Brook Cottage, Lyme Regis

Liz and Hilton’s house was built in the 1930s with cavity walls. We bought the house in 2009 and added  2 wood frame extensions with internal and external insulation. The wall and roof insulation thickness is greater than required specifications.  After much consideration the cavity walls of the original house were filled with graphite balls recommended at the time for moist coastal areas. The new part of the house needs almost no heating whilst the old part can feel freezing.

Old PVC windows and doors were replaced with locally-made hardwood which are double glazed and argon-filled. We get great solar warmth through the glass when the sun shines.

All lighting is LED. We sparingly use a small log burner that easily heats the insulated part of the house. We use gas for additional heat if necessary.

We have an electric car and charging point and use Octopus as our energy provider. We have recently replaced malfunctioning solar water heating panels on our roof for Photovoltaic panels. These generate electricity for our household appliances. Any surplus is diverted to a battery for later use, an emersion heater, our electric car and finally to the grid.

All rainwater from our roof is collected in a 3000 litre tank to water the garden.

We have raised beds for vegetables, compost heaps, a wildflower area, log piles and a pond to attract wildlife.

We do our best to conserve and recycle. We try to avoid single use plastic whenever we can and use homemade muslin bags to buy our fruit and veg. The photovoltaic panels, battery and electric car have helped us to be very thoughtful about how and when we use electricity.

Parking: on the right in Talbot Road near the corner

Opening: Saturday October 1st - 1130am and 3.30pm