Ceramic artist Dorienne Carmel and her husband Alan breathed new life into a Victorian gatekeeper’s lodge and created a sculptured garden to showcase her work

WORDS NATALIE FLAUM

The couple fell in love with this 1870s lodge in need of TLC. They decided to transform it whilst adding their own artistic touch

PHOTOS ALISON HAMMOND

FACT FILE

NAMES Dorienne & Alan Carmel

OCCUPATIONS Ceramic artist & retired clothing manufacturer

LOCATION Hertfordshire

TYPE OF PROJECT Extension & renovation

STYLE Traditional

PROJECT ROUTE Architect & contractor

CONSTRUCTION METHOD Timber beams & brick walls

PLOT SIZE 1/3 acre

PROPERTY COST £450,000

BOUGHT 2012

HOUSE SIZE 101m2

PROJECT COST £250,000

PROJECT COST PER M2 £2,475

TOTAL COST £700,000

BUILDING WORK COMMENCED June 2013

BUILDING WORK TOOK 52 weeks

When Dorienne Carmel first saw a neglected gatekeeper’s lodge near Elstree village in Hertfordshire, she felt its charm in a heartbeat.

“We were looking to downsize from our five bedroom family home nearby when I spotted this dilapidated cottage through the trees with a low wooden farm gate entrance and an overgrown garden”, she says. “I made an appointment to view it on my own first and took Alan back for a second look. I loved the mix of high and low ceilings and, as the lodge is a unique historic building in the area, it ticked all the boxes for Alan, too.”

Built in 1872, the lodge served the manor house (now a Sunrise Senior Living care home) and, together with the farmer’s house next door, was owned by the Penniwells estate.The cottage featured a tiny, dark corridor that led to a small bathroom and separate WC; it had been extended in the 1960s to add two small bedrooms.