Having designed and planned a sizeable garden in the grounds of a 18th-century residential property, Anoushka was on the search for skilled and reliable carpenters to create the proposed wooden garden bridge and garden room: “I wanted to use traditional methods with a high-quality finish”.
Oak not only produces a beautiful aesthetic with a high quality finish, it also provides practical solutions: “Oak was the material of choice for the bridge as it has excellent strength and durability in damp environments”, explains Frame Designer Paul. “If a less durable timber were chosen it would require chemical treatment for that environment, which would likely have been deemed inappropriate for an outdoor swimming pool.”
“Adam and the guys at Carpenter Oak have been extremely professional. Above all they have really cared about the project and what we are trying to achieve and they have gone the extra mile to make sure it is a success and is as we have envisioned.”
The strength of oak means there is flexibility in the design of the bridge and therefore its appearance: “If a less strong timber were used the sections would have needed to be larger and it could have ended up overly chunky” continues Paul, who also highlights the benefits of oak over other timbers in terms of sourcing materials responsibly – a topic at the core of the Carpenter Oak ethos: “Alternative materials could have been tropical timbers such as greenheart which would have been difficult, if possible at all, to obtain from a sustainable source.”
“The bridge has been designed as a beam as opposed to an arch as an arch would have been thrusting some 7 tonnes horizontally at either end in order to hold itself up which would have a major piece of reinforced concrete buried under the ground.”
Carpenter Oak consistently strives to strike the balance between innovative yet timeless design, while sourcing materials from forests which increase in size year on year. Read more about what we do to invest in the future.
“The quality of the craftsmanship is incredible and very beautiful to see. The logistics and project management on a project of this scale is demanding and Adam has been sensitive to this and very helpful always. We have built up a good trust over the six months we have been working on this together… I would highly recommend using Carpenter Oak”
Anoushka Feiler
