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Cedral featured on C4's Sarah Beeny’s New Life in the Country - Orchard Cottage
Damp, dilapidated and desolate, an old outbuilding in the grounds of an 18th century property – which recently featured on Sarah Beeny’s New Life in the Country – was given a transformative revamp with the help of Cedral facades.
“Myself, my wife and our 3 kids had always wanted to buy a property with some land,” says Matt Cooper. The family were no strangers to home DIY, having renovated three properties before they bought Orchard Cottage in Wiltshire.
But Orchard Cottage was something a little bit special. Not one in fact but two cottages dating from the late 1700s, standing on an acre of land and previously owned by Mark Knopfler of Dire Straits. Downstairs the cottages had been knocked into one building, but upstairs they remained separate, each accessed by its own staircase. The property’s potential really impressed TV presenter Sarah Beeny when she saw it on Instagram and she invited the Coopers to take part in her new Channel 4 show.
What wasn’t so special was an old outbuilding on the edge of the property. Used as a bedroom, with bathroom attached, it was in a sorry state when the Coopers viewed it.
“We could see from aerial photography that the building had been on the land for many years,” says Matt. “But it was in a terrible state and had no waterproof membrane, so there were lots of damp patches inside. It’s in an exposed spot, close to the property’s boundary so it gets all of the wind and driving rain”.
Here’s what it looked like before the renovation.
Despite its condition, the outbuilding was an essential part of the family home. With only four bedrooms in the main property, all taken up by the family, the Coopers needed a guest bedroom for visitors. They decided to restore it by fitting cladding to the exterior walls – and after research, decided that Cedral ticked all the boxes.
“We knew we wanted a sustainable product that was affordable and low maintenance. That was a really valuable piece of advice Sarah Beeny gave us – she said to keep maintenance on the property as low as possible so we didn’t want to install anything that would take a lot of looking after.”
Cedral’s low maintenance facades are manufactured to withstand the harshest weather conditions – ideal for this exposed spot – and come with a minimum life expectancy of 50 years.
“The finished look completely surpassed our expectations,” says Matt – see the final result for yourself in the video below.
Choosing a shiplap facade with a woodgrain effect in a grey green colour gave the family exactly what they wanted – a modern finish that still fitted with its rural surroundings.
Cedral’s expert guidance throughout the project was also a game-changer for the family and set Cedral apart from a lot of their competitors in the market, says Matt.
“A big differentiator for Cedral is how much help and support they gave along the way and from our experience, this was really flexible. We could do the work ourselves if we wanted to, we could get our carpenter to do it or could get a Cedral Select Professional installer. It was really nice to have those options and also to have all of the online help videos. These videos are super helpful, you don’t have to read a long manual or follow detailed diagrams, you can just watch a quick 2-min video and it gives you enough information for what you need.”
Find out more about Cedral facades and order a free sample
Find out more about Sarah Beeny’s New Life in the Country show on Channel 4