Bedford river streets to Wixams, under skylights and rooflights
Bedford grew from a ford on the Great Ouse into a county town of river, rail and Victorian park, and its houses carry every one of those eras. A skylight or rooflight gives any of them a view that fences, trees and neighbours cannot take.
A river town of old centre, park and new ground
Bedford began at a ford on the Great Ouse. King Offa of Mercia is thought to have been buried here in 796, Edward the Elder built a fortress on the south bank in 919, and the castle raised under Henry I was razed in 1224, leaving only a mound. Bedford Borough Council looks after the town today, which lies 17.4 road miles north-east of Milton Keynes. After so long a history the housing varies from street to street, and two broad groups are worth describing.
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Streets by the river, the park and the old centre
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Brickworks households and the new town of Wixams
Near the Ouse the town has known fire and flood. The Great Fire of 1802 destroyed 72 properties in the St Loyes area, and in 1823 the river burst its banks and swamped most of the town. A building with that background has seen its roof worked on more than once, so the covering and timbers need a proper look before an opening is cut. The Victorian park, with its cricket pavilion and bandstand, sets a gentle tone for the streets round it. Bedford has a conservation area, and a slim conservation rooflight suits a slope the street can see.
In the early 1950s the London Brick Company recruited workers from Southern Italy, and families settled in the town as a result. Family houses with lofts and rear additions are the kind of roof a skylight suits well. To the south, Wixams is a new town still being developed, with homes built to modern layouts. A roof window lifts a loft in either place, and a flat rooflight or roof lantern serves an extension whose side windows look at a fence.
Bedford rooms where the light is a long way off
A bathroom with a frosted side window
Privacy glass keeps the neighbours out. It keeps the day out too.
Sideways
A bathroom on the upper floor of a Bedford terrace or semi has a small window set in the side or rear wall, and frosted glass in it. Outside is a fence or a neighbouring wall, close enough to touch from the window sill. The room is private and it is dim, and on a winter morning it relies on an extractor fan and a ceiling light.
Bathrooms are the rooms where steam, damp towels and cold tiles make you want a little daylight. A frosted window facing a boundary gives light that has already passed through a fence, and what is left is pale.
Straight up
A roof window above the bath or a sun tunnel in the ceiling takes light from the sky overhead. Straight up is clear, and no neighbour can see in from there. You keep your privacy and you gain a bright room, which is not a bargain that a side window can offer.
For a shower room under a shallow roof, a sun tunnel is the slimmer choice. For a bathroom within a loft conversion, a roof window opens as well as lights, and lets the steam out after a hot shower. The inside is plastered, painted and made good round the opening.
Moisture matters in a bathroom, so we choose frames and glazing with that in mind and talk through ventilation at the survey. Our energy efficient rooflights page covers how glass and frame work together to keep the room warm.
The list below is worth reading before the survey. None of the answers is wrong, and each one changes which product we would suggest. A bathroom with a pitched roof above it and a clear loft suits a roof window. A bathroom that sits under a flat roof suits a small flat rooflight. A shower room buried in the centre of the house, with a landing or bedroom over it, is the case for a sun tunnel, as long as a path for the tube can be found through the roof space.
Questions for your Bedford bathroom
- Does the room have a window that looks at a boundary?
- Is there roof space above the ceiling?
- Do you want an opening that clears steam?
- Is privacy glass keeping the light out?
- Can the loft be reached for the survey?
A rear extension under a neighbour's branches
A good tree is a poor neighbour to a back room.
Sideways
The rear extension is the room the family lives in, and it is built to catch the garden. But in an older town such as Bedford, with gardens that have matured for generations, there is often a tree on the boundary. In summer its leaves hold off the sun the room was built to enjoy.
The side window and the garden doors face the trunk and the shade. By mid-afternoon the table is lit by lamps, and the sunny kitchen that was promised on the plans feels like a green cave.
Straight up
Light from above passes over a tree that blocks light from the side. A flat rooflight or a roof lantern in the extension roof catches the sky overhead, which is still open when the garden is full of leaves. The lantern adds height and throws light into the corners, and the flat rooflight is a slimmer, simpler pane.
We help you choose by looking at the span, the height of the walls and how the roof is built. The table below sets out the options in a few words.
If the tree belongs to you and is protected, or sits in a conservation area, ask the council before you touch it. A rooflight lets you leave the tree alone and still get the light.
It also helps to think about the season. A tree in leaf is a wall of green from May to October, and bare branches in winter still cut the low sun. The sky overhead is open all year, and straight up is clear whatever the branches are doing. That is the argument for a rooflight in a shaded back room, and it holds whether the room is a kitchen, a dining area or a home office. Where the tree is large, we also look at whether falling leaves and debris will need a sloped or easily cleaned pane, and the choice of glass follows from that.
| Option | Suits | Know |
|---|---|---|
| Flat rooflight | A low, simple roof | Raised on a kerb so rain runs off |
| Roof lantern | A taller room with height | Brings light in from several sides |
| Opening rooflight | A warm room needing air | Electric controls are available |
| Walk-on rooflight | A floor in the roof | Lights a room below it |
Planning and Bedford Borough Council
Planning in Bedford is the job of Bedford Borough Council, whose planning pages are the place to check an address. The council lists a Bedford conservation area on its page about historic areas and buildings. Living in one does not by itself take away your permitted development rights, but an Article 4 direction can, so it is worth asking whether your street has one.
The permitted development conditions are listed in our planning guide. Listed buildings need listed building consent for roof work, and the borough's planning team can tell you whether yours is listed.
Building Regulations are a second track. The borough explains it on its building control page, and where the work is notifiable we make the notification for you.
Driving from Milton Keynes to Bedford
The road from Milton Keynes to Bedford covers 17.4 miles north-east, and you can expect a drive of roughly 24 minutes. The town has its own rail links: the main station is on the Midland Main Line, with East Midlands Railway trains to London St Pancras and Thameslink services through London to Gatwick Airport and Brighton. Bedford St John's is on the Marston Vale Line, where London North Western Railway trains run between Bletchley and Bedford. We come by road, and the drive is short enough that a survey and a fitting both fit inside a working day.
The town's rivers and railways give it a long working past. The Great Ouse became navigable as far as Bedford in 1689, gas lighting arrived in 1832 and the railway reached the town in 1846. Each of those changes brought new building, and the result is a town whose rooflines have been added to in many periods. It is one more reason we look at each roof individually.
We also cover Kempston, Great Denham and Clapham nearby, and the same visit can include a survey at any of them. Our areas page lists the others.
Which roofs in Bedford suit which light
Bedford is a town where a roof can be one of several shapes, and the rule of thumb is simple. A pitched slope with a loft below it suits a roof window. A flat roof suits a flat rooflight or a roof lantern, set on an upstand with the glass at a slight fall so water runs off. A landing, hall or shower room with a shallow roof space above it suits a sun tunnel.
An old roof in the centre needs a gentler hand. The slope may be seen from the street, the timbers may be old and the covering may be traditional. A slim conservation-style frame sits close to the slates or tiles, and the fixing is planned so that the roof looks as it did. A newer home, say in Wixams, can take a standard frame with fewer conditions to think about.
If you want light and fresh air, an electric opening rooflight opens at the touch of a button, which is handy where the glass is out of reach.
The Bedford survey, start to finish
The survey is free. We begin in the room, because the room tells us what the light is for, and then go up into the roof or onto it. We note the covering, the pitch, the rafters and where the stair or the wiring runs. A flat roof gets a check of the deck and the fall as well.
You then get a fixed written quote that does not change on the day. The glass is installed to current Building Regulations, the work carries a 10-year workmanship guarantee in writing, and the inside is finished with plaster and paint so that the room looks done. Fitting the rooflight itself is a day or two. Small commercial premises are welcome too, and the process is the same.
To begin, fill in the quote form, send a WhatsApp message to 07880 284133 or email info@vertexskylightsmiltonkeynes.co.uk. Tell us the street, the room and what you would like to see from it.
Bedford homeowners ask
Do I need permission for a rooflight in Bedford?
It depends on the house and the street. Bedford has a conservation area, and a listed building needs its own consent. Bedford Borough Council's planning team can confirm both for your address. Our planning guide explains the general position, and we are glad to talk it through at the survey.
Can a bathroom with no outside wall have natural light?
Yes, if there is roof space above it. A sun tunnel carries daylight down a reflective tube from a small opening in the roof to a ceiling fitting, which suits an inner bathroom or a shower room. A roof window does the same job where the bathroom sits directly under a slope.
Will a rooflight help a room shaded by a tree?
Yes. A tree blocks light that arrives from the side, and a rooflight takes light from overhead, which the tree does not reach. It does not matter whether the tree is yours or a neighbour's. We look at the shadow through the day and choose the clearest patch of sky for the glass.
Do you work in Wixams and the villages around Bedford?
Yes. Bedford is 17.4 road miles north-east of Milton Keynes, and we cover the town and the places around it, including Kempston, Great Denham and Clapham. Send a WhatsApp message to 07880 284133 with your address and room, and we will fix a survey time.
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