ROOKHOW 

LAKE DISTRICT group accommodation & woodland

PRESERVING HISTORIC BUILDINGS

Caring for a 300 year old Grade II* listed historic building with original features demands expert help as well as considerable funds. We are lucky to work in partnership with an experienced conservation builder and lime plaster specialist Stephen Grindrod, conservation architects Crosby Granger, as well as receving dedicated support from the Lake District National Park and other organisations such as Cumbria Action for Sustainability.

Income from Bunkbarn bookings helps to fund the upkeep of the buildings but we rely on external grants and charitable donations for more substantial work. For a full list of funders, see the Charitable work page of our website.


INITIAL REPAIRS

In Summer 2020 funding from Historic England 'Heritage at Risk Fund', Britain Yearly Meeting (National Quakers), local Quaker Meetings and individual donations enabled us to get the building watertight, with repairs to the roof, windows, a chimney rebuild, painting the exterier of the Meeting House and internal renovations.

A French drain was built around both the Meeting House and Bunkbarn to take the moisture away from the buildings to a soakaway.

SUSTAINABILITY

In November 2021 we embarked upon a project to heat the Meeting House in a more sustainable way. Two 16w Air Source Heat Pumps were installed by Dalliam Heating. Sited at the back of the Meeting House, they silently power the underfloor heating in the downstairs, radiators upstairs and the hot water.

300mm of hemp loft insulation has been added to help insulate the property. This has been done in sensitivity to bat nesting time as we have 3 species of bats at Roookhow and have a bat licence with Natural England.

Charge my Street has installed an Electric Vehcile charing point at Rookhow for the use of overnight guests.

accessibility

The trustees of Rookhow are committeed to making the venue accessible to all, regardless of mobility or disability. Funding was secured to widen the doorways and install an accesible toilet and shower.


A 'secret' doorway was made through the historic plank and muntin panelling in the Friends Room to give access to the Meeting Room.

STONE FLOOR RENOVATIONS

Essential to the plan to make Rookhow more comfortable for users and to protect the building was to insulate under the stone floors.  The original flags were numbered, taken up and repaired, a mini digger was brought in to excavate the floor, fill it with recycled compacted glass insulation, lay 2 miles of underfloor heating pipes and then relay the original flags.

The floor is now heated by the air source heat pumps and give a gentle constant background heat to the building.

BUNKBARN ENERGY EFFICIENCY

November 2023-March 2024

As the air source heat pump and underfloor insulation adn heating has transformed the Meeting House, we decided to do the same for the Bunkbarn, which was damp in the Winter and expensive to heat. With Stephen Grindrod and Dalliam Heating we are installing an air source heat pump and insulating the floors, adding underfloor heating pipes. Fallowfield Joinery are putting in new heritage double glazed windows.

At the same time we are taking the opportunity to upgrade the toilets, showers, kitchen and roof lights. 

FUTURE PLANS

The trustees of Rookhow have agreed to make some improvements to the Bunkbarn- new toilets and showers, installation of underfloor heating and an air source heat pump (subject to securing funding and planning permission). The Bunkbarn will be shut from the end of November 2023 to the end of March 2024.


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