26.2 road miles north-west of Bournemouth
skylights & rooflights in child okeford
The Cross is the road junction at the centre of Child Okeford, with cottages around it, family houses on the roads beyond and Hambledon Hill above. Every roof is measured in person, and the recommendation comes from the readings.
who lives under which kind of roof
- Cottages round The CrossOlder timbers, steep slopes, a short list of what is possible.
- Terraced and semi-detached rowsShared roof lines, party walls, one slope at the front.
- Family houses on the outskirtsWider roofs with loft space ready for a bedroom.
- Kitchen and garden-room additionsLow roofs where a flat rooflight earns its place.
where an address stands before we climb up
- planning authority
- Dorset Council
- protected landscape
- Dorset National Landscape, plus the village conservation area
- protected landscape
- Dorset National Landscape
- road miles
- 26.2
the cross and hambledon hill
a village the hill looks down on
Child Okeford sits at the foot of Hambledon Hill, inside Dorset National Landscape. A conservation area, designated in 1971, covers the centre of the village, and a village design statement adopted in 2007 describes the character of the whole place.
A conservation core and the roads beyond it
The older core and the newer roads beyond it carry different roofs and different paperwork.
The older housing of Child Okeford sits around The Cross, the road junction at the centre of the village where the war memorial stands, and along the roads that run out from it, with later houses on the roads beyond. The village design statement, prepared with the former North Dorset District Council and adopted in 2007, describes that character, and Dorset Council now publishes it. For a rooflight survey the split between the old core and the newer roads is a useful map. Inside the core we expect older roofs, older timbers and the heaviest paperwork. Outside it we expect newer houses, more regular rafters and a lighter planning check, though never none.
The conservation area was designated on 4 February 1971, according to Historic England's conservation area data, and the buildings inside it have had decades of small alterations. Roof slopes that face the road may have been left alone, while rear slopes may carry a roof window or two that was added at some point.
Above the village the hill itself shapes what you can see from a roof. Hambledon Hill is an Iron Age hill fort and a National Nature Reserve, owned by the National Trust since 2014 and managed with Natural England, and anyone who lives in its shadow may want a roof window that looks up towards it. For that we record how high the lower edge of the glass sits off the floor and the angle of the pitch, because those two readings set what you see when seated.
A rooflight is an addition most people notice only when they look up. Where the roof is visible from the lane, the council may ask for a low frame and a glazing bar that looks at home on the tiles. We keep that in mind for the front slopes and put the larger glass at the back where the roof is not on show to passers-by.
Regulation and size numbers each govern a reading in a Child Okeford survey.
- Year the village conservation area was designated
- 1971
- Heat-loss target for a new rooflight in an existing home
- 2.2 W/m²K
- Heat-loss target for a new roof window, or Window Energy Rating Band B
- 1.4 W/m²K
Choosing between the lane side and the garden side
On a village house the two slopes are two different jobs.
Most houses in the older part of the village stand with their long front elevation facing a lane, and the back looks over a garden or a paddock. The front slope is seen by every walker and by every neighbour. The back slope is seen by hardly anyone. That difference gives a practical rule of thumb for planning: the slope that faces the road is the one on which the council's view carries weight, and the slope that faces the garden is where a larger or opening window usually goes.
Orientation matters as much as visibility. A garden slope that faces south or west brings strong afternoon sun into a bedroom, which suits a study or a kitchen and may need a blind in a bedroom. A north-facing slope gives an even light all day, which many people prefer for a landing or a work room. We note the compass direction of each slope on the survey and show it on the sheet so you can weigh the choice yourself.
A narrow cottage frontage gives little choice. If the whole roof is a single long slope on each side, a window on the garden side may be the only sensible position, and its size is set by the gap between rafters. In a wider house the loft often has a gable end or a rear wing with its own small slope, and those make useful second positions for a bathroom or landing.
Either way, the woodwork underneath comes first. Rafters in older village houses are often wider apart than modern spacing and are not always straight, so the opening is placed to suit the timbers and the window size chosen to fit. The VELUX window range gives a size code for every opening, and the survey picks the code that sits cleanly between rafters or needs just one trimmed.
Slope facing the lane
- Seen from the road, so the frame and glazing bar need care
- A slim conservation-style frame is the usual choice
- Planning register and conservation map are checked first
- Often the shorter, steeper slope
Slope facing the garden
- Not on show to passers-by
- Room for a wider or opening roof window
- Orientation recorded, so you can choose the light
- Reached by a side path or over a lower roof
Reading your own roof before the survey
Six words that make a survey sheet easier to follow.
Village houses grow by additions. A cottage gains a rear wing, a barn is turned into a home, a porch is added to the front. Each addition brings another roof with its own pitch, its own covering and its own rafters, and a house with four roofs has four separate surveys. The sheet we hand over lists each roof by name so that a quote can refer to the right one.
That is where the vocabulary helps. A valley is where two slopes meet in a hollow, and we keep window openings clear of it. A hip is the sloping ridge at the end of a hipped roof. The verge is the edge at a gable end. Knowing which part of the roof you mean, when you call or write, avoids a good deal of misunderstanding.
Children's bedrooms, studies and spare rooms are the usual reason for calling. Bring photographs of the loft taken from the hatch and any plans you have; they do not replace the survey but they let us arrive with the right questions.
If you are thinking of lighting a stairwell or landing, our guide to the rooflight survey explains what is done in the roof void on the visit.
Words you will see on a survey sheet
- Rafter
- A sloping timber that runs from the ridge to the eaves and carries the roof covering.
- Batten
- A thin strip fixed across the rafters that the tiles or slates hang from.
- Eaves
- Where the roof slope ends over the wall.
- Valley
- The hollow where two roof slopes meet, which carries a lot of water and is avoided when placing a window.
- Verge
- The edge of a roof at a gable end.
- Splay
- The angled lining of the opening inside the room, which spreads light across the ceiling.
Turning a loft into a bedroom in a hillside village
The conversion needs more than light: it needs a floor, a stair and a way out.
Many Child Okeford houses have loft space deep enough for a bedroom or a study. The roof window is only the visible part of that job. A converted loft also needs a floor strong enough to be lived on, a stair that meets the regulations, insulation in the roof and a way out in case of fire. Each of those is its own piece of work and each affects the size and position of the window.
For a house of two storeys, a roof window cannot be the way out of the loft, and the escape is a protected stair. Where the loft belongs to a bungalow, a suitably sized roof window can be the way out. Which one you have changes the product list, which is why we ask at the first call whether the house is a bungalow, a chalet or a full two-storey home.
Building Regulations apply to a loft conversion as a whole, and the roof window is one part of the submission. Making a new opening means trimming rafters, so the structure is shown on the drawing. We supply the window, the opening and the trimming details, and your building control body checks them.
Some parts of the job move a quote. A figure follows only once the sheet has been written.
What a quote for a loft room reflects
- Number of windowsOne window in a gable slope is a different job from a pair side by side.
- Roof structureOlder timbers may need extra trimmers around the opening.
- Escape requirementA bungalow loft needs a window large enough to climb through.
- Insulation and liningThe opening is insulated and finished inside the room.
- Access and scaffoldA tower or scaffold is needed on a taller elevation.
Four lookups for a house inside a National Landscape
Planning applications are lodged with Dorset Council, and the lookups show what to ask it.
Child Okeford lies inside Dorset National Landscape. Land with that status is treated differently for some householder rights, such as dormer windows, but the general rooflight right is left alone by the designation itself. A council narrows it by issuing an Article 4 direction, so whether one reaches your house is a lookup, never an assumption.
Our planning guide has the permitted development conditions, so the order of checks is what is given here. The listed building question comes before any other, and on a listed house nearly any new opening in the roof calls for listed building consent.
If the roof you want to light is on a barn conversion, a former farm building or a house created from one, the planning history can be longer than usual, and a condition on the original permission may be the part that matters. Search the register for the full address, then for the earlier name of the building.
Nearby, Shillingstone and Iwerne Minster sit within a few miles, and the same lookups apply to each.
Looking up a Child Okeford address
- Find the conservation boundaryDorset Council's conservation area map shows the village core. Check the exact plot, since a boundary can run behind a house.
- Check the national heritage listSearch by address to see whether the house, or a building attached to it, is listed.
- Read the village design statementIt describes the village's character and sets guidelines for new building, which helps you choose a frame that suits the street.
- Search the planning registerLook for past decisions and read any condition on roofs or openings.
- Ask us to include it in the surveyWe read those same records at the visit and list what each showed on the sheet.
faq
asked by people living under Hambledon Hill
Does living in a National Landscape mean I cannot have a rooflight?
No. The designation limits some householder rights, such as dormers, and leaves the rooflight right as it was. Look up your own address to learn whether the council has issued an Article 4 direction there or an old permission carries a condition.
Which slope should a roof window go on in an older Child Okeford cottage?
The slope facing the garden is the easier case, because it is out of sight from the lane. The survey records the direction, the rafter spacing and the pitch of both slopes before we recommend one.
My house was a barn once. Is a rooflight more complicated?
Possibly. The planning history can be longer and carry conditions on the roof, and the structure may be unusual. We look at both at the survey.
Can I use a roof window as the escape from a loft bedroom?
For a bungalow with rooms in the roof, yes, provided the window is big enough and set at the right height. In a two-storey house the escape from a loft room needs a protected stair.