Oven Farnham Common, Buckinghamshire

Nigel contacted us in early summer 2020 after he had decided against building his own brick oven in his garden, fearing that he would start and never finish! Being an engineer by training, he had an attention to detail that actually forced him to look at modular alternatives and was very impressed by our previous builds. He would still get a brick oven but one that came in sections and quicker to install than building one from scratch with individual firebricks.

Farnham Common, Buckinghamshire, F950, four grand-mere, brick oven, wood-fired oven, outdoor kitchen,
cgi of the proposed build

We were incredibly busy during 2020 and didn’t get round to starting the build until late in the year and finished just before Christmas just as temperatures plummeted to minus 5C. The build was split into two halves-the oven on its block base as phase one then returning in warmer weather in 2021 to clad the oven in split slate tiles and add a wing to store wood, fit a Napoleon brand drawer unit and top with granite as a prep surface from our supplier Nerostein

Unfortunately the first NHL 3.5 Lime render had to be removed as it never had a chance to dry out before the very cold frosty spell we had over the New Year and started to spall and fall off as frost expanded the locked up water. The render was eventually replaced with a more stable waterproofed white cement render and is now fine.

Oven Farnham Common, Buckinghamshire, F950, four grand-mere, brick oven, wood-fired oven, outdoor kitchen,
Site before work
Farnham Common, Buckinghamshire, F950, four grand-mere, brick oven, wood-fired oven, outdoor kitchen,
Site just after pouring the foundations

The Oven Farnham Common we installed was our Four Grand-Mere raised 950 brick oven that gave plenty of space for Nigel to not only cook for himself and his wife Sarah but also when entertaining friends and neighbours at weekends. The wing section was clad in Millboard ‘Embered’ fascia planks based on the Japanese charring technique called ‘Shou Sugi Ban or Yakisuki’ that gave a good rot and weatherproof finish while the oven base was clad in dark grey split slate cladding sourced from nearby London Stone .

Farnham Common is a suburban residential area just south of the M40, backing onto the ancient wooded common of Burnham Beeches so getting the styling right was one of the first design challenges. The houses aren’t modern in a contemporary sense but fairly new and traditional in feel so an installation that was too rustic or modernist probably wouldn’t have worked. I think we got it about right and Nigel was very happy with how it looked next to the rear of the house.

Oven Farnham Common, Buckinghamshire Nigel contacted us in early summer 2020 after he had decided against building his own brick oven in his garden, fearing that he would start and never finish! Being an engineer by training, he had an attention to detail that actually forced him to look at modular alternatives and was very […]