Canon Frome Court, Herefordshire
Canon Frome Court is a Grade II listed Georgian manor and 40 acre organic farm in Herefordshire. The house, stable block and several cottages on site make up a community of 20 self-contained dwellings. Canon Frome Court is owned by the Windflower Housing Association, a co-ownership housing association.
The land is farmed cooperatively and organically by residents. There are shared facilities on site and residents come together weekly to make decisions by consensus.
The community were keen to diversify and strengthen their membership by building more affordable, low-cost units on the site.
The client’s brief was distilled into three main design drivers which have informed our design response throughout the process.:
Initial designs undertaken by Caroe Architects at the pre-application advice stage explored the development of these spaces with interlinked bedrooms and communal living spaces. We developed the designs to increase the size of bedrooms and to avoid corridors passing through private bedrooms.
By rethinking how some of the spaces are entered, we have been able to create two separate units, each with 2 bedrooms and their own living spaces as well as improved buffer spaces.
“Arbor listened carefully and patiently, then responded appropriately, never imposing their expertise but using it wisely. We loved their commitment to sustainability and the enthusiasm with which they embraced natural building materials and appropriate methods. Showing us samples was also really helpful.
They were also helpful in managing the minefield of other consultants we had to marshal for our planning application.”
Nancy Winfield