DH Painter & Decorator paints house exteriors across Weston Favell (NN3), about 2.9 miles north-east of Northampton town centre. In the conservation area that mostly means timber joinery and metalwork set into bare limestone, while the 20th-century streets around it get a full conventional exterior repaint.
Joinery set into bare limestone
Stand at the top of High Street by the Wellingborough Road and look south towards St Peter’s Church, and you will see why an exterior job in old Weston Favell is mostly about timber. The cottages are coursed limestone rubble, with Welsh slate, pantile or clay tile roofs, and that stone is meant to stay as it is. The painted parts are the front doors, the window frames, the timber lintels over openings and the odd set of shutters. Rixon’s Farm at 91 High Street is the obvious example of shutters and timber lintels sitting directly in a stone wall.
Original glazing-barred sashes survive in a handful of cottages, and the appraisal lists 18, 25, 36 and 95 High Street among them. Those windows are worth more than a quick coat. We check the putty, ease any sashes that have been painted shut, rub down the meeting rails so they slide again, and use a paint system that stays flexible on old timber. Where a lintel is soft at the ends, which is common where water has sat against stone, we cut back and fill or tell you that a joiner needs to see it before we paint.
The village has thirteen listed buildings, The Priory at 113 High Street and Hervey’s Cottage at 56 Church Way among them. Repainting in the existing colour is normally fine, but a new colour or stripping a historic finish on a listed house is worth raising with the council’s conservation officer before we start. We will tell you when we think that conversation is needed.
Ladders on the High Street footway
At the north end of High Street the houses sit right on the pavement edge, and Devonshire Cottages (97-103) and The Priory open directly onto a narrow footway. There is no forecourt to work from, so the ladder or tower has to stand on the public pavement. We plan those elevations as short, tidy sessions: barriers out while anyone is up, the footing kept as narrow as possible, and nothing left standing when we step away. Street parking in the old core is tight, so the van may be parked some distance off and materials brought in by hand.
Behind the walls on Church Way
Further south the feel changes. Along Church Way and down the southern stretch of High Street, plenty of houses sit back on a staggered line behind high stone boundary walls, reached through a gateway. That means longer carries for ladders, sheets and tins, and dust sheets laid over planting and wall tops so nothing drips onto stone that cannot be repainted to hide it.
Big old trees stand round St Peter’s and where Church Way meets High Street, and Tree Preservation Orders cover many of them. Their canopies keep walls in shade and leave sap and leaf litter on sills, and joinery on shaded or north-facing walls can take a long time to dry after rain. We check moisture before priming and leave extra time between coats on those faces. Our guide to timing exterior work explains why the calendar matters more here than on an open estate.
Wellingborough Road villas and the newer streets
Along the Wellingborough Road, the row of imposing 19th-century villas has seen most of its original doors and windows replaced over the years. If yours still has its old front door, we would rather strip, repair and repaint it in a heritage shade than gloss it in a bright modern colour. The villas face the A4500, so passing traffic means extra care with ladders on those frontages. Hollyoak Terrace sits behind them, at right angles to the main road.
Outside the conservation area, around Pyket Way, Thorburn Road, Graspin Lane and Park Way, you are into ordinary 20th-century semis, detached houses and short terraces. There, a full exterior repaint of render, fascias, windows and doors follows our usual approach, which is set out on the main exterior painting page.
Last updated by Dean, DH Painter & Decorator.
