The Wombles

The Wombles is a cottage dating back to the 17th century, significantly modernised around 1980. It is constructed with plastered cob on stone rubble footings, with a cob or stone rubble stack topped with a late 19th-century brick and Rolle estate chimney pots, and a thatched roof with tile outshots. Originally an L-shaped house facing south, it now faces west.

The original south-facing section comprised a two-room plan cottage with a stack at the right end. These two rooms have since been combined into a single space. A one-room plan block, built at a right angle to the rear of the left-hand room, likely represents an extension and now contains stairs and a kitchen installed around 1980. There is an outshot on the end of this block. Around 1980, the entrance was moved from the south side to the west side.

The south front presents an irregular two-window facade with 19th and 20th-century replacement casement windows containing glazing bars. A recessed doorway, the original blocked entrance, is visible on the left end. The roof is gable-ended to the left and half-hipped to the right. The west front features a 20th-century front door and a contemporary canted bay window to the right, with the thatch extending over the bay to form the porch roof. Other windows on this side are 20th-century casements with glazing bars, and the roof is gable-ended.

Inside, only the original south-facing two-room block retains 17th-century carpentry details. Both former rooms have an axial beam; the room on the right has a soffit-chamfered beam with scroll stops, while the beam in the left room is a circa 1980 replacement. The roof has two bays, but the truss is enclosed. While the purlins appear to be 17th century, and the right end hip cruck strongly suggests they are original, the roof space itself is inaccessible. No original carpentry detail is visible within the rear block.