26.6 road miles south of Derby, on the River Sence.
Hugglescote ranges from centuries-old cottages to modern houses, and dining rooms in both can sit far from a window. Point to the table and we start there.
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Most pitched roofs take VELUX windows or other roof windows, older properties may prefer conservation rooflights, and any single-storey addition behind the house can be topped with a flat roof rooflight or a taller roof lantern.
A village with buildings from several centuries needs a different answer at nearly every address. Some roofs have been altered many times, others are recent and regular. The common thread is the dining table, the place where the household gathers and where the lack of daylight is most noticed. We survey the table and the roof together and pick the unit to match both.
The full guide
People spend long evenings at the dining table: meals, homework, bills and a laptop. When the room is deep or the windows are small, that table sits in a dim middle. Here is how a VELUX window or other rooflight is planned to bring daylight to the table, whatever age the house is.
Callout 1
A dining table is more than a piece of furniture. It is a place where the whole household sits at once, and the light on it affects how the room feels. Daylight from above reaches every seat evenly and makes the food look better, and an evening at the table with the last of the day overhead is more pleasant than one under a single bulb.
The question is how the roof relates to the room. In a house where the dining room has a bedroom or loft above, a light well can bring daylight down. In a single-storey extension, the roof is directly over the table, which makes the job simpler. In either case we measure from the table outwards.
Table position matters because a rooflight has a footprint. If the table is moved, the light moves with the furniture, not the roof. We talk through where the table will be next year as well as now, and we favour a position that works if the table is turned or replaced.
Size comes next. A table for four needs a smaller patch of sky than one for ten, and a rooflight wider than the table starts to feel like a skylight over the room. We size the unit to the table and the ceiling height together.
Evening use deserves a thought. At night a rooflight over the table becomes a dark panel, and a blind or a light fitting nearby stops it feeling like a void. We suggest a blind sized to the frame, and we plan where a pendant lamp hangs, so the table has both daylight by day and a comfortable light after dark.
Where the dining room doubles as a work area, the daylight helps with reading and screen use. A bright table is a pleasant place to work, and the same unit that lights supper lights homework.
Size the rooflight to the table and it reads as part of the room, not a hole above it.
Callout 2
Hugglescote has some very old homes. In Dennis Street, 26 and 28 are timber-framed cottages, one of which has the date 1583 on a collar beam, and 16 Dennis Street is a timber-framed cottage with brick nogging that was mainly built in the seventeenth century. Homes of this age can have low ceilings, exposed beams and unusual roof structures.
That affects where a rooflight can go and how the inside is finished. Beams may need to be left untouched, and a light well can be shaped to run around them. Altering a listed building usually requires listed building consent first, so find out the status of an old property before planning anything, and put the question to the council if in doubt.
In an old cottage, we may suggest a conservation rooflight, which sits flush with the covering and is slim in profile. It suits the character of the building and reduces the visual impact of the new opening on the roofline.
The costs of work in an older house depend on a handful of identifiable things.
When we visit an older house we look at the roof from the loft with a torch, noting the age of the timbers, any signs of past movement and how the covering is fixed. That tells us what the opening will be cut into and whether any strengthening is needed before the frame goes in.
Insulation in an old roof is often thin or missing. A new opening is an opportunity to bring the area around it up to a good standard, and the light well is insulated as part of the job.
Callout 3
Different tables and rooms call for different units. Pitched roofs above the dining room suit a VELUX window. A flat-roofed extension suits a lantern. Where fresh air is not wanted, a fixed rooflight is enough. The table below compares the options.
Whatever you choose, thermal performance is regulated. Heat loss is regulated, with one ceiling for roof windows and another, set separately, for rooflights and lanterns. Your written quote names the type and the figure, so you know exactly what is being bought.
A VELUX size code such as MK04 gives the width as a letter and the height as a number. When you see one in a quote, it tells you the frame size at a glance.
Think about the view as well, and about the room's other uses. A dining table in a village home is also a homework desk, a craft bench and a place for the post to pile up. Daylight that suits all of those is steady, wide and free from glare, which argues for a generous unit placed a little forward of the middle of the table. A roof window at the correct height gives a view of sky and treetops from a seated position, and a flat rooflight gives sky only. Some people love the view, while others want privacy and prefer obscured glass. Both are possible.
| Unit | Roof | Opens | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| VELUX window | Pitched | Yes | Loft dining rooms |
| Conservation rooflight | Pitched | Some | Older cottages |
| Roof lantern | Flat | Optional | Extension tables |
| Flat rooflight | Flat | Optional | Small extensions |
Callout 4
North West Leicestershire District Council makes the planning decisions for Hugglescote. Plenty of house rooflights qualify as permitted development, and the conditions for that route are linked from our planning guide. Householder rights are absent for a flat or maisonette, and a listed cottage needs consent before most alterations.
Within a conservation area, an Article 4 direction might withdraw permitted development from your road. Only the council can say which streets, if any, are affected.
Building Regulations are a different step again. A new opening cut into a roof counts as building work that the local authority or a registered building control approver must approve, and where a notification is due, the firm sends it. Replacing a unit with its equivalent brings the Part L thermal standard into play for that type of unit.
Hugglescote is a village on the River Sence in North West Leicestershire, with about 4,600 people. It was part of the parish of Ibstock until 1878, when Hugglescote and Donington le Heath became a separate civil parish. The civil parish of Hugglescote and Donington le Heath was reinstated by an order made in May 2010.
The built landscape reflects a long run of change. A few historic cottages survive in Dennis Street, and the records describe a red brick building erected in about 1700 in a formal garden and altered in about 1820. The building survives, but part of its stone slate roof has collapsed. That is a useful reminder of how roofs age, and why a survey looks at the condition of the covering before any opening is cut.
A Wesleyan chapel in Station Road was completed in 1831 and extended in 1891. The Ashby and Nuneaton Joint Railway opened in 1873 and Hugglescote railway station had a junction added to the north in 1883, when the Charnwood Forest Railway opened to Loughborough Derby Road. Passenger services on both lines were withdrawn in 1931. The houses built since are part of what we see today.
For rooflights, that mix means we rarely meet the same roof twice. We plan for old and new in one visit: measured, photographed, and drawn up with the table, the roof and the rafters all in view.
Describe your dining room on the survey form and a visit will be arranged.
Often, yes. Beams are surveyed first, and the opening goes between or around them with the well shaped to suit. Where a beam must stay untouched, a slimmer unit or a different position may work better, and the options are shown before the quote is written.
Only if it is listed, and many are not. A listed property needs listed building consent before most alterations, so check its status with North West Leicestershire District Council or Historic England first. We can talk through the unit once you know.
Either a lantern or a flat rooflight. Both sit on a kerb and bring daylight straight down onto the table. A lantern gives a more generous, shaped feel, while a flat unit is slimmer and simpler. We compare the two against your ceiling height and the light you want.
Ceiling height and the roof decide it, but the aim is a unit that covers the table without dominating the room. We size it from the table outwards, test the angle of the light, and agree the frame size before the written quote is fixed.
Yes, wherever the work is notifiable. Should the roof structure change because of a new opening, the local authority or a registered building control approver must approve it, and the firm lodges the notification. A straight swap is judged against the Part L thermal standard instead.
Strong sun over years can fade some surfaces, as with any window. Glass with a solar control coating reduces the effect, and a blind blocks it on bright days. We can specify either, and we mention it at the survey if the table sits in direct sun.
Where do you want the light? Tell us in the form: the worktop, the stair, the desk.
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