Prest Vale Architects extends historic stone rectory in the Cotswolds

London studio Prest Vale Architects has extended a Grade II-listed rectory in the Cotswolds, continuing its gabled roofline with a pale stone volume topped by a sundial. Located close to Blenheim Estate in Oxfordshire, the rectory was originally constructed in the 17th century and is neighboured by a stone barn dating from the mid-18th century. Prest Vale Architects was tasked with uniting and expanding this historic ensemble, extending the main home, converting the barn into a guest annexe and flattening out a banked garden that had previously blocked daylight and views. “The starting point was really about reconnecting the house with its landscape, while introducing a new gable that feels like a natural next chapter within the existing ensemble of buildings,” studio co-founder Richard Prest told Dezeen. “This also enabled us to rethink the relationship between the house and the landscape, so we embedded the extension into the topography and used changes in level to bring the planting up to the windows,” he added. The existing rectory’s southern facade was defined by a row of three Cotswold stone gables, which are topped by a weathervane, chimney and a belfry window. Continuing this formal language, Prest Vale Architects housed the extension within an adjoining gabled form, topped by a stone sundial. This extension contains a kitchen attached to an expanded dining area, flanked by a store and rear entrance to the north, and a study that projects to the south with a large sit-in window surrounded by planting. A steep bank that had blocked views from the rectory’s southern windows was flattened as part of a garden scheme by landscape architect Todd Longstaffe-Gowan, with a ha-ha – or sunk fence – introduced to separate the garden from the adjacent field. “The extension reaches out towards the barn, bringing the two buildings into a closer relationship, whilst also creating an informal courtyard on the south side of the house for evening dining,” Prest explained. “The existing silhouette has evolved over 300 years, so we wanted the extension to add to that evolution,” added fellow co-founder Michael Vale. “The new gable offers continuity in the building’s story, while the sculptural sundial above it offers a playful nod to its South-facing perspective,” he told Dezeen. To match the existing building, the extension is finished in local Cotswold stone, with fenestration and a gable end in crisp white Portland stone marking it out as a contemporary addition. In the neighbouring barn, an expansive, double-height living, kitchen and dining space sits beneath the exposed structure of a new Douglas fir roof, overlooked by a mezzanine balcony. Both this barn and the main home share access to a pool created at the rear of the site, surrounded by a stone terrace and overlooked by a small oak poolhouse. “We wanted the extension to feel rooted in its place, so we took materials from the existing buildings – Portland stone, locally quarried Cotswold stone and oak – but used them with contemporary precision to give the new building its own character,” said Prest. Other projects recently completed in the Cotswolds include a leaf-shaped home by Michaelis Boyd and a home by DeDraft raised above a parkland site on a plinth of local stone. Photography by David Valinsky Read more