Sliding doors in Isfield, between the Ouse and the Uck
Isfield is a small village south-west of Uckfield and north-east of Lewes, with fewer than six hundred people in the parish. It sits on the floodplain of the River Ouse where the River Uck joins it, at a crossing the Romans used as a ford.
The village
The old centre is by the river crossing, with the parish church of St Margaret of Antioch, which holds tombs of the Shurley family, and Isfield Place, a 17th-century manor house built around part of the Shurleys' 16th-century mansion. The Laughing Fish is the village pub. Isfield station closed in 1969 with the rest of the line from Uckfield to Lewes, but a short stretch around it has been kept going as the Lavender Line heritage railway. A more modern part of the village lies further south.
Low ground and open views
Being low-lying and open, many Isfield houses look across fields towards the river. That makes garden doors here as much about the view as about getting outside. It also means some patios catch the weather coming across the flat land, so threshold choice and drainage at the foot of the door matter more than in a sheltered town garden.
Planning
Isfield does not appear on Wealden's list of conservation areas. Listed buildings, including Isfield Place, need consent for any change. For most houses in the newer part of the village, a replacement door in the same opening needs no planning permission.
What usually suits
Aluminium French doors, or a two-pane slider, matched to aluminium windows in the same room so the view is framed the same way on every side.
Illustrative example of a typical job
Aluminium French doors and two ground-floor windows, house in south Isfield
The house: A house in the more modern southern part of Isfield, where the back room looks out over open fields towards the Ouse.
The spec: Aluminium French doors around 1500 mm wide, plus two slimline aluminium casements in the same room, all in one dark grey.
Typically £5,950 to £9,950, supplied and fitted, including VAT.
Doing the doors and the windows in the same room together means the frames, colour and sightlines all match.
