Ferdinand

Any reason you can't stick the stairs on the LHS like that, put your loo under the stairs to make space at the front, and put the sneak door from the far side of the loo?

If you look at them, that was a standard part of the hall layout in smaller Edwardian and 1930s house which, though modest compared to a mansion, try to ape the style of larger houses. There could be some or all of: - A space inside the front door before the staircase - A small floor pattern to make it look bigger - Something to create the impression of further distance eg a chair, panelling or wall decoration - Something that can be perceived out of the other end of the hall - in your case it could be a vista through your living area and then through a window to a focal point at the end of the garden. - if you want you could try a visually closed door with a surprise space beyond, or orientation of long, narrow floor tiles. - something to stop your eye visually half way so it lingers. The trick is choice of elements, and how they are used to do what you want.

I think you are doing just fine. You just have more questions and threads than anyone since Dr Johnson published his Dictionary in 1755 ?. No whiffle-whaffling anywhere ! The Kids Room to the Roof - is that the playroom? - could have a climbing wall or a "King of the Castle" mezzanine. My consideration of the staircase was to suggest a dogleg down the side and across the back somewhere, with the study door just inside the front door. The idea being that if someone can perceive a space above the staicase on entry, it feels like a larger room. Ferdinand

I did have a pallet of pressed council slabs nicked the other week...

The Gabion Mattresses are creating a stable drainage layer afaics, and/or preventing the existing surface from moving.

Thick terram made out of gabions ?

I would do an appropriately worded FOI request to the Council to fish for more information. Cost is nothing.

Good start :-)

There is stuff in the Civil Procedure Rules about this - related to service of notice etc. https://www.justice.gov.uk/courts/procedure-rules/civil/rules/part06 But it would need to be established that this or similar law / rules applies, and it would be several stages beyond the current place you are in the arguments. So I post for completeness. F

I don't see that changing anything - the original PP has still been started before CiL Exemption was confirmed, and therefore will still apply. I do not see how reality can be changed retrospectively. That surely is why a retrospective Certificate of Lawful Development is actually merely an admission that enforcement is not possible due to elapsed time rather than a full PP. One could argue that the exemption applies to the new elements, but I do not see that being accepted as a valid PP - the correct route would be a variation. Very nebulous, imo and I think the first charge would continue to apply anyway. Ferdinand

What a nice house in a lovely spot. Looks great for children. Ready for a refit by the time it is finished ?

I have you on film ? (Allegedly)

Welcome. Delurking is a wonderful thing.

Don't do that; reserve McGonagall for the kennel or toolshed. He is Scotland's national un-poet. Find something from Burns or Shakespeare for the front door. F

Often documents farther back can be seen by a physical inspection of the Planning File ie go to the Council Office, get the file and go right through it.

In such a case I thought a Statement of Truth should be acceptable proof in eg a court unless someone swears to the contrary. I think there are rules about deemed delivery. Needs a check with an authority. Ferdinand

Welcome to the adventure. Poetry? "The stronger we our houses do build, The less chance we have of being killed." William Topaz McGonagall (Said the person with left arm swathed in bandages having dropped a steak too rapidly into a stonkingly hot wok with some fat in it last week.) On the encouragement side, the best value time you spend is thinking time at the start of the project - costs nothing, saves oodles later in the things you don't get wrong.

You also need family members on side ie beneficiaries.

Do not forget that if the Executors agree, they could do eg a Deed of Variation. Another point for you is that you cannot expect the whole family to kick their heels for months and months waiting for their inheritance whilst you get your ducks in a row.

You have not explained how probate comes in. My only comment is that if some family members getting property (you) and others getting money is involved, then make sure that all transactions are at appropriate values to avoid any future resentments. Such can poison relationships. Is there any reason you can't just increase your mortgage and buy the whole thing from the Estate, perhaps with a suitable agreement in place with your nuncle? F

It's one of the existential questions we sometimes get theological about ? .

Thanks all ?.

I think you ca; also register what is called a Beneficial Interest in it, which avoids some buggering about. Take advice on that, but it is what 3rd party restorers I know do to avoid the need to change ownership. Also, putting charges on is relatively straightforward.

I think you ca; also register what is called a Beneficial Interest in it, which avoids some buggering about. Take advice on that, but it is what 3rd party restorers I know do to avoid the need to change ownership.

Followup. I think that WOW in a hall depends on having a huge space (say with a staircase AND a dining table - in our family small manor house there was a Jacobean staircase with a 15ft high x 6ft wide arched window, and the hall was about 20ft x 16ft in addition), or playing to create perceptions of space. Surprises also help, so eg a dark low ceiling porch into a bright high ceiling space is dramatic - Frank Loydd Wright did this in houses. Perhaps try: Pull sneak corridor into hall. Try some sort of rooflight feature to give something to draw the eye upwards. Try a dogleg staircase across the side and back, which will mean they see the double height space immediately on entering. I think that perhaps your kitchen and office are a little 'average'. In my kitchen I have 30+ 600mm unit spaces in toto (excluding utility, and counting everything), How many do you have? What happens if you pull the secret space into the office. 4m x 3m to me is neither a compact study (which would be 3x3m) nor somewhere sufficient for a big worktable in addition to the desk for holding meetings or doing 5000 piece jigsaws, Ferdinand