ProjectOrchard House
LocationHatton, Warrington
ClientPrivate
StatusComplete
A Paragraph 84 environmental family home and orchard restoration
Orchard House and its surrounding orchard prove that the ‘Country House Clause’ isn’t just for grand designs or country mansions. Completed in 2020, the home is now bedded into its countryside setting, and the family who live there have grown into the landscape they helped restore.
Studio Bark received full planning approval for Orchard House under Paragraph 84 of the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) - a policy that allows for truly exceptional homes in isolated rural locations.
Orchard House is a rigorously sustainable home for an environmentally conscious young family, built on a former orchard. The picturesque site has deep family ties - the design was conceived in response to the client’s memories of helping their grandparents pick fruit and operate the orchard machinery.
Forty years on, the orchard has been restored using a mix of local species, and the family are now fully settled into a modest, tailored home - one that supports everyday life while remaining deeply connected to the land.
The Design
The design for Orchard House was deeply informed by the land it sits on. The home is arranged into two living ‘cubes’ with inset terraces, oriented to capture the two main views; across the fields to the east and out to the woodland to the southwest. The ‘cubes’ are linked by a green, calming transition space - a quiet place for reading and reflection.
The asymmetric form adds rhythm and depth, wrapped in silvery larch cladding that ties the spaces together and beds it into its surroundings. Concealed timber shutters provide shade and allow the home to hunker down in the evenings or during the hottest summer days. The four bedroom house sits gently within the maturing orchard, which now provides food, structure, and a living connection to the family’s history.
An Environmental Country Home
The environmental strategy for Orchard House is rooted in simplicity. Local and low impact materials provide honest, pragmatic spaces. The central ‘bridge’ contains a user-controlled system for managing heat and ventilation. Thermal imaging technology enables ongoing monitoring, and the system has been refined to drastically reduce heat demand, improve internal air quality, and buffer internal temperatures.
A Note On Paragraph 84
At Studio Bark, we’ve completed 12 Paragraph 84 projects, with dozens more exploring the policy before choosing alternative routes. For some isolated countryside sites, it can be the right tool - but it’s never a guarantee. In many cases, policies like Paragraph 139 or permitted development on agricultural land offer more certainty. A trusted architect can help you understand what’s right for your site - saving time, cost and stress.
Orchard House shows what’s possible when the policy is used well: a home that responds to its setting with care, simplicity and long-term purpose.
“Designs of the quality and architectural and environmental merit of Orchard House are unfortunately rare. We need more of them to inspire our neighbourhoods that low impact living is possible without sacrificing our culture, history, comfort and local landscape.”
Dr Sofie Pelsmakers, Environmental Architect & Author of The Environmental Design Pocketbook (RIBA Publishing)
Our Work
Billingford | Modular Self-Build in the Norfolk Countryside
View Project
Grain House | Multi-Generational Rural Living on an Historic Site
View Project