Originally we were going to have a large window in the East wall of the kitchen to let extra light in as the kitchen is very low and all the other windows are in the south/west walls – leaving a particularly dark corner.  We thought of putting some velux windows in the room but decided against that as it would require too much work in the roof and we didn’t want to spoil the look of the original beams and rafters that will be left exposed.

Anyway, we decided to add two windows in the North wall of the kitchen. This is quite unusual for two reasons – where we are it’s quite rare to see any windows in the North facing walls of traditional houses as that is where the prevailing weather comes from.  The second reason is that because of (a) the slight slope of the land and (b) the fact that we dug out the floor by 12 inches to increase the headroom in the kitchen, the window sills are now only just above ground level!

The difference in the light is amazing, and installing the lintels above the windows and a new supporting level of timber under the eaves has “straightened out” this wall which was originally just an open outbuilding.  It remains to be seen what it’s like to have a window completely snowed over in the winter!