Bellair was a gentleman’s villa occupied by the Tucker family the rector to Catherston Leweston Manor and latterly the rector for Wootton Fitzpaine. The origins of the site lay in the humble 2 storey farmhouse which latterly became connected to the Regency villa by a link and turned into an annex for staff and stabling.
Now the refurbished site offers 3 spacious apartments and a reinstated cottage with wide ranging views across the valley towards Catherston Leweston in the west, and Lamberts Castle and Coney’s Castle the iron age hill forts to the north east.
The project required a good deal of negotiation with the council since the listed buildings were approved prior to starting on site and yet during the process of construction a number of changes became necessary to provide individual entrances to the flats and the design of a means of escape stair to the east elevation and courtyard between the buildings. The cottage which had consent for two apartments was redesigned as a single dwelling with its own access, garden and car parking area. The parkland setting is maintained by a management company and the site benefits from an acoustic fence onto the main A35 trunk road to the south.
