The Bridges

The bridges at Pylewell Lakes form an essential access network across the ponds and lakes of the estate. The original crossings were built around a hundred years ago in Japanese oak timber, and after a century of weather and water they had reached the end of their life. The estate's management company asked us to recreate them faithfully — and to make them sound for the next hundred years.

The work began with the banks. We shored up and stabilised the edges where the water had undermined them, so the new bridges would sit on solid ground. From there we rebuilt the bridges themselves, working from the original design — the same Japanese oak, the same quiet, considered detailing — so the new structures read as a continuation of the old rather than a replacement.

It is the kind of project we relish: a piece of built heritage, a craft challenge, and a structure that has to do its job honestly for decades. The bridges are now back in place, and with the care that went into them, they should carry people across the lakes for another century.