So what's it all about then?

The plan is to build what is effectively a three-car garage, although there is a vanishingly small prospect of ever getting three cars in there. Realistically, the layout of the driveway and access to the garage makes it nearly impossible for anything other than a tiny car to get into the rightmost slot. But that space is super useful for garden maintenance equipment and general "stuff". 

In addition, there is a rather elderly summer house built of softwood that is coming to the end of its useful life. Between the garage and the summer house is, practically speaking, wasted space, about 2.5m wide that could be made better use of.

The existing garage and summer house, showing 
the extent of the proposed new development  

The plan therefore is to demolish the existing two car garage and the old summer house and build a single story three car garage/sun room plus storage areas in the vacated space, overall some 12m x 7m. 

Architect's drawing looking 
from the south

Architect's drawing looking 
from the north

 

 

 

 

 

 

Architect's plan

The garage will have room for a good sized workshop and space for garden furniture, tractor, etc. Above the garage will be a large loft space which will no doubt get filled with junk in no time. The sun room section will extend up to roof level to give a tall open space with glass on two sides. Behind the sun room is further ground level storage. 

Planning approval has been obtained and the structural design is completed. I've selected the builder and we meet next Monday to kick off the project, with a planned start date in mid-late April.

And then...

Thirteen years ago I had this sudden urge to develop Pennine View from the small cottage on a big plot of land into a somewhat bigger country residence. The project was a huge success and you can read all about it, or at least as much as I am willing to tell you, in the posts below.

I rather thought that I was done with big projects but it seems not. Nine months ago I was struck by another sudden urge, this time to get a little sports car for those nice sunny days that we occasionally get up here in Cumbria. Well that rather genteel notion was never going to suffice and so it was that I ended up buying a Jaguar F-type, all eight cylinders, five litres and 550 horsepower of it. 

Now the F-type, whilst great fun is a totally impractical car, being a true two seater with a rather small boot - but an enormous, E-type-esque bonnet to hide that chunky V8 engine. Not much good for carrying stuff, in other words. It's also rather low to the ground and some of my less agile friends do not fit into it well...

And so I became a two car household.

Pennine View does have a double garage but half of that is full of workshop, a garden tractor and other maintenance paraphernalia needed for a couple of acres of prime Cumbrian countryside. Then there's all the usual stuff that one acquires after 25 years of living in the same place. So in practice, it's a bit of a fight to fit just one car into the remaining space. I really would prefer to be able to get both cars under cover, especially during the winter months when it can get pretty wild up here.

And so a new project is born and this Blog awakens from its slumbers as documentary evidence.  

Pennine View in March 2026 - a view from my drone