Serving Windermere, the Lake District and surrounding areas
Hawkshead sits between Windermere and Coniston Water, reached from our side either over the Windermere ferry or by road round the head of the lake through Ambleside.
Hawkshead is a village of whitewashed, roughcast cottages around small squares and alleys, with its centre kept largely free of traffic. Wordsworth went to school here and Beatrix Potter’s husband had his office in the village. Around it is farmland and scattered farmhouses and barns in the same rendered stone, many of them old enough to be listed.
Roughcast and limewash are the local finish, and they are there for a reason: they keep driving rain out of rubble stone walls while letting them breathe. Work on these buildings follows the same logic – lime-based renders and mortars, timber windows, slate roofs – and a modern extension is best kept clearly modern and clearly smaller than the house.
Getting there is part of the plan. The ferry across Windermere has limits on vehicle size, so larger deliveries come round by road. Hawkshead is inside the National Park, with planning decided by the Lake District National Park Authority.
White rendered rubble walls get lime-based repairs so they keep drying out.
Outlying farmhouses often have outbuildings that can be reused, with the right consents.
Narrow lanes, a car-free centre and ferry limits mean deliveries are planned route by route.
Stone barns can become workshops, studios or garden rooms, usually needing planning permission.
Single and two-storey extensions in stone, slate and glass, built to sit naturally against a Lakeland house.
Low-energy extensions with high insulation, airtightness and glazing placed for the light, not the heat loss.
Insulated garden offices, studios and rooms for guests, clad in cedar or larch and built on a proper base.
New homes, replacement dwellings, garages and outbuildings, from groundworks to the finished building.
Measured surveys, plans, elevations and 3D drawings, and the planning application that goes with them.
Timber jetties, landing stages and lakeshore decking, built for water levels that rise and fall.
Steel-framed buildings, workshops, hospitality and holiday-let work for Lake District businesses.
Careful barn conversions, character homes, holiday lets and studios for Lake District landowners.
Practical agricultural buildings, livestock sheds, stables and storage for Lake District farmers.
Extensions, bedrooms, restaurants, spa facilities and refurbishments for Lake District hoteliers.
Yes – it is around eight miles from Windermere by road, and we plan deliveries around the ferry and the lanes.
Because it keeps wind-driven rain out of rubble stone walls while still letting them breathe. We repair and extend it with lime-based materials for the same reason.
The Lake District National Park Authority.
Often, with the right permissions. Changes of use and alterations to traditional barns in the National Park usually need planning permission, and listed buildings need listed building consent as well.
Talk to Lakes Construction and arrange a free quotation.