In keeping with our plan to create a traditional English Estate on the site, this iron barn and implement shed will eventually go to make way for a stable block created in the same style as the main house. It will not be a functioning stables, as there is no need for indoor cover for the horse/s in our climate, but it will function as an outbuilding for tractors and attachments, garden tools and a carpentry/maintenance shed. It will also have a semi-contained mezzanine flat for the gardener.Although the drawing below is of a house, it captures the sort of style in which the stable block will be built.
Although some might think that it's a bit posh, it is indeed nothing compared with the stables of the great houses of Europe, such as Chatsworth. The example below is just the gatehouse to the stable block at Chatsworth.
Cupolas and Weather veins
I am captivated at the idea of having a cupola on top of the stables, with a weather vein on the top and a dial on the side, but instead of the dial being a clock (as there will already be a clock tower on the Chapel, the dial, through simple gearing, will reflect the direction of the wind. I saw such a dial in the great hall at Blenheim Palace, which is where I got the idea. There is a picture of the dial below, which being inside allowed one to tell the wind direction without having to even look out the window!
And finally, a bit of fun. Here is an excerpt from the movie "Bedrooms and Hallways". I don't think we will be needing a stable boy!
I always think of palladio when I think of stable blocks and other farm sheds. He had a way of making them simple, utilitarian, economical but also in a grand manner. All about the shapes and forms -design! It's not as posh as some of the georgian designs but very dignified none the less! People forget that all of palladio's houses were merely farmhouses!
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