A modern home

21st century comfort in a 16th century building

If an old building is going to survive, it needs to be not just habitable but comfortable and practical to live in. Modernisation of historic buildings is a controversial area, particularly insulation and energy use, and there are always choices and trade-offs. We have put authenticity first, so modernisation has had to be low (ideally no) impact on the fabric of the building and reversible. But Wisson Hill is a cosy family home and offers twenty-first century holiday accommodation:

• Underfloor heating in the kitchen (controlled remotely)
• Central heating, using large radiators, an air source heat pump and a control app
• Solar-heated water and electricity
• Modern RCD electricity management
• Wired-in smoke detectors
• Thickly insulated curtains for winter nights
• Modern appliances, including dishwasher
• Instant hot water at the kitchen sink (under sink heater)

Out of sight, thick layers of sheep’s wool insulation in walls and the attic space are effective, as proven by a thermal imaging camera survey. When the house is unoccupied, humidity sensors and dehumidifiers keep humidity below the critical 70%, minimising the risk of damp-related damage.

The regular electrical and plumbing upgrades that are standard nowadays present a huge risk to old buildings. Busy electricians and plumbers will quite reasonably look for the easiest routing and most discreet result. A starting position of zero impact on the historic fabric has not made me popular with these trades, but they have all got their heads around the principle and offered imaginative approaches, using established ‘services corridors’, boxing and surface mounting to avoid the repeated lifting of floorboards and drilling through structure that can have a huge cumulative effect on a timber frame building, over a few decades.

Wisson Hill’s 16th century rooms are heated by an air source heat pump, located well out of sight. The lower water temperature does mean that larger radiators are necessary, but they produce a nice gentle heat, kinder to old materials. Large radiators (K2s and K3s) are no more invasive to install than thinner ones and every effort has been made to rationalise central heating plumbing, boxing in pipework or leaving it exposed, rather than repeatedly lifting floor boards, which is very destructive over time.

Admittedly no radiator is particularly attractive, but we want to be warm and this is best available technology. After all, central heating has been installed for probably not much more than 10% of the years the house has been standing and who knows what will come next, so it’s reassuring that this heating system could be removed without leaving an unfortunate legacy.

The same principles apply regarding bathrooms. We would all like an en-suite bathroom, but expanding washing and WC provision in such an old house would come at too high a cost to the integrity of the house (and consent may not be granted anyway). So, like many other well-preserved buildings that are hundreds of years old, Wisson Hill is relatively under-provided with bathrooms and we hope our holiday guests will understand this compromise.

Decorating a 500-year old house

The most important thing about decorating such an old house is using the right materials, so the building can breathe. If a wall or floor can let water evaporate naturally – and you can keep the relative humidity level below 70%, all will be well. Wisson Hill was full of modern, non-breathable paints and it has been very satisfying watching the house indignantly expel them, peeling off in big flakes.

Once the vinyl paint flakes, gypsum plaster, cement and modern filler have been removed, there are plenty of holes to fill. Luckily lime plaster is a delight to work with, as described in more detail under Maintenance. Plaster can be pushed into holes with a blunt knife and the surface smoothed with a damp sponge.

Actual decoration involves limewash, which is a close relative of the lime plaster – all of these products are different proportions of lime putty, water and sand – and can be bought ready-mixed in large tubs. Limewash will separate out, with all the water at the top, but can be easily mixed up, optionally with pigment. Wisson Hill’s interior cream finish is limewash with a small amount of natural ochre pigment (13g per 20 litres) and the exterior colour is using natural sienna pigment, with a much higher proportion of pigment to limewash to get the depth of colour.

Lime wash is odourless and lovely to work with, although a little different to most modern paints: more watery, you use a big brush and it temporarily goes transparent when applied. It is also pretty cheap, so there is no excuse for owners of old houses to use anything else. Unfortunately most decorators are unfamiliar with lime products and not keen to use them.

Have a look at the gallery to see how the decoration worked out and critique it up close by booking a holiday at Wisson Hill.

Furnishing a Tudor farmhouse

It is tempting to be led by images of Tudor stately homes but, whilst every bit as sixteenth century as their more impressive contemporaries, farmhouses of this era were modestly furnished. A building like Wisson Hill was constructed to a high quality and the tenant farmer who first occupied it would have had reasonable means to provide the basic furniture typical for such households. Unfortunately very little of that solid, practical furniture has survived, so here are the furnishing principles used at Wisson Hill:

1. Let the authentic sixteenth century material take centre stage: beams, floorboards, original features
2. Where appropriate, use a contemporary equivalent, such as the unfinished oak tenon and mortice solid oak beds, built in a style sympathetic to beds likely to have been used
3. Don’t expect anything with four legs to sit flat on the floor: lots of blocks and wedges to ensure a level surface for sleeping or placing a mug
4. Be inspired by some of the themes of Tudor furnishing, if not the detail, such as fabric wall hangings, shutters and rush matting
5. Colours: if you couldn’t match it with a natural pigment it probably won’t look right. And a natural palette offers plenty of bright and authentic colours – no need to be gloomy
6. Don’t get too bogged down in Tudor authenticity, because it’s not possible to be 100% in a house which is actually lived in and comfortable: we need modern conveniences and the house was a home for five centuries since it was built, accommodating all the styles between
7. Some post-Tudor decor was enduring and meaningful, such as Delftware or blue and white china, mentioned specifically in a 1796 inventory and with dozens of different fragments found around the house
8. Local and historic references can be a nice touch, such as Wisson Hill’s original watercolour painting of Lord Leycester Hospital in Warwick, pussy willow from the garden, Tudor greyhounds on a cushion, lamp shade designs which celebrate local birds and oyster shells
9. A personal touch gives authenticity and we hope that holiday guests will enjoy a collection of personal and relevant books, paintings and furniture handed down through the family and some items which have simply made themselves at home in the house over the years
10. Have some fun! Since reading Wolf Hall, a pair of children’s wings had to be made from peacock feathers. Electric lights are not very Tudor but jute and oak can help a light pull blend in

Some thoughts about unfinished oak

Guests at this holiday house may notice that there is a fair amount of new wood and it has no varnish or protective finish. There is a reason for this:

• Much of the house was built of elm, nearly 500 years ago, but elm is not longer available, so oak is used
• New oak is used, rather than reclaimed wood, to maintain the historic integrity of the house, but…
• The precedent of recycling Wisson Hill’s own timbers has been continued, and recorded. Removal of the thick elm battens, which has been a feature of the many authorised restoration phases, has provided material which was itself clearly recycled, such as the wedge forming the left side of the stairs (see photo below)
• Green oak is used for major structural repairs but more more cosmetic work, kiln-dried oak is used, for its smooth appearance and greater stability (green oak twists)
• New kiln-dried oak is pale but, if left completely unfinished, gently hardens and darkens to a rich, golden colour, looking comfortable with the historic unfinished oak and elm
• Protective finishes may initially look good, but they do not age as elegantly or authentically, and some may reduce the oak’s ability to breathe and look after itself over decades and, hopefully, centuries. The west bedroom and gable en-suite floors at Wisson Hill were treated with a matt Osmo treatment and looks quite different to the unfinished oak of the stairs and landing
• Unfinished oak can stain – in descending order of impact: lime plaster / wash, blood, food and drinks, water – but if the worst comes to the worst, stains can be sanded back and the whole piece recover fairly quickly
• Taking the long view, unfinished oak will look better in a few hundred years time

Read all the details about Wisson Hill’s restoration and see before and after photos.