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.

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.

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.

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.

November 2023-March 2024

As the air source heat pump and underfloor insulation and 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 installed an air source heat pump and insulated the floors, adding underfloor heating pipes. Fallowfield Joinery have put in new heritage double glazed windows and remote controlled roof lights with rain sensors. We replaced the floor in the downstairs bedroom with a stone floor which is a better insulator for the heat. 

At the same time we took the opportunity to upgrade the toilets, showers, kitchen, mattresses and some of the sitting room furniture. 

The next renovation work will be in Spring 2025- taking the cement render off the back of the Meeting House and repointing with lime plaster. we will also have our beautiful slate hanging repaired. 

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