All up in the air!

What a rainy week we’ve had at Betley Court Gardens! It’s felt like Noah might put in an appearance with an ark some days, given the number of gargantuan puddles around the place! Good weather for ducks, as the old saying goes!

One of the sheets being dropped from the scaffolding (Photo: Nigel Brown)

We’ve reached quite a landmark at Betley Court, following our fire in 2019, namely the removal of the first panels of the temporary roof that has covered the house for nearly two years. It’s quite an emotional time for the Brown family, and we’re keeping family members around the world up to date with messages on social media. Frustratingly for me, I am unavoidably detained working away from Betley Court, so I’m missing it all! Nigel is keeping me updated with short videos and photos, but I am the tiniest bit jealous that he is seeing the progress up close! I've posted one n the Betley Court Facebook page if you like to look.

Daylight through the temporary roof structure (Photo: Nigel Brown)

M.D.Scaffolding, our scaffolding experts, have the perilous job of removing materials from the temporary roof structure with the jeopardy of having a beautifully constructed, complex, expensively built, new Georgian tiled roof underneath them. Spare a thought for them, high up on the roof, unclipping hundreds of metres of wrap, scaffold clips, and poles, and handing them down without dropping them. No pressure, what-so-ever!

The scaffolders hard at work, removing the thrid roofing sheet (Photo: Nigel Brown)

Meanwhile, our ‘tradies’ are working feverishly to complete the remaining jobs on the roof. The three conical roofs that make Betley Court quite so distinctive are complete, and the reroofing of Royds House is well under way, now that we’ve established no bats actually lived in that part of the house.

One of the conical roofs nearing competion

Talking of bats, our contractors have made one concession to future bat populations. Under the rebuilt parts of the roof, a modern membrane that allows it to breath, has been laid to comply with building regulations. However, where tiles have been removed and replaced in areas that survived the fire, our contractors have installed traditional roofing felt, for a very special reason. Modern roofing membrane is woven, and can potentially snag little bat feet. In the retiled areas, traditional roofing felt makes a more welcoming surface for little bat feet as the snuggle and roost. 

Traditional roofing felt underneath the new tiles over Royds House. Combined with vents, the felt will provide a potential roosting habitat for bats. 

We’ve also installed tiles with vents that allow bats to gain access and roost quite comfortably. These have been placed on the north side of the building, so the Georgian lines of the southern elevation are not interrupted. Fingers crossed we will have new batty residents in the near future!

All best wishes

Ladybird Su