Room with a view of William Burgess’s magnificent Castell Coch. A client’s story: - “Our house is one of two semi-detached cottages, built about 150 years ago for workers labouring in the vineyard of the Third Marquis of Bute at Castell Coch. The house sits in a hollow looking up at Castell Coch at the rear and across to the Garth Mountain at the front. It was extended at the side and rear in 1960 when its height was also raised. Much of its original character was lost, including sash windows which were replaced by casements, and the slate covered roof, which was replaced by concrete tiles. When we acquired it in the 1980s we demolished a lean-to at the rear used for utilities and erected a two-storey extension. We took the opportunity to recover the whole roof in slates. We also took down a wall separating the sitting and dining rooms, making a large sitting room occupying the footprint of the old cottage. The ground floor of our new extension became our kitchen and the former kitchen became a small dining room. We took the opportunity to incorporate the outside WC into an indoor unheated toilet. The size of our new extension was dictated by cost as, with excavation, there was ample land to go further at both side and back. On the side there was a steep bank rising to a flat area which went up to the boundary. The smallness of the dining room became an issue much later and I wished we had been more ambitious in 1985. My partner was less convinced but eventually was persuaded to make alterations by a promise that a wet room and a walk-in pantry would form part of the alterations. To add to the challenge, in 2010 we had made space by employing a builder to dig out the bank at the side, removing over 400 tons of material, and erect a new retaining wall with a trough for plants. This then was the brief to the architect in 2010: create a design for an extended kitchen, new dining room, wet room and walk-in pantry making use of the space we had created. It was important to us to have additional living space which looked smart and modern but not out of place with the charm of the existing building. We wanted light and to be able to appreciate the garden which wrapped around the building. Alun came up with a design which did just that: a single storey dining/living space, with light coming from all sides, in particular, sliding French doors looking out to the front garden, a six pane window with apex to the ceiling which looks up to the garden over the retaining wall to Castell Coch. This space leads into an extended kitchen topped by two Victorian style skylights. A door provides access to the rear garden from the dining room. He advised against any physical barrier between kitchen area and dining room, arguing the layout provided adequate definition of boundaries. He was determined to give us winter glimpse of Castell Coch in the distance (bushes and trees obscuring in the summer). He also solved the two other challenges, using space occupied by the former dining room to extend the hall, create a wet room/toilet off and a deep cupboard for storage to more than make up for loss of a cupboard under the stairs which was needed to make a doorway from the hall into the new living/dining area. The former indoor toilet, noted by our visitors for its low temperature, became the pantry. The roof is double pitched cut away at the rear as the side bends round to the rear. We discussed making an area where we could sit out with some shelter. He came up with idea of loggia forming an extension of the roof facing the front garden. We have spent many happy hours under the loggia entertaining our friends. In the summer, we can slide back the French doors and the space under the loggia merges into the living/dining room. Our visitors comment on the light and magnificent windows looking out over the front and looking up towards Castell Coch. Alun was relaxed and approachable throughout the project, visited the site frequently with an eagle eye for departure by the builder from the specification. We are very happy indeed with the outcome. Without his advice, we would never have thought of using the space in this way and we feel that given the physical and geological limitations of the land a better solution could not have been produced”. Alun was relaxed and approachable throughout the project, visited the site frequently with an eagle eye for departure by the builder from the specification. We are very happy indeed with the outcome and have spent many happy hours under the loggia entertaining our friends. In the summer, we can slide back the French doors and the space under the loggia merges into the living/dining room. Our visitors comment on the light and magnificent windows looking out over the front and looking up towards Castell Coch. Without his advice, we would never have thought of using the space in this way and we feel that given the physical and geological limitations of the land a better solution could not have been produced.