Cottages and Out-buildings Mayland Essex

In the agricultural settlement founded by Mr Joseph Fels, in Essex the cottages have been designed by an architect of distinction, Mr Charles Holden. The cottages, with outhouses and five acres of land, are to be let a rent of £25 to £30 a year, the cost of each establishment, including fencing and the planting of two acres with fruit, being about £500. The outhouses are described as “large and ingenious affairs.” They include pig-stys, hen-house, stabling, tool-room, and a big loft above. The cottages, which are built in pairs, contain one large living-room and kitchen, with small scullery (in which are bath with lid which forms a table, copper for washing, and separate larder), and three bedrooms upstairs. There was some opposition to the idea of suppressing the parlour, but it was agreed in the end that one big room that would be really used was better than two small rooms, one of which would be empty on six days of the week, and that a man full of grit and determination would probably in time prevail on his wife to sacrifice even her parlour for the cause. The pleasant appearance of the well-lit room is agreeably finished by a low arch of salt-glaze bricks over the closed range. These, bricks are easy to clean, and at night reflect on their dark-red surfaces the comfortable glow of the fire. [Manchester Guardian 18 December 1906 page 5]