Cradle Combe – Cadsden, Oxfordshire – A modern take on a traditional country home

The clients purchased a 2 acre plot of land with a one hundred year old bungalow at one end. The bungalow itself was in a sad state of repair and due to some decisions made by their neighbours, were not able to modify and extend. Therefore the plan was to build a new house adjacent to the bungalow. They worked with Jane Duncan architects to create a ‘modern take on a traditional country home’. During the process of creating the construction pack the clients attended some build shows and were introduced to builders via various sources, with a view to tendering the project.

“We met Steve and instantly knew that he was the right man to build the house, he made some great initial observations and was easy to get along with which was important for us due to living onsite. He said as he was leaving ‘I want to build this house’ which we hadn’t heard anywhere else and it was so genuine that we decided not to tender and awarded him the build.“

Site setup, clearance and perimeter security was all handled by SJP builders.

“This was important as our family lived onsite during the build and it was key to have two separated areas for the build to happen, whilst allowing us the freedom to come and go as we pleased, entertain friends and family and maintain things like trees. The site throughout the build was kept incredibly clean, which many people commented on (some of which can be seen on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/cradle_coombe_build/)”

We removed an existing swimming pool and levelled off the build area to allow accurate building dimensions to be marked out. Foundations were created and concrete poured to council standards.

We took on the construction of a gabion wall to retain some higher land, this wall is 30m wide by 2.5m tall. Each piece of granite was hand placed and built in situ without any adhesive.

“The wall looks incredible and is doing the job of keeping our home safe from land slippage. Nearly 400 ton of stone is in and behind the wall. This isn’t something SJP had previously built, but there was no hesitation to try something new and ensure it was executed to an extremely high standard. “

“During the house build we all encountered Covid, again Steve did a great job at ensuring everyone was safe, dovetailing trades to ensure no overcrowding on site and shutting down where required. Despite this delay we were still able to get in for Christmas as originally planned, which involved a Steve doing some extra hours to speed tasks up as well as his relationships with fellow trades to put our project to the top of the list, for which we are very grateful. “

“The team Steve worked with were all fantastic, very friendly, understanding and happy to answer questions. The quality of craftsmanship, overseen by Steve is fantastic. And problems encountered or issues highlighted were swiftly dealt with (I even had him cut out a brick due to a hole in it, and you’d never know!).  “

“Whilst building the house our attention turned to some outside areas such as a patio, where to park the cars and driveway design. I actually owe the suggestions here to Steve who asked us to think about entertaining, the flow between the house and outside as well as convenience, I am sure if it was left to me, my wife would have been shouting at me every time she had to walk from her car in the rain miles away from the house ! At the same time as the build we were able to create the areas when Steve was less hands on as other trades were doing their thing, again testament to his project management skills and getting more done in the same amount of time. It also meant that we didn’t have a brand new clean house, surrounded by a mud pit, which was a bonus. “