From the Edwardian villas ringing the Green and the brick-and-flint cottages threading Whichers Gate Road, out through Stansted Forest to the estate hamlets of Finchdean, Forestside and Idsworth — herringbone, parquet and full restorations by a family team who’ll happily make the half-hour run up the A3(M) from the coast.
30 minutes from our Bognor Regis workshop · Covering PO9 · PO8
Rowlands Castle is the quietest of our East Hants postcodes — thirty minutes north-west of the Bognor workshop up the A27 and A3(M), tucked behind a wall of beech and oak at the edge of Stansted Forest, and built around what is, by some measures, the largest village green in southern England. The architecture follows the green — Edwardian and late-Victorian villas line the longer sides under mature lime and chestnut, brick-and-flint Victorian terraces step down Bowes Hill toward the railway bridge, and the older brick-and-flint cottages thread out along Whichers Gate Road and Manor Lodge Road toward the Stansted Estate gates. We’ve laid herringbone engineered oak through the kitchen-diners and hallways of the bigger villas around the Green, hand-buffed Edwardian parquet back through the front receptions of the Bowes Hill terraces, and lifted original elm and pine board in the older cottages off Whichers Gate.
Further out the work shifts toward farmhouse and estate-cottage jobs in proper Stansted, Forestside and Idsworth country — brick-and-flint dwellings under a heavy beech canopy, rectory cottages tucked off forest tracks, and the occasional Caroline lodge-house on the lanes that thread up toward Compton and the South Downs scarp. The drive up the A3(M) is short and clean, the Castle Inn on the Green still pours a proper pint after a Saturday survey, and the standard never changes — same hand, same patience, same respect for the building you’re working in. A recent herringbone-with-plank-border install through a kitchen, hallway and sitting room on the Green is exactly the kind of careful, end-to-end job that defines our Rowlands Castle work.
The Rowlands Castle housing stock divides cleanly along three lines and the wood-floor brief shifts with each. The Edwardian and late-Victorian villas around the Green — The Green itself, Links Lane, Castle Road and the upper end of Whichers Gate — were built generously, with high ceilings, proper sub-floor void clearance and original hardwood block parquet under what is now usually carpet and underlay; we’ve pulled it back and brought it home plenty of times, and the layout of those bigger villas suits a herringbone or chevron re-lay if the original block has gone past restoration.
The brick-and-flint Victorian terraces stepping down Bowes Hill, Manor Lodge Road and Redhill Road typically have softwood pine floorboards over hand-cut joists with very little void clearance, and we always survey by lifting a discreet board first — gentle gap-filling with traditional slivers and a satin hardwax-oil finish keeps the floor reading as original to anyone not looking with a torch.
For the brick-and-flint estate cottages out toward Finchdean, Forestside and Idsworth we’ll run a moisture-meter pass over every subfloor (the heavy beech canopy keeps humidity higher than coast-side properties), acclimatise the boards on-site first where we’re laying solid wood, and bring sample boards in oak, walnut and reclaimed pine so the species can be matched to the room before a single block is cut.
We serve Rowlands Castle and the surrounding villages — herringbone engineered oak for an Edwardian villa, restored softwood boards for a brick-and-flint cottage. The kind of work we'd bring to your home.
The kind of herringbone we’d lay in a Rowlands Castle home — pale blonde oak blocks run point-to-point across an open-plan living space, the light graining left honest and finished in a low-sheen oil. Laid here through a freshly plastered room before the walls were dressed.
The kind of wide-board floor we’d restore in a Rowlands Castle home — rustic oak in a weathered grey-brown tone, the heavy saw-texture and open graining left to read honestly and brought back with a low-sheen oil that sinks into the timber rather than sitting on top.
The kind of wide-plank floor we’d lay in a Rowlands Castle cottage near Finchdean — character-grade oak in a soft grey-brown, run in long boards through a window-lit room with knots and figure left honest, finished in a low-sheen oil while the walls were still being made good.
The kind of staircase we’d clad in a Rowlands Castle home — treads and risers faced in pale, close-grained timber to lift a hallway, set against a frameless glass balustrade and finished clean and matt. The light, modern stair we’d run off a tiled entrance.
Edwardian villas around the Green and brick-and-flint cottages on Whichers Gate Road suit fine boards and parquet — laid and restored across Rowlands Castle and PO9.
Solid oak, walnut, ash and maple boards — character grades and feature widths.
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Herringbone, chevron and Versailles panels — modern installs and period restoration.
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Real-wood top layers on stable cores — engineered for UFH and open-plan rooms.
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Sanding, gap-filling, hand-finishing — tired boards brought back without losing the character.
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Foyers, offices, retail and hospitality — traditional methods, delivered on schedule.
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Overnight and weekend phasing — slip-rated matt finishes and food-safe sealers.
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Reclaimed boards and beer-tolerant finishes for country pubs, coaching inns and gastropubs.
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Multi-room timber phased around occupancy — batch-matched corridor-to-bedroom, acoustic underlay.
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Grade I, II* and II floors — sympathetic species, reversible methods advised where a listing demands.
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Georgian, Victorian and Edwardian houses — pitch pine, baltic deal, oak, sympathetic finishes.
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Country estate programmes phased around residence — restoration and new install under one spec.
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Engineered oak properly specced for wet and electric UFH — written commissioning log on handover.
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French oak, English elm, antique pitch pine — sourced with provenance, laid with respect to age.
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European white oak in 180mm–300mm+ planks, random lengths to 2.5m, hand-finished on site.
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Barn weddings, country-house venues and marquee dance floors — Bona commercial-wear lacquer, seasonal install windows.
Read moreOur work in Rowlands Castle is anchored by the PO9 postcode — Edwardian villas ringing the village Green all sit squarely inside it, with regular jobs reaching out into the neighbouring PO8 where Brick-and-flint cottages threading Whichers Gate Road & Bowes Hill keep us busy. Around 30 minutes up from the Bognor Regis workshop — same craftsman every visit, flat-rate quotes by the job not the mile.
Whether the address reads PO9 or PO8, the Rowlands Castle brief is the same: Darren surveys on-site, sample boards stay with you for a fortnight under your own lighting, and the install runs in a single solid stretch rather than back-and-forth day trips. It matters in places like Stansted Estate hamlets of Finchdean, Forestside & Idsworth where the subfloors and the building fabric earn a slower pass. Family team since 1997, working across Hampshire from the same coastal base. Around 3k residents in the town centre, and we’ve quoted on hundreds of the homes within walking distance of it.
“It was a delight to have such a professional team to work with and lay our engineered oak flooring. Carl even cut the wood to perfectly fit around a wobbly flint wall edge - stunning. Would thoroughly recommend Darren and his team!”
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Every wood flooring pattern, character finish and construction Darren installs — solid hardwood, engineered oak, herringbone and parquet — laid out edge-to-edge so you can see real grain, real colour, real texture.
Darren will visit, measure up and walk you through species, finishes and lead times. No pressure, no hard sell — just specialist advice.
Forrestal Flooring is the trusted flooring partner to award-winning interior design studio LEIVARS. The accolades below were won by LEIVARS for their interior schemes — we're proud to have supplied and fitted the floors behind many of them.
