sizeable rear hall for dirty boots and coats, full roof height bedrooms upstairs with exposed oak beams, grand hall and feature staircases (now home to our piano), views maximised from every aspect, and the open plan nature with ability to shut off rooms and maintain a cosy feel. Above all however, is the overall coherency and quality of the entire scheme. Like a fine painting, the details in all parts matter, but it is only when brought together as a whole that the piece is able to achieve the full aims and deliver a lasting impression and a deep emotional connection.