Levens Hall sits within a former medieval deer park, in an area of gently undulating pasture farming and woodland, just outside of the southern boundary of the Lake District National Park. The site is best known for its gardens, with the reportedly oldest topiary garden in the world, sitting within Lakeland stone walls to the South. The Hall and Gardens are open to the public during the summer months, with the Parklands and Cafe open to the public all year round. The Estate welcome over 30,000 visitors per year.
Attached to the Grade 1 listed West Wing was the former estate workshop used to house, repair, and maintain estate vehicles. In recent years the workshop had been left unused and had become alienated in the West courtyard which visitors frequently used. Crosby Granger Architects was appointed to redevelop the workshop into a new bakery creating a new use for the workshop whilst also alleviating pressure in the existing commercial kitchen at Levens Kitchen.
The existing workshop was built in the 1960’s and was constructed using unsuitable materials and construction methods isolating the building visually and physically from the surrounding listed buildings. As part of the development, the new bakery was fitted with new slim-line double-glazed windows and doors with the existing roof altered by adding sprocketed eaves, rooflights and natural wood-fibre insulation. These alterations ensured that the bakery sits comfortably amongst the surrounding buildings and is of appropriate quality to the wider Levens Hall Estate.