Bolo’s Cottage Coulston, Wiltshire

Bolo’s Cottage

by Chalk Architects

Set in a rural village along the northern escarpment of Salisbury Plain, Bolo’s Cottage is a C18th thatched cottage with deep family history. Recently, it underwent a sensitive renovation, alteration, and extension led by Chalk Architects and delivered on site by Craft Renovations Ltd.

The brief was to protect and renew the cottage for a new generation while creating a welcoming, light-filled space for entertaining and modern family living. The result is a carefully balanced blend of traditional craftsmanship and contemporary design, where natural materials play a key role in uniting the old with the new.

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The use of our air-dried oak cladding on the external façade was central to the design vision of Chalk Architects, softening the form of the extension and offering a tactile counterpoint to the thatch and stone, ensuring the new felt rooted in the same language as the old.

Oak cladding was chosen for its practicality and, more importantly, for the way it could root the new extension within a long tradition of rural architecture. Oak has been used for centuries in buildings of this type, and its familiar presence makes the contemporary addition feel as though it belongs to the same story as the thatched cottage beside it.

The quiet tones and shifting grain of the timber bring a sense of warmth and depth, qualities that soften the transition between new and old while lending the extension a character that feels authentic rather than imposed. Over time the oak will weather and mellow, allowing the building to settle even more naturally into its landscape, its appearance evolving with the seasons.

The unique detailing of the cladding was handled with the same restraint as the other elements of the design, ensuring that it sits comfortably alongside the thatch and clay, and reinforcing the architects’ guiding principle of working with a restricted but honest palette of materials.

The finished home is described by the architects as having “the cosiness and character of a thatched cottage with the light and space of a modern dwelling.”

The client echoed this sentiment in a heartfelt review: “I thought I knew what I wanted for my family home but by working with Chalk, I instead now have the most wonderful space that was beyond my imagination, in a home that has been lovingly renovated for the next generation… where materials, light and respect for harmonising the old and the new has delivered a breathtaking space.”

Photos: Pete Helme

Air Dried Oak

Air Dried, Prime Grade

Seasoned naturally to achieve a moisture content relative to the outdoor environment, Air Dried is well suited to external applications such as gates, exposed external doors and balustrades. Due to the controlled and gradual...

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