Southwater House: converting the stable block of a listed former vicarage

A new three-bedroom home in the stable block of a Grade II listed vicarage in West Sussex, so the main house can find an owner who can look after it.

The house

Southwater House is a Grade II listed former vicarage on Church Lane in Southwater. Its stone stable block stands in the grounds, linked to the house by two garden stores.

Why convert the stable

The house had been on the market for more than a year. Buyers were put off by the work needed on the main house and its many outbuildings. Making the stable block a home of its own splits that burden: one family can take on the listed house, and another the converted stable.

The design

The stable becomes a house with three bedrooms and three bathrooms. A new wing joins it at a right angle, at the same height, width and roof pitch, and frames a courtyard and a private garden.

The new windows are tall and narrow, in an agricultural style, and sit in the new wing, so they look onto its own garden rather than towards Southwater House or Vicarage Cottage next door. On the old stable, the only new opening is one conservation roof light. Inside, the loft floor is rebuilt lower down on stronger joists, to give the upstairs rooms more headroom.

Materials and the site

Clay tiles, stone and brick to match the existing buildings, and timber windows and doors. The two garden stores come down, and a new wall divides the two properties, which share the drive from Church Lane. Gravel and permeable paving keep the yard rural, and no trees are removed.

Planning

We withdrew the first application over biodiversity net gain: there was nowhere on the site to plant and monitor the two saplings it required. New rules from 6 August 2026 exempt the smallest sites, so we resubmitted.

Before resubmitting, we met the council’s senior conservation officer, who was open to dividing the stable from the house and asked for section drawings. At the officer’s suggestion, the scheme also gives Southwater House a new garage, opposite the Coach House across the shared drive.