What started off as a bit of a joke for Glyn Larcombe turned into an amazing home, discovers Annabelle Grundy.
Glyn’s original idea was to convert an existing garage that stood on the plot. However, his love of rustic old buildings, combined with a passionate drive to preserve the local heritage, resulted in the creation of a wooden windmill that has now become something of a landmark.
The idea for the windmill started almost as a bit of a joke.
“I’ve lived here all my life and over the years I’d watched a lot of old barns and thatched farm buildings being pulled down and replaced by sterile, unimaginative housing,” says Glyn. “We had an old tin-roofed garage in the garden, which I thought could make a home for Debbie, Charlie and me but I really wanted to wake people up to the idea that we don’t have to have everything looking stereotyped. I’ve always loved old agricultural buildings like granaries and stables, so I thought I’d put in a planning application for a windmill, just to see what the reaction would be.”
The first step was to learn all he could about windmills. Debbie and Glyn spent about a year researching old mills both in England and also over in Holland, where, of course, there are plenty! Eventually they discovered a 400-year-old wooden mill in Buckinghamshire, on which Glyn based his design.
To their surprise and delight, the plans were approved, so Glyn committed himself to the project. Although he’s not a qualified architect, he drew all the design work himself, then had everything checked by a structural engineer. This was the first building project he had ever tackled. He had the help of relatives and a couple of good friends, but nonetheless he faced a huge and very steep learning curve.
The mill took two years to complete. It has an octagonal wooden framework, made from eight upright 50 foot lengths of timber, on a circular brick base. Layers of insulation and weatherproofing were added, before the outside was clad with pitch pine.
Inside there are five levels. The ground floor is the largest, containing the living and dining areas and the kitchen. Upstairs the first and second floors have bedrooms, a tiny office and the bathroom, the third is for storage and the fourth is where the ‘boat’ sits. This is the revolving cap on the top of the mill. It rests on a ring of huge castors and will eventually hold the sails. The whole structure is made from reclaimed materials like old oak railway sleepers, and pieces salvaged from the demolition of old cottages and farm buildings in Wraysbury and the surrounding areas.
“We cut it with chainsaws and every joint was individually sawn and pegged through. There are no nails or screws at all,” says Glyn. “Some of the timbers are about 200 years old — I got them, complete with barnacles, from the old docks at Tilbury.”
Living in a windmill calls for a few adjustments to normal life. Glyn and Debbie found that the shape of their space took a bit of getting used to. All the rooms are round, there are no corners and the outer walls slope inwards.
“Putting in the kitchen and bathroom was a bit like fitting out a caravan — I did all the work myself, adapting things to suit the space,” says Glyn.
Although it is constructed using old methods, the mill is centrally heated and complies with all the latest regulations on insulation.
It’s very cosy, but being so tall, and mainly built from wood, fire is a concern. There is a water system in each ceiling, controlled from an outside stopcock, so if there was a fire, every level could be drenched in seconds. Normally Glyn would have been required to install fire doors on each landing, which would have been problematic in the restricted space higher up. However, because the mill was designed with a gallery around the outside, this gives an escape route from the upper storeys. Glyn also used specialised rigid wiring, enclosed in copper casing — the mill is flexible and moves quite a lot so it minimises wear on the wiring that could cause a fire.
The windmill has become quite a focal point of the village but it still lacks its sails, which are currently in development.
“They’re going to be maintenance-free and self-adjusting, so that no matter what the wind speed, they’ll maintain a constant motion,” explains Glyn. “I’m hoping to use wind energy to generate sufficient electricity to power the mill and perhaps 10 other houses in the future.”
Pictures by Colin Poole.
The living room is home to clever buys from auctions and car boot sales over many years.
Glyn and Debbie keep a bedroom in the mill for daughter Lucy who works abroad. Furniture has to be tucked between the dramatic beams that dominate the space.
The windows and outside gallery give panoramic views across the village.
In the main bedroom, Glyn has deliberately left as much of the mill’s structure on display as possible. Narrow stairs at the side of the room lead to the upper storage area.