A walk around St Cuthbert's House

The Aidan & Columba Rooms

These south-facing front rooms each have a beautiful original arched window – watching Billy score and form the new plasterboard linings into these openings was a treat. He's a great raconteur, and he told us many hilarious stories about his 57 years in the trade – he started when he was 15.

The window openings in the side walls are brand new, but I don’t think you’d know that if I hadn’t told you.

We built a 9-inch thick wall down the centre-line of the house, in order to provide excellent acoustic insulation between all the rooms - then the internal partitions are formed from timber framework. Those acoustic blocks weigh about three times as much as a standard breeze-block, and as the wall grew taller, we came to dread the evening hours. After the brickies went home, we would put tomorrow's stacks of blocks ready for them up on the scaffold, and we had to carry a whole day's supply up three ladders two at a time. Makes me shudder to think of it now.

The ensuite bathrooms in these two front rooms each have a 1200mm shower tray, so there’s plenty of room to turn around and enjoy the full, invigorating shower.

The brand new plumbing system is Rolls-Royce. Stop me if this is too much detail... but there are two stainless steel cylinders in the loft, each holding several hundred litres of hot water, which is fed at mains pressure to the traditional fixed shower heads. So showering is a very satisfying experience. Our spec for the plumbing system caters for the worst-case scenario, where twelve guests might arrive home at the same time cold and wet, and all want a bath or a shower immediately. No problem.

Our final stop: The Hild & Brigid Rooms