Tote Hill Hangar

We are delighted to have been part of realising the dream of our clients by unlocking this pocket of history within the South Downs National Park through the conversion of an aircraft hangar to create an exceptional home and ancillary museum space; celebrating the life of the extraordinary ‘Flying Duchess’, Mary du Caurroy, 11^th Duchess of Bedford (1865-1937). Atrail-blazer, the ‘Flying Duchess’ was known for her work in founding hospitals, as a nurse during the First World War and as an aviator; she later financed and took part in record breaking flights to Karachi and Cape Town.

In 1928 Wispers, a large country house near Midhurst, and its estate were bought by the Bedford Estate. The ‘Flying Duchess’ had the aircraft hangar constructed in the 1930s to fly between Wispers and the family seat at Woburn Abbey, using a nearby field as a landing strip. The vision of the client, who is also the architect, to convert and restore this hangar has seen the project develop over several years in consultation with the South Downs National Park Authority and to now be realised with planning permission being granted this week.

The design approach has been to retain and celebrate the original industrial aesthetic of the hangar, bringing it into residential use without giving it an overly domestic appearance in order to protect its important landscape setting. To this end a simple scheme was proposed, allowing the conversion and alteration of the hangar by reusing the steel frame; retaining steel columns; floor slab and the concrete apron to the front of the hangar which provides reference to its previous use. The existing cracked surfacing will be retained and interplanted with herbaceous perennial planting and drought resistant sedums to promote ecological benefits. The converted dwelling will create space for a full height heritage room for the display of aircraft memorabilia from the time of the ‘Flying Duchess’s’ ownership.

We look forward to updating you as the project progresses to completion.