Windows in Headley: aluminium for detached houses on the North Downs
Headley is a small village and parish on the North Downs, between Leatherhead, Ashtead, Walton-on-the-Hill and Box Hill. It is in Mole Valley, and it is a different kind of place from the suburbs closer to Epsom.
The houses
At the 2011 census Headley had about 250 households, and almost all lived in detached or semi-detached houses, with very few terraces or flats. Because the village sits in the Green Belt and the Surrey Hills, little new housing has been built since the late 20th century. Most homes are therefore older family houses in their own gardens, many of them extended over the years.
The parish church of St Mary was designed by Anthony Salvin and built in 1855 of local flint rubble, with a tower added in 1859 by G. E. Street. It is Grade II listed. Headley Court, the former Cunliffe estate house that later served as a military hospital, closed in 2018 and has since been sold for redevelopment.
Planning in Headley
Mole Valley's Article 4 directions cover parts of Dorking, Brockham and Leatherhead. Headley is not one of them. Listed buildings need listed building consent for new windows, and Mole Valley's conservation area maps show whether a house is inside one of the district's 26 conservation areas. For an unlisted house outside those, changing windows normally needs no application. Green Belt and Surrey Hills status matter for extensions and new openings rather than like-for-like window replacement.
Exposure and upkeep
Headley sits high on the Downs, next to Headley Heath, which the National Trust has cared for since 1946. Wind and rain reach these houses from open country. Painted timber windows on the weather side need attention more often, and aluminium or uPVC frames take that work away.
What suits a Headley house
Steel-look aluminium with slim bars suits older detached houses and garden rooms that open to a view of the heath. Slimline aluminium casements suit later houses. Where a house is a semi, matching the neighbour's window pattern keeps the pair looking right.
A typical job in Headley
Illustrative example of a typical job
Steel-look aluminium on a detached house in Headley
A detached house in its own garden on the North Downs at Headley, where the owners wanted the thin black frames of old steel windows without the rust and cold.
Six steel-look aluminium windows, about 1200 mm by 1200 mm, with slim glazing bars
One wide three-pane steel-look window, about 1800 mm by 1200 mm, to the garden room
Black finish inside and out, double glazed
Typically £15,800 to £28,100, supplied and fitted, including VAT
