Conservatories and Sun Rooms
Free standing conservatories and greenhouses as structures within the garden will require careful consideration of siting and orientation in the garden plan to avoid being intrusively conspicuous to neighbours or the public, but the conservatory attached directly to the house present much greater difficulties of design.
The assumption must be that the conservatory will be placed where it has advantage of the sun at some period of the day: it may double up as an entrance to the house or as a breakfast room, as a place for flowers or for children's toys. All these considerations must be taken into account as well as the very proper concern about the visual impact of the new structure on the character of the home and its surrounding area. The introduction of minimal heating into a conservatory to protect plants from frost may be justified but the National Park Authority stresses the assumption that the orientation of a sun-space will ensure the maximum benefit of available passive energy. In this respect a conservatory must also satisfy the requirements of Part L of the Building Regulations.
Regardless of its apparent Victorian or Edwardian character the larger conservatory will often be too elaborate for the simpler house or cottage in the National Park, but there is a wide range of small to middling size conservatories on the market which have become popular. Most of these are based on a kit of components which can be developed into various forms of lean-to or ridge construction, and are manufactured in a range of materials some of which may not be wholly suitable in colour or finish in the context of the solid reticent stone building in the Park.
Dwarf walls for a conservatory should be built in the same material as the main house
All the recommendations already made in relation to extension may equally apply to the siting, size and design of conservatories. There are of course special considerations to be taken into account here because a glass building is vulnerable to heavy falls of snow off higher roofs and can make access difficult for cleaning higher windows or general maintenance. Thus there will be some practical preference for siting a conservatory at a gable end of a house either as projecting ridge type or as a lean-to.
Here a screen wall is shown which ties the conservatory in to the house and provides a warm surface against which to train plants
Many cottages and houses are built with their main elevations facing south, arguably the appropriate orientation for a conservatory. Substantial difficulties arise however which can be seen in the illustrations below.
1. The low eaves of this cottage restrict the height of the conservatory.
2. Access for maintenance and cleaning gutters is made more difficult. The snow board is fitted on the roof to protect the glass.
3. Most importantly, the character of the original cottage is completely obliterated.
Sited on the front elevation the conservatory does nothing to enhance the character of the original building and proposals of this nature may be unacceptable in the National Park. The National Park Authority will endeavour to help house owners arrive at appropriate decisions on siting, size and design of conservatories.
Although a smaller scale greenhouse rather than a conservatory, the siting of this unit is not so intrusive on the existing building.
In some cases a garden room extension may offer better all year round use if it has an insulated slate roof rather than glass. As the roof would then be a dark non reflective surface the extension would become easier to integrate with the existing building and the glazing of the walls could reflect the domestic fenestration more clearly.
A west facing garden room much used in the afternoons uses high garden walls both for warmth and screening.
