Design for a Cottage in the Countryside

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If you live in a crowded city but love nature you probably dream of a cottage in the country side or a small quaint village surrounded by green forests or fields. The time to build one is when one is still young enough. One could visit that for holidays and perhaps later even retire in it. There are several designs for it in this blog earlier. Here is one that has essentially one large room plus a smaller entrance lobby.  The kitchen and bathroom have been made large so as to make life lovely and pleasant even in a one room cottage. The entrance lobby will however seat four comfortably when the couple next door drop in for tea or a chat and they do not have to be invited in the large bed cum living room. Alternatively the kitchen table is also a nice table for a chat and cup of tea or meal with a neighbor.  the cottage is comfortable enough to live permanently in if one wished to when children have grown up and a single person or a couple is left to complete the journey of life and if a son drops in for a few days the lobby seat can be stretched out into a cozy bed. This design, like earlier designs has been made without side windows so that two or more can be set side by side for two or more friends.

This cottage should face north so that there is winter sun in the back veranda and the beds have heads to the east. Inches have been approximated to the nearest foot for simplicity here and many details have not been mentioned. However the concept is clearly illustrated and any architect or home designer can easily specify those for someone who became interested in a cottage designed on this concept.

Design  for a Cottage
  
A somewhat more compact design is possible by removing the extension for a table in a kitchen and setting a smaller table on the opposite wall. However, the author has lived in a home with precisely such a table in Canada and it is a really comfortable extension where one can sit on one side, put feet up on the other and read a newspaper or even write notes or use the lap top with a cup of coffee. Therefore that extension is worth it.


A Complex for Senior Citizens

In the modern world when older persons face problems of loneliness, insecurity and lack of care, some older persons can group together in a society or trust to create this type of housing in a row along with a central shared facility with dining room and some housekeepers for care. A group of twelve is ideal because the two housekeepers can take care of six homes, an hour each, on six days a week and when one goes on a holiday, on alternate days. The housekeepers may be provided their own independent board and lodging on the first floor of the central facility along with a cook and helper for the dining hall. A weekly Friday dinner at the central facility would ensure that most all who wish to meet can do so at least once a week aside from those who may wish to dine more often at the dining hall. Making some units on first floor of the housing and putting them on rent could pay for these services with a one time expense when an older person or couple moves in to the complex.

The figure below shows the design of the complex with six units. An architect can easily modify layout to contain 12 units in the same area. Each unit has a small back yard that can be used for a herb, vegetable or flower garden, an ideal hobby to keep seniors happy in their retiring years and to hear the song of birds with a tree or two planted in it. twelve units can be made with six each facing each other. In this case the central road and individual units must be aligned so that beds in each units can have heads to south or east and that backyards catch sun for a part of the day at least. Head of beds on east or south appear to be the best by most suggestion, although this fact is not verified by science and many are comfortable in any direction.


A housing complex for senior citizens
Topmost Image Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Zdiar1.jpg , This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license. (Some modifications have been to image made before use here)

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