26.6 road miles north of Derby; its centre sits by the River Wye.
Bakewell's older houses are often short of daylight at the back. Point to the worktop that needs it and the roof is planned around that.
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For a kitchen in an extension there are flat roof rooflights and lanterns, and pitched roofs here take roof windows, VELUX windows and, where appearance matters most, conservation rooflights.
Bakewell lies inside a national park, and that raises the standard for how a roof is altered. A flush, low-profile unit often sits better on a visible roof than a raised frame, and the kitchen below gets all the benefit of the daylight. We discuss both options at the survey and explain how each looks from the street.
The full guide
An older house often has modest windows, and the kitchen, usually at the back, can end up with a worktop that is dim even at midday. Here is the thinking behind a roof window for that worktop, in a town where the national park sets the planning rules.
Callout 1
Cooking is detailed work, and a kitchen worktop in shade makes it harder and more tiring. Task lighting helps, but daylight from above is clearer, shows true colour in food, and shows up dirt as it happens. A roof window placed above or just behind the worktop puts a patch of sky into the room exactly where you chop and stir.
The best position is a short distance in front of the worktop, so you are not working in your own shadow. If the unit sits directly over your head, you will block some of the light. If it sits beyond the worktop, the light falls across it from the front. We mark the worktop on the plan and test the angle.
Ventilation helps too. A kitchen produces steam and cooking smells, and an opening roof window lets them rise out of the room. Combined with an extractor over the hob, it keeps the air fresh and the window clear.
A kitchen at the rear with a pitched slope overhead is the simple case. If it sits in a single-storey extension under a flat roof, a flat rooflight or a lantern takes over, and the worktop-first reasoning stays the same.
Some people prefer to keep a window over the sink and add the rooflight over the island or peninsula instead. That is a good arrangement, since the sink keeps its view and the work surface gets its daylight. We draw the kitchen as a plan with each zone labelled, so you can see which spot gets which light.
A rooflight that sits just in front of the worktop keeps your own shadow off the board.
Callout 2
The most difficult point on any rooflight is where the frame meets the covering. On a slate, tile or stone-slate covering, the flashing must be lapped carefully to keep water out, and the slates around the opening need to be cut and refitted neatly. We choose a flashing kit made for the covering and dress it by hand.
The work depends on the roof being sound. Ahead of any quote we inspect the fixings, battens and felt, and we report anything that needs attention. A rooflight set in a failing roof will not last as long as it should.
The steps of a typical installation are listed below.
Fixings and weights count in this part of the country, where wind and rain come off the hills. A frame is fixed through to the rafters, not just to the battens, and the flashing is checked for lap and upstand before the covering is closed up again.
If the roof is a national-park roof, appearance counts as well. A neat, flush finish and a frame colour that sits with the covering reduce the visual impact, and we show samples at the survey.
Worktops, cupboards and floors are sheeted before any work starts.
Covering lifted, battens cut, and the rafters trimmed and boxed in around the opening.
The unit is fixed down and its flashing tucked under the covering above and over it below.
The inside is insulated, boarded and splayed towards the worktop.
We clean the kitchen and show you how the window works.
Callout 3
A kitchen rooflight is a working part of the house, so the specification matters. Steam, grease and sunlight all act on it, and the choices you make decide how easy it is to live with.
On heat loss, Part L gives roof windows the window limit and gives rooflights a separate, looser figure. Your quote names the category that applies and gives the rating.
Think about cleaning, too, and about what you can see from the worktop. A roof window frames the sky above the roofline, with the street out of sight. Keep that in mind when you choose between a fixed pane and one that opens. A roof window above a worktop gets splashed and steamed, and a pivot opening lets you reach the outer pane from inside. A fixed unit out of reach is harder to wash, and we discuss that when we talk about opening style.
Finally, think about heat. A kitchen already runs warm, and a south slope adds to it. A solar control coating or a blind is an easy addition at the order stage, and it makes the room more comfortable on bright days.
Glass finish is a further choice. A self-cleaning coating on the outer pane helps rain wash off dust and pollen, and a tinted or reflective layer cuts glare for rooms that face the light. Neither changes how the room feels at night, when the pane simply shows the dark sky.
Callout 4
Inside the national park, planning is run by the Peak District National Park Authority, not by the district council. Rooflights on a house may fall under permitted development, but they come with conditions, which our planning guide links. After reading it, ask the Authority what applies to your address, since a listing or a conservation area can change the answer. Flats and maisonettes have no householder rights, and for a listed property a separate consent has to be secured before anything is done.
A conservation area can also lose permitted development through an Article 4 direction. This page makes no claim about any named street.
Building Regulations form a separate matter. A brand-new opening alters the way the roof is built, so the sign-off is given by the local authority, or alternatively by a registered building control approver; the notification is something we send wherever it is required. When a rooflight or roof window simply replaces its twin, the Part L thermal standard for that kind of unit still has to be reached.
Bakewell is a market town in the Derbyshire Dales, set in the valley of the River Wye about 120 metres above sea level. The town has been recorded for more than a thousand years: a document of 949 calls it Badecanwelle, and the Domesday Book of 1086 records a church and a mill here. Market trading in the town goes back to 1254, and a mill built about 1782 employed more than 300 people at its peak and housed its workforce in cottages. The town has about 3,300 people today.
That sequence has left a town of many ages. The market dates from the thirteenth century, and the mill cottages came with the eighteenth. Every period brought different roofs and different constraints, and we read each one afresh at the survey. Where an older building has modest windows, the rooms behind them can stay dim.
For a rooflight, the useful question is how daylight reaches the middle of the plan. Set in the rear slope, a roof window can reach the kitchen, the stair or the attic workroom while the street elevation stays untouched.
A valley town has roofs facing many ways. Sun reaches each room at its own hours, so asking when the kitchen is in use is as important as asking where the worktop stands. A rooflight that catches the morning sun on one slope may be in shade by noon on another, so the direction each slope faces gets noted for every room we light. It is a small piece of homework, and it separates a bright worktop from a disappointing one.
Beyond the centre, the town sits among hills, and the setting shapes how a rooflight is seen. A roof slope on a rise is visible from many angles, and one in a hollow is seen from few. We look at where the roof sits in its surroundings, then at where the rooflight will be visible from, because a good installation here is one that lights the kitchen and does not draw the eye from outside.
Bakewell also holds a well dressing every June, when images made of petals appear around the town. It is a reminder that this is a place that looks after how it appears, which is exactly why we recommend a considered approach to the roof.
When you are ready, use the survey form to say which worktop or room lacks light.
The Peak District National Park Authority, because Bakewell lies inside the national park. In our planning guide you will find the general position for houses; for your own address, including any conservation area or listing, the Authority has the final word.
Yes, using the right flashing kit and neat cutting of the covering round the opening. A low-profile unit lying flush often looks best, and on the visit we show how each option will read from the street and from nearby slopes.
It can, if a roof slope or a loft lies overhead; daylight then reaches the worktop down a lined light well. A kitchen under a flat roof gets the same benefit from a flat rooflight or lantern placed over the worktop.
We look at the kitchen, the worktop that wants daylight and the roof above, measuring all three. A fixed written quote follows, and it stays the same when the day comes. The visit is free and you are under no obligation.
A replacement reuses the existing opening and counts as controlled fitting, with the thermal limit coming from Part L. A new rooflight cuts into the structure and so is building work needing approval, and the notification is ours wherever it applies.
Yes, and it works well. The sink keeps its view from the wall window, while the island or peninsula gets daylight from above. We mark each zone on the plan and test the position before the quote is written. Breakfast bar, hob and sink each ask something different of the light, and a drawing that shows all three makes the trade-offs easy to see.
Where do you want the light? Tell us in the form: the worktop, the stair, the desk.
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