In 2006 I had a request from the organist at St Peter's Church in Bourton to make a new bench for the organ as the old one pine had become unsafe. The new one is based on the shape of the old one, but made in oak and with the addition of tightly wedged through tenons from the legs to the seat to resist racking.

New Entrance for Manor Farm House, Frankton
In 2006, my client asked me to come up with some ideas for a lean-to porch as a new entrance for his house.


The practical aspect of the design is that we wanted to bring the morning light and the sky above the trees on the east side into the room.

After doing a few sketches, we decided on this arrangement, which is a curved roof supported by a glazed panel containing the door. (Sadly, the model was left outside in the rain, so it's looking a little tired!)


Here is a view under the roof showing the curved laminated oak beams and first sheets of prefinished birch ply being attached.

This photo shows the under side of the roof with the glass in place. I wanted the principal rafters to look less heavy on the overhang, so I cut these very gentle cyma recta curves on the bandsaw.

This view shows my friend, Adrian doing a very good job of applying the lead to the roof.

and here too with a three dimensional flashing made on a mould.

Here is an oak french window on the floor of the workshop in 2004. The raised and fielded panels have been prefinished to avoid the appearance of white lines at the edges due to seasonal movement. The glazing bars have no rebates to allow a single, double glazed unit to be used instead of six. An external 'grille' is made to match precisely the arrangement of the bars inside. The thinking behind this is that, with the grille removed, it will much easier to clean the glass and maintain the woodwork, and has the added benefit that there are far fewer edges to lose heat through.

I really enjoyed making this curved oak window for a house in Northamptonshire. It replaced a sectional pine version which had rotted at the joints on the mitres through ingress of water. The new window's head and sill are made from single pieces of oak which were selected for their natural curve to minimise exposure of the end grain to the elements.