Category Archives: Architecture/Design

What’s this village doing here?

A rare sortie abroad in the last couple of weeks has reminded me that despite the great cost of holidaying overseas (in cash and carbon), it does give one the opportunity to see new things and have time to think … Continue reading

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Bijou Beach-Huts

I was in Walberswick at the weekend – in an end-of-term, pre-holiday sort of mood. The tar-black huts along the staithe at Southwold are enough to make you want to reach for a hammer and nails and build something – … Continue reading

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Beautiful Farm Buildings?

I’ve talked in previous posts about ‘farmsteads’ – one of the four ‘rural archetypes’ I identified for my guided tour of Norfolk with Beyond Green last summer. I suggested one might plan a relatively dense knot of new homes around … Continue reading

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The Wide-Fronted House #4

In a recent post I described how the square-on-plan semi, with front and back living rooms became ‘universal’ during the inter-War period. Private house-builders built three-quarters of the 4 million news homes produced in the period, mostly without the help … Continue reading

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Tesco Self-Build?

A piece on one of BD Online’s blog today was stressing about the prospect of Tesco getting involved in the UK self-build market, and idea which Housing Minister Grant Shapps has been toying with this week according to Building Design … Continue reading

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The Wide-Fronted House #3

The terraced house was the norm for new homes during the late nineteenth century up to the First World War (see previous post), but thereafter it was the semi-detached house that emerged as the standard format for council-housing and private … Continue reading

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The Wide-Fronted House #2

In a previous post (way back in October!) I wrote about the wide-fronted house, the third of four ‘rural archetypes’ I described during the tour of Norfolk I did for Beyond Green last summer. I explained that the three- then … Continue reading

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Grant Shapps and the ‘New Normal’

I’ve followed with interest, on Twitter and elsewhere, Grant Shapps’ thoughts on the Natural House, the Prince’s Foundation show-home which he unveiled recently at the Building Research Establishment in Watford. It culminated in a proclamation this week from the GLG … Continue reading

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Contemporary Vernacular?

Coming back to the issue of special and normal buildings (as I did in the last post), put me in mind of a house which I drive past occasionally on my way up to Holkham Hall, where Lucas Hickman Smith … Continue reading

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Thanks again, BD!

If you’ve just come to Ruralise from the letters page at BD, welcome! If you’re a regular reader but can’t get behind BD’s pay-wall, the text was as follows (somewhat more discursive than BDs tightly edited version):

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