Snuggle Cottage, Wells-next-the-Sea
A Scottish larch bird watching tower with sea views, machined up on site from loose sawn packs and a questionable architect's plan.
Lympne, Kent · SSL Home Creations
Lympne Castle: a bespoke oak cafe built with no drawings
Restoration and renovation carpentry inside a 13th century castle in Kent, contracted by SSL Home Creations. A two man team built the cafe from the client's imagination alone, and the roofing division returned to cut a 12 metre roof.
The brief
Contract carpentry inside a 13th century castle
It is not every day you get to work within a 13th century castle. Over several weeks from November 2024, AJB Group carpenters were contracted in by SSL Home Creations to complete various restoration and renovation works at Lympne Castle in Kent, which is reported to be undergoing a twenty million pound revamp.
The project was also, as reported at the time, being fully documented and recorded by a camera crew at every step the team made, with a television broadcast expected the following spring. AJB Group has no involvement in what the production company chose to do with that footage, and makes no claim about what did or did not air.
The work itself split into two very different pieces: a brand new cafe in the castle grounds, built entirely bespoke, and a return visit for the roofing division to get a new structure watertight against a tight client deadline.
What we did
A cafe built with no sketch and no drawings
The cafe was bespoke made on site by a two man team. There was no sketch and there were no drawings. The only brief was the client's imagination, described in conversation and resolved on site as the work went up. That is a genuinely different discipline to working off a set of shop drawings, and it is the reason the job stayed with two experienced carpenters rather than being broken across a larger gang.
It was built from a variety of timbers, a lot of it oak, chosen deliberately to keep within the castle's existing features. Introducing a modern engineered material into a building of that age would have read wrong immediately. The scope covered the floor and the ceilings, the rear bar display and the breakfast bar, a pantry room, and a great deal of fine finish carpentry across the board. Everything visible in that room was made and fitted by AJB Group.
A 12 metre hand cut roof in reclaimed tile
In December 2024 the team made a return visit to Lympne with the AJB Group roofing division, taking on a 12 metre hand cut roof. SSL Home Creations was working to a tight deadline and needed the structure watertight, so AJB took on the complete build: the timber roof structure, then felt and batten, then a reclaimed tile finish chosen to keep within the surrounding buildings.
Reclaimed tile on a new structure is a detail worth naming. New tile on a heritage site announces itself from a hundred metres away. Reclaimed tile does not, but it is heavier to handle, less consistent in gauge and slower to set out, so the roof carpentry underneath has to be cut accurately to carry it. That is hand cut roof work, not a truss delivery.
Working away
Lympne is a long way from Spalding. The Kent work ran as a working away project with accommodation covered for the carpenters on it, which is how AJB Group takes on contracts outside its core Lincolnshire, Cambridgeshire and Norfolk patch without diluting the standard on site.
At a glance
- Location
- Lympne, Kent
- Client
- SSL Home Creations
- Building
- 13th century castle, reported to be undergoing a £20M revamp
- Sector
- Heritage restoration and hospitality
- Scope
- Restoration and renovation carpentry, bespoke oak cafe fit-out (floor, ceilings, rear bar display, breakfast bar, pantry, fine finish trim), 12m hand cut roof with felt, batten and reclaimed tile
- Dates
- November 2024 onwards, with return visits through 2025
- Status
- Cafe complete, roof complete
Services proven here
- Roofs
- Hand cut roofs
- Finish
- Second fix carpentry
- Whole job
- Renovations
On site
Lympne Castle, Kent
The result
A quirky cafe, and a roof nobody notices
The cafe was completed in November 2024 and is the clearest demonstration in the AJB portfolio of what two skilled carpenters can produce from a conversation. Faced with a variety of challenges and nothing to build from but the client's idea, the team went above and beyond with the finish, and the completed room is the result.
The roof is the opposite kind of success. It is meant to disappear. Cut on site, felted, battened and finished in reclaimed tile, it sits among the existing castle buildings without drawing attention, which is exactly the brief on a heritage site.
Between the two, Lympne shows the range AJB Group is built around: hidden roof structure and visible trim carpentry held to the same standard, by the same company, on the same contract. That is the argument for using one carpentry contractor rather than a joiner and a roofer who have never met.
Common questions
About this project
Can you build joinery without drawings?
Yes, and at Lympne Castle that is exactly what happened. The cafe was bespoke made on site by a two man team with no sketch and no drawings, working only from the client's imagination. Where there is no drawing, the work is set out on site, agreed with the client as it goes, and built to fit the building as found.
What timber was used in the Lympne Castle cafe?
A variety of timbers, a lot of it oak. Oak was chosen deliberately to keep within the castle's existing features rather than introduce a modern material into a 13th century building. The scope covered the floor and ceilings, the rear bar display, the breakfast bar, a pantry room and a great deal of fine finish carpentry.
Do you travel outside Lincolnshire for contract work?
Yes. Our main regions of coverage are Lincolnshire, Cambridgeshire and Norfolk, but contract work regularly takes us further, including Kent, London, Leicester, Thetford and Ramsey. On projects like Lympne the team works away with accommodation covered.
Can you match a new roof into a historic building?
Yes. On a return visit to Lympne our roofing division took on a 12 metre hand cut roof and delivered the complete build of the timber roof structure, felt and batten, finished with a reclaimed tile chosen to keep within the surrounding buildings, all against a tight client deadline.
Related project
More bespoke work from a rough plan
Got an idea and no drawings?
We have built entire rooms from a conversation. Tell us what you want and we will set it out on site.