Last updated at 14:17, Tuesday, 27 January 2009

Jane Loughran hears how one of the most photographed buildings in Britain, the Duke of Portland boathouse on Ullswater, has been turned into a contemporary home

Ullswater boathouse

Lynda Dixon, new owner of the Duke of Portland boathouse, stands on the balcony admiring the glorious views of Ullswater. Two cars pull up on the edge of the lake. Both drivers step out brandishing their digital cameras. As an iconic image of the Lake District, the boathouse is one of the most photographed buildings in Britain and Lynda is likely to find herself in the photo albums of complete strangers.
It is a small penalty to pay for ownership of a Lake District treasure. Lynda, who lives at Warwick Bridge, near Carlisle, bought the boathouse in summer 2008 which she had admired since childhood. It had been on the market for a staggering £495,000, but Lynda paid substantially less.
Location, location, location is the mantra of estate agents. So it is not surprising that the Duke of Portland boathouse, which perches on the northern end of the lake, is one of the most expensive studio apartments in the country. Wordsworth called Ullswater “the happiest combination of beauty and grandeur, which any of the lakes affords”. It was the setting for the golden host of daffodils which inspired his famous poem.
The boathouse is one of the brightest jewels in Ullswater’s crown – it has even been made into a plaster miniature by Penrith-based model company Lilliput Lane. Its history is also intriguing – there was a boathouse in the same location in the 17th century, although it was rebuilt for the 3rd Duke of Portland in the mid-18th century. However, the Duke became involved in a nine-year legal battle with Sir James Lowther over lands in Carlisle they both claimed and was forced to sell his Cumbrian assets to save himself from bankruptcy.
Apart from its unrivalled setting and interesting history, what really distinguishes the boathouse is that permission was granted by the Lake District National Park Authority for the upper story to be used as a dwelling for permanent or holiday residency. As a rule, boathouses in a national park are strictly for daytime use.
The change is usage was a huge attraction for Lynda when she bought the boathouse last summer; it has allowed her to turn the original space of one large room into a living area with a new kitchen and partitioned bathroom. Double oak doors lead to the bedroom which has another set of doors which open on to the balcony.
The boathouse was just a shell when Lynda first set eyes on the inside; it needed to be gutted inside and renovated outside. In the past few months, Lynda has finished a complete makeover.
“Originally, I was quoted £126,000 to connect an electricity supply and £105,000 to link up to the mains water supply. Instead I paid a fraction of that price for both the water and the electricity by being environmentally friendly and extracting water from the lake using a water treatment system. I have also installed a self-sufficient electricity generator which has emergency back-up batteries,’’ says Lynda.
The boathouse needed to be repointed,
rewired, replastered and every bit of old wood had to be replaced. New balustrades were created outside.
“The original 18th century Duke of Portland boathouse was made of oak, so I ripped out all the rotting mahogany and replaced all the wood with green oak. The balcony door was coated in thick layers of white paint so it was replaced with oak double doors,’’ adds Lynda.
The old parquet flooring was lifted and replaced with an oak floor over underfloor heating; a new jetty was also built.
Lynda began to have fun when she designed the interior. She has a passionate interest in interior design and her expertise has been used by friends. She was hired by Stobart Group chief executive Andrew Tinkler as the interior designer for his home at Crosby-on-Eden, near Carlisle.
“I wanted to create something unusual and contemporary which also fitted with the old character of the building,’’ says 41-year-old Lynda, who has a 13-year-old son, Nicky.
Certainly, the bathroom has the wow factor. Lynda installed a Japanese teak bath and matching sink which cost £3,500 for the combination. “Again, it is a good environmental choice as the teak bath maintains the heat of the water and only needs a small amount,’’ she says.
The kitchen area has modern teak units trimmed in oak with granite tops with Cumbrian slate splashbacks. There is a fridge and small hob but you suspect that occupants of the boathouse are more likely to eat out than cook gargantuan family stews.
The sitting area is luxurious, modern and slightly racy with sofas and chairs in leather and cowhide with a large cowhide rug. You can light a woodburning stove and snuggle down to watch a 32in built-in television if you tire of the views. The boathouse is also wired for a sound system. Bronze electric sockets match the bronze chandelier and a built-in mirrored panel bears the name of the Duke of Portland.
But the piece de resistance, perhaps, is the picture window in the sleeping area. Imagine enjoying breakfast in bed and peering down the lake on a splendid sunny morning. The bed is decked with Sheridan chocolate and tan bedding and a suede throw.
Lynda’s last boathouse project is to create a paved area outside. The property has a jetty which is ideal for fishing, sunbathing or swimming and a wet dock to moor a boat. Another big plus is that the boathouse comes with fishing rights for a quarter of a mile along the shore. Both salmon and trout are found in the nearby River Eamont while Ullswater is renowned for skelly, a sort of freshwater herring.
Now that her project is complete, Lynda is considering renting out the boathouse as a holiday property, while occasionally taking her own family there for weekend breaks.
Standing on the balcony, listening to the water lapping below, it is hard to think of a more relaxing holiday bolthole than this Lake District architectural gem.

First published at 10:59, Monday, 26 January 2009
Published by http://www.cumbrialife.co.uk