Balsam House Saved and Featured on the BBC
Photograph by Angus Hart, used with permission from
britishlistedbuildings.co.uk
Dawn Haydon, the SSDC Press Officer writes:
A substantial Grade II listed house in the heart of Wincanton has been highlighted as one of the best success stories of historic conservation and renovation in the country.
The 17th century Balsam House, in Common Road, had been vacant for many years and had been falling into disrepair and subjected to vandalism before it was acquired by new owners Jayne and Angus Hart in 2009.
With the ongoing support of South Somerset District Council Conservation Officers, they have been sensitively restoring the house as a single family home over the past year.
Now, Save Britain's Heritage, a national charity campaigning for at-risk buildings to be repaired and brought back into use, have featured it in their 2011 catalogue as one of the most inspirational stories of the year across the country, and the BBC News Channel are to broadcast a piece documenting the success.
Developers had, in the past, hoped to convert it into flats and therefore change the character and heritage of the listed building, but the district council stuck to local and national planning policy and refused the change of use – a decision later upheld at appeal by the Planning Inspectorate.
South Somerset District Council also used statutory powers to require the building to be properly secured and repaired during the time it was left vacant to ensure it was not lost forever.
It is one of several high-profile successful restorations guided by South Somerset District Council in the last year, with others including The Towers at Redlynch, and Whitestaunton Manor.
Andrew Tucker, South Somerset District Council Conservation Officer guiding the Hart family said, "This is an excellent example of the council both protecting our heritage buildings and setting up a situation so that enthusiasts like the Harts can achieve such successful conservation projects."
Angus Hart, Balsam House owner said, "The restoration evolves over time, rather than starting with a preconceived idea. We have always had a passion for older buildings and a willingness to adopt advice and help. We have acquired lots of skills along the way from the many traditional craftsmen that are only too willing to impart their knowledge to those that want to repair their property in the traditional way."
Cllr Peter Seib, Portfolio Holder for Conservation added, "South Somerset contains thousands of listed buildings and hundreds of conservation areas which help define the character of our towns and villages. The Council is lucky to have a very capable conservation team and we enjoy working with enthusiastic owners like Jayne and Angus who want to bring buildings back to their former glory. I am extremely pleased with the result here and I hope Balsam House acts as an inspiration to other people who are thinking of doing restoration work."
At the time of filming, the BBC News Channel was planning to broadcast the piece on Tuesday 31 May at several times throughout the day.
John Baxter writes:
Having received Dawn Haydon's press release I went to meet Jayne and Angus to see what they have been doing. What they had to tell is a really inspiring story. So often we hear criticism of local government, but in this case Jayne and Angus are full of praise for the Conservation Team at SSDC and their conviction that they should safeguard this historic property for Wincanton.
Talking to them, it is also became clear that Dawn Haydon's careful words refer to what some might see as a pretty sad story. The "developers" who bought the house initially left it empty, but empty properties can attract undesirables who have no regard for their beauty or historic nature. The result was vandalism. All the windows were smashed and every bit of lead ripped out and stolen. A fire was lit on the floor upstairs. Doors, locks and anything that could be stolen, was!
This was the prelude to a plan to divide house and gardens into a large number of units to be sold off as flats and houses. Some might find it hard to describe letting that happen to a fine old listed property built in 1650 as "development." Without the intervention of South Somerset District Council and Save Britain's Heritage Trust however, this may well have been the outcome. So we all need to support their work.
Following the SSDC campaign to get the building back in use as a single dwelling, along came Jayne and Angus Hart in 2009. They bought the derelict, overgrown, almost ruined but rather grand residence and garden and ever since they have devoted themselves to working on it. That has meant asking for advice and getting in specialists, but it has also meant hands-on painstaking DIY – for that is the sort of people they are. They come across as enthusiastic, dedicated and determined to get their great project of restoration right so that when the time comes to pass it on they will know they have done something to be proud of.
For many years Jayne and Angus lived in Frome running their own pet shop business. They worked extremely hard, put their two daughters through university, sold the business and are now in a position as they put it to "have an early retirement of sorts", so they can focus on this new project.
How have they settled in Wincanton? They love the High Street shops and Jayne does Pilates at the Balsam Centre and they go for a swim at the Sports Centre. They have made several new friends and think Wincanton is a really great, friendly place to live.
Talking to me Angus said, "As for the house, it is now waterproofed, rewired, re-plumbed and re-glazed. The windows all had to be replaced with new leadlights as all the old glass was smashed. Was I to use new window frames and new glass? I didn't think that would look right. I then noticed that the original greenhouse contained panes of old glass. These could of course be cut up. I then decided to go on a course and learned how to make leadlights in the traditional way and so I could make and replace all 47 leadlights with the old greenhouse glass. I think the result is much more fitting in an old property. So our house now has daylight! There are, however, still some dormer windows that need further work.
There is one more point I'd like to make. It's not only the house that's listed; the garden wall, arch and pillars seen in the pictures have their own Grade II listing. It is considered the only surviving garden work of Nathaniel Ireson, the potter, architect and mason from Wincanton who worked on Stourhead House from 1720-1724."
Here they are with one of their two poodles. The other was camera shy. The shot on the right clearly shows Angus's work on the windows.
Walking around with them both I could see that there is still a great deal to do to the interior and the grounds, but what they have done already shows we can expect something fine and beautiful to emerge.
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