Winter’s around the corner, and I was up on the roof a few days ago checking on slipped tiles and the general state of affairs.
It’s not in a good condition and I know I’ll have to replace it soon, but they are lots of things that are going to govern how it’s redone.

I’m going to have to install roof lights as the windows are small in the loft space, and I’ll need more light if I decide to make the kid’s dormitory bedroom up there. Also I was thinking of installing some sort of photovoltaic panels to help with heating bills??
It was such a lovely day I sat down on the roof ridge and had a good look around at the views for at least 20 minutes. It was calm, little wind, and the sun (even at the end of October) was burning my skin.
So amongst the roof replacement plans, I hit on an idea of creating something a bit more special than the small opening that at present serves as access to the roof.

In France they call the little opening on the roof a ‘lucarne’. It’s a vertical window or door that allows access to check the state of the roof after maybe a storm. In the UK it’s a ‘dormer window’.

Mine was never a window – just a means to crawl out onto the roof to fix tiles, as the road level is 8m below, and would have been too costly to erect a scaffold, and far too high for a wooden ladder in 1780.

Old Lucarne with village clock tower middle-right

It dawned on me that I simply could not waste such an amazing view from the roof as it’s completely unobstructed 360°. I benefited from a clear day so could see the Black Mountains and as far as the Pyrenees, the frontier between France and Spain.

Once the idea of some sort of ‘viewing platform’ materialised, I had to think of the practicalities of building it, which in fact were quite simple and not too laborious.
The most difficult thing to conceive is undoubtedly how to gain access without guests crawling all over the roof!

Just across the road is the square village clock tower. Its roof was flattened in 1952 and rebuilt and weatherproofed to take the bell (I’ve seen the quotations for all that work in the county archives).

My idea is to create a platformed area, maybe 6m x 3m, that will sit no higher than the existing lucarne.
I hope to top some new 1000mm high dwarf walls with some nice metalwork railings with maybe a domed top like this one below.

Ironwork structure to top walls

The one above is a bit too ornate for the property, but I could adapt the design and make it simpler. I think adding something similar would soften the finished look, although it wouldn’t be seen from the street, only from afar.
I’ll draw up some sketches and post them below at a later date.

Access to a roof terrace wouldnt be difficult from below, as there is the whole attic space to create a stairway up to that level. Even if it meant extra work removing part of a wall, it would be worth the extra effort.
Luckily, these days there are specialised roof access hatches that sit horizontally (see the type below), meaning that guests could walk directly onto the rooftop terrace without having to clamber about. The stairway up there can be fixed and wide enough to easily walk up.