Composite front doors in Ramsey.

Ramsey is a Fenland market town with an abbey gatehouse, a wide High Street and a lot of practical brick houses that take the weather with very little shelter. From Fengate it is a short run down the B1040, and we treat PE26 as core territory rather than a special trip.

The older streets around the abbey and Great Whyte want a more careful window than the estates toward Upwood and Forty Foot. Flush sash and a decent composite door in a heritage colour sit right on those frontages; further out the job is usually misted first-generation double glazing and a front door that no longer squares in the frame.

Exposed Fenland sites punish cheap seals. We specify frames tested for wind and water tightness and we spend the extra hour on the perimeter mastic because that is what fails first when the wind comes across the washes. Conservatories built in the 1990s are common here and most of them need a roof before they need new side frames — a warm tiled or high-performance glass roof turns the room back into something you can sit in in January.