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Middleton Quarry

Site plan showing the huge stepped circular quarried landscape. The buildings look out over a wild flower meadow and lake.
Project: Middleton Quarry

Project facts

Client: Middleton Lodge Estate
Location: Richmond, North Yorkshire
Size: 1100m2

Project description

Our client wanted to place special holiday accommodation in this spectacular setting. The site captured our imagination, a giant stepped-circular landscape formed by the limestone extraction process which creates huge benches looking over the North Yorkshire Moors. Once quarrying is completed, the site will be restored and a wild-flower meadow created by renowned garden designer Tom Stuart-Smith.

The quarry site sits on part of the 200 acre family owned, Georgian, Middleton Lodge Estate. There are a collection of existing buildings on the site that include a beautifully preserved house built in 1780 by John Carr. The estate currently operates as a hotel, restaurant, spa and wedding venue.

We worked with mineral engineers to develop the stepped landscape which reveals centuries of human intervention. The buildings are positioned to maximise privacy and views.

The project will become part of a family of beautiful buildings and so need to be special but comfortable in this context. The living rooms have domed ceilings, a reference to the vaulted ceilings of the manor house at the centre of the estate.

Our client and Middleton Lodge owner James Allison said: “We’ve loved working with studioshaw, they really got the concept we were trying to deliver and ran with it. They took our brief further than we originally thought possible with some clever design and original thinking. We’re really looking forward to the next stage of the project to turn the ideas into a reality.”

Project images

Roof plan of 3 bedroom buildings. They are accessed from above via a small footbridge.
The ground floor has a living space that is sunken into the landscape and 3 family bedrooms arranged around it. An outdoor shower in a glass box sits in the gap between the building and the rock face.
Aerial view of the project. The buildings are constructed using limestone directly from the site and use drystone walling techniques familiar to other buildings on the Middleton Lodge Estate.
A view through one of the 3 bedroom dwellings and the rear elevation of another. The buildings are positioned so that they are hidden from each other.
A side elevation of a 3 bedroom dwelling. A series of roof terraces offer views of the dramatically sloping landscape.
A long view through a 3 bedroom dwelling and side view of another. The living spaces have domed ceilings - a reference to the main house in the center of the estate.
Detail plan of living space and terrace.