We’ve made the Country Life Top 100!

April 2021

We’re delighted that for the first time, WG Carter has been named as one of the best builders and craftspeople in the County Life Top 100. Published each March, Country Life’s Top 100 names the finest country house architects, garden designers, builders, interior designers and decorators in Britain.


Launched in 1897, Country Life is a popular magazine of the British way of life, its countryside, properties, and gardens that is packed with exquisite photography and features about food, antiques to gardens and properties. 

Each year, Country Life’s Top 100 is revised and updated to reflect those considered to be the very best and includes architects, interior designers, garden designers, builders and craftspeople. 

The property editorial team at Country Life selects those businesses with all the skills and experience required to make the most of what a rural house has to offer and to get it right. This year they have chosen WG Carter to join this exclusive list!

This year there are just 13 builders in the list, of which only 3 are main contractors like WG Carter, the others being specialists in certain areas of construction like oak framed buildings or plasterwork. 

WG Carter’s CEO James Robertson said, “We’re very proud to have been selected for this prestigious accolade based on our expertise in renovating country houses and estates. It means a lot to our staff that their skills and craftsmanship in turning old houses in to stunning homes have been recognised.”


County Life Top 100 logo

WG CARTER’s COUNTRY LIFE TOP 100 ENRTY

Specialising largely in the restoration and renovation of country and town houses, half of which are listed, this full-service company operates across Oxfordshire, the Cotswolds and the surrounding counties. The firm is run by managing director James Robertson, supported by directors Paul and Roger Carter, grandsons of the founder William George Carter, who set up the firm in 1947, only 50 yards away from where it is now based.

Known for its collaborative attitude to working with other professionals, from architects to surveyors, interior designers to garden designers, the firm is also unusual for the size of its work force, unlike many other builders, which rely on sub-contractors. Sixty-five staff members, more than half of whom have worked for the company for more than 15 years, take on full carpentry, bricklaying, ground-working and decoration services. The firm handles a small number of one-off new-build houses each year and is currently working on the refurbishment of a Grade I-listed Oxford college.

Read the full County Life Top 100 list here

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