It is not often that a single architect leaves such an unmistakable mark on a village. When Samuel Sanders Teulon arrived in Huntley in the early 1860s, he rebuilt the Church of St John the Baptist in red sandstone quarried from the neighbourhood, dressed it with cream-coloured Painswick stone, and filled its interior with carvings by Thomas Earp — work so assured it had been exhibited at the Great Exhibition. He then designed Huntley Manor in an entirely different register, a rendered French chateau form with Minton tiles and decorative ironwork. Two buildings, one architect, two very different moods — and between them they still define the character of the village. That kind of architectural conviction is something I admire deeply, and it is worth thinking about as Huntley enters a new chapter of growth. The question now is how to build with the same care and ambition that Teulon brought, while designing homes that belong to the era in which we live.
Award-winning Architects in Huntley
Conservation and Craft on the Edge of the Forest
I founded Gresford Architects in London in 2006, and we now work with clients across the country from our studio in Oxford — a base that puts us well within reach of the work happening across Gloucestershire's Forest of Dean district. As a member of the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings, I bring a particular understanding of historic fabric — the kind of knowledge that matters in a village with a Grade I listed church and a Grade II listed manor house both designed by one of the most inventive Victorian architects. We are accredited with The Green Register and are members of the Passivhaus Trust, because conservation and sustainability are not opposing forces — they are two expressions of the same principle: building to last, using resources wisely, and respecting what came before. Our Passivhaus home The Deerings won a RIBA East Award in 2018, and that same year I was a finalist for Sustainability Architect of the Year at the Building Design Awards. In 2025, I was invited to judge the British Homes Awards, recognition of the breadth and quality of residential work we have delivered across the country.
Designing for Huntley's Next Chapter
New Build Design is at the heart of what Huntley needs from its architects right now. The Forest of Dean Local Plan sets out significant housing growth across the district, with new allocations identified around Huntley alongside the broader target of six hundred new dwellings per year. That kind of expansion demands architecture that does more than meet a quota — it requires homes that respond to the red sandstone geology, the village's relationship with the Forest of Dean to the south, and the particular quality of a settlement shaped by centuries of woodland, commons, and small-scale farming. Forest of Dean District Council will scrutinise proposals carefully, and rightly so. We approach New Build Design with the conviction that every new home should feel as though it belongs to its place, not merely as though it has been permitted there.
Sustainable Design underpins that conviction. A village growing at this pace needs homes that will perform well for decades — comfortable, economical to run, and designed to use energy and materials as efficiently as possible. PassivHaus Design takes that principle to its logical conclusion, delivering homes that require almost no conventional heating while maintaining exceptional indoor air quality and comfort. For a village on red sand subsoil, where the local building tradition has always been shaped by what the ground provides, there is something fitting about an approach that treats resource efficiency not as a constraint but as a creative opportunity.
Renovations of Huntley's older buildings require a different kind of attention. Teulon's church, with its hammer-dressed red sandstone walls and Painswick stone dressings, is a masterclass in combining local and imported materials — and the principle holds for any renovation work in the village. Whether adapting a former agricultural building like those at Woodend Farm, where the Grade II listed structures are built in red brick laid in English bond with stone plinths, or working with a later cottage, the starting point is always the same: understand the materials, the construction methods, and the history before proposing any change. EnerPHit, the Passivhaus Institute's retrofit standard, offers a rigorous framework for improving older homes — better insulation, airtightness, and ventilation — without compromising the character that makes them worth keeping. I have designed homes to Passivhaus standards and lived in one myself, so the difference these principles make to daily comfort is something I know first-hand.
Extension Design for homes in Huntley benefits from an architect who reads the existing building as carefully as the brief. The village's mix of periods and materials — from Teulon's Victorian confidence to more modest twentieth-century stock — means each extension needs its own response. The best extensions continue the conversation a house has been having with its setting, rather than interrupting it. For those with ambitions for exceptional architecture in the open countryside around Huntley, Paragraph 84 of the National Planning Policy Framework provides a route for truly outstanding residential design, though it demands a standard that genuinely enhances the rural setting.
Huntley has been shaped by bold architectural choices before, and the growth ahead offers a chance to build with that same level of care and purpose. If you are planning a project here — a new home, an extension, a renovation, or a retrofit — we would welcome a conversation about how to make it work.