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The Windsor 12 Nest, a dovecote handmade in Kent
  • The Windsor 12 Nest, showing the post and finial
  • Cutaway drawing of the dovecote interior showing the arrangement of nesting bays
  • Close-up of a segmented dovecote post, showing the glued sections that make it up
  • The Windsor 12 Nest, with the walls removed
  • The Windsor 12 Nest, with the feed platter
  • The Windsor 12 Nest, showing the post and finial
  • A white Windsor twelve nest dovecote against a tree, one wall panel lifted out for nest access
  • The Windsor 12 Nest, showing the nesting bays
  • Stacked pressure treated red pine with an inset badge noting the 12mm marine grade ply floors
  • Underground bracing timbers cross-jointed at the foot of a white dovecote post
  • A natural timber and a white painted Windsor six nest dovecote in gardens, with a scale drawing giving an approximate height of 3.3m
  • A white and a natural Windsor twelve nest dovecote in gardens, with a scale drawing giving an approximate height of 3.0m

Doves

The Windsor 12 Nest

£2,680

Price includes VAT and UK mainland delivery

Delivery and returns, including your 14 days to change your mind.

Most orders take around 5 to 6 weeks

It depends on the piece and how busy the workshop is. We will confirm yours when we take your order.

Need a different size or a one-off design?

Discuss a bespoke commission

About this piece

Octagonal body and roof. Three levels of four nests supplying nesting for twelve pairs of doves.

Since I began in 1979, I would estimate to have made over a thousand dovecotes, so feel fully justified in saying I think I have got the hang of it. The first Dovecote I made was so bad I took an axe to it, but I lost that axe and the need to wield it long ago. There are things to know about doves and their dovecote needs, some features are necessary and others not so much, but which is which is for me to know. 

Dove wise there appears to be no advantage or disadvantage if a dovecote is painted or not, so it is a personal preference. Unpainted dovecotes look best in a less formal setting and the white doves against a naturally weathered silver grey dovecote do standout. Whereas white doves against a white dovecote, perhaps not so much. Painted dovecotes however are best suited where the dovecote is a focal feature in the landscaping. A white dovecote set against an evergreen backdrop literally looks outstanding. We can if required paint the dovecote in a colour of your choosing (call for details). 

Product features:

Removable walls - alternate walls are removable for cleaning access.

Crowning - weathered with hand dressed lead and a purpose turned finial.

Stabilising - a set of treated underground braces that stabilises the post, without resorting to concreting. I have NEVER concrete a post and my cote withstood the 87 hurricane.

Materials - pressure treated sections are glued and pinned together to form the post (like a boat mast). This forms an extremely strong post and gives multiple layers of treatment into the ground.

Composite post - the posts are made-up of sections of pressure treated timber. Windsor 6 & 12 Nest Cotes have finished size of 14 x 14 cm. The Windsor 20 nest post finishes at 21 x 21cm. This method makes the post extremely strong. The resulting multiple layers of treatment makes the post even less susceptible to rotting.

Layout:

Individual nesting bays - each pairing gets its own bedroom.

Offset nest - nests are offset from the door to afford a degree of shelter.

Individual balconies - all around balconies that circle the cote allows unattached males to more easily promenade around the cote unsettling settled pairs.

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