Window & Exterior Cleaning in Thakeham

The Street conservation area is where Thakeham's oldest buildings sit, timber-framed and Georgian structures dating back to the 17th and 18th centuries and, in places, earlier — Martins, originally the rectory, has timber framing enlarged in the late 17th and 18th centuries, with a datestone of 1664 over the door. Buildings like this don't respond well to a pressure washer: old timber joints, lime render and leaded glazing can all be damaged by forced water, so we use purified water and a soft brush on a water-fed pole instead, gentle enough for a centuries-old frame.

Thakeham sits inland on the northern flank of the Downs, well away from any coastal salt exposure, but that doesn't mean properties here stay clean on their own. Chalk downland and surrounding farmland mean wind-blown dust and pollen settle on glass, fascias and solar panels, and the village's mature trees and hedgerows add leaf litter and organic debris into the mix, especially through autumn. A dull, gritty film can build up on windows that's easy to mistake for ordinary dirt but needs a proper purified-water rinse to clear.

Little Thakeham, the Grade I listed house Edwin Lutyens designed in 1902 for Ernest Blackburn, is a reminder of the kind of careful craftsmanship found across the parish, even though a house like this isn't a typical residential client. Its early 20th-century formal garden is separately Grade II* listed, and the same principle that protects a listed house and garden — gentle, low-impact care rather than anything abrasive — applies just as much to the everyday cottages and farmhouses nearby.

The village has grown considerably since the mushroom industry that once dominated the local economy gave way to development: around 150 new homes were built around a cricket pitch after Sussex Mushrooms consolidated its operations and sold a secondary factory site. Newer housing like this doesn't carry the same risk profile as a 17th-century timber frame, but a water-fed pole system still reaches upper floors safely without a ladder against the wall, so the same careful approach works whether the property is centuries old or a recent addition to the village.

Thakeham's setting close to Storrington means properties here pick up similar conditions to the villages further south on the edge of the Downs — chalk dust, farmland pollen and organic debris from mature gardens — all of which build up steadily rather than all at once, which is why a regular cleaning schedule tends to make more difference here than a one-off deep clean.

Warminghurst, within the wider Thakeham parish, holds the 13th-century Church of the Holy Sepulchre — another reminder that this is a parish with genuinely old building stock spread beyond the main village centre, not confined to The Street alone. Properties out towards Warminghurst tend to sit closer to open farmland, which means slightly more dust and pollen settling on glass and solar panels than in the more sheltered heart of the village.

Thakeham's history stretches back to Neolithic times, with evidence of occupation on the site long before it was ever a village in the modern sense. By the time of the Domesday Book the settlement was recorded as 'Taceham', and the name itself — Old English for 'thatched homestead' — points to a long history of building and rebuilding on the same ground.

The Street, the original main street of the village, is now a conservation area and still holds the core of old Thakeham: 12th-century St Mary's Church, the timber-framed Martins (originally the rectory, enlarged in the late 17th and 18th centuries with a datestone of 1664), and the White Lion, the village's long-standing pub. A short distance away in Warminghurst, within the wider parish, the 13th-century Church of the Holy Sepulchre adds another layer of medieval history to the area.

Little Thakeham is the parish's best-known building by some distance — a Grade I listed country house designed by Edwin Lutyens in 1902 for Ernest Blackburn, a retired schoolmaster who had inherited enough from his father, a wine merchant, to buy up 130 acres and devote himself to building and landscaping an estate. Blackburn originally commissioned a different architect, but brought in Lutyens after becoming dissatisfied with the half-built house — Lutyens advised him to demolish it and start again, and the result is now considered one of the architect's finer country houses, its early garden separately Grade II* listed.

The mushroom industry shaped Thakeham's economy for much of the 20th century, and it was the sale of a secondary Sussex Mushrooms factory site that opened the way for the village's more recent growth — around 150 new homes were built around a cricket pitch, along with a village hall, veterinary surgery and shops, bringing a modern residential edge to a village that had stayed largely unchanged for generations.

The village has been home to a handful of notable residents over the years, including the RAF pioneer Sir Archibald James and the actress Anna Massey, though day to day Thakeham remains a quiet, close-knit village rather than a place defined by its famous names.