The River Mole at Slyfield House, near Stoke d'Abernon. Photo: Mark Percy, CC BY-SA 2.0Where does a system start in a large detached house?
Stoke d'Abernon is a village of detached houses. At the 2011 census, 593 of the 806 homes counted were detached, against 140 semi-detached, 29 terraced and 44 flats. It sits on the right bank of the River Mole, inside the M25, and the village station, Cobham and Stoke d'Abernon, has been open since 1885.
In houses of this size the challenge is rarely one room. It is making music, television, Wi-Fi and lighting behave the same way in the kitchen, the garden, the playroom and the main bedroom, without a different app for each. We usually start with three decisions:
- where the equipment rack lives, so every room can be fed from one tidy, ventilated cupboard
- which rooms need their own music zone, and which need video too
- how you want to control it: keypads by the door, a remote in the sitting room, the app everywhere
From there, multi-room AV puts in-ceiling or in-wall speakers in the rooms that need them, with nothing on show but a grille. Daniel Eld, whose Wi-Fi and Sonos we upgraded in Chobham, wrote that "The service was smooth, discreet, and exactly what we were hoping for."
From our Oxshott projectLiving with a patchwork of older systems?
Plenty of larger homes already have some automation: a lighting system from one installer, speakers from another, and a network nobody has documented. If that sounds familiar, you do not need to rip it all out. Our takeover and maintenance service covers systems we did not originally install. We survey and document what is there, fix what is not working, and then support it with a maintenance plan that includes routine service visits and technical support when you need it. Our maintenance team is run by our Technical Services Director, Nick Dunning, who has more than 22 years in residential AV.
From our Oxshott projectShould a Stoke d'Abernon home run Control4 or savant?
We install both, so the recommendation depends on how you live rather than on which one we sell. Control4, where we are a Platinum dealer and have won the Circle of Excellence award in 2023, 2024 and 2025, has the broader range of compatible devices and, in our experience, the edge for complex multi-room AV. Savant has a particularly polished app and suits design-led households, especially those already using iPhones and Apple TV. Either way you get one interface for lighting, heating, blinds, music, video and security, and our own team supporting it.
From our Oxshott projectNear St Mary's and the Mole: what does the conservation area cover?
The oldest part of the village is protected. Elmbridge Borough Council designated the Stoke d'Abernon conservation area in 1979 and extended it northwards in 1989. It centres on the church and manor house in their setting on the banks of the Mole. St Mary's Church is Grade I listed, still preserves Saxon remains, and holds the brass of Sir John d'Abernon, who died in 1277, believed to be the oldest monumental brass in England. The manor house, now Parkside School, is Grade II* listed.
If your home is inside the conservation area, external items such as aerials, dishes and cameras facing the road can need permission, and if it is listed, consent can extend to internal works. Check with Elmbridge Borough Council before we fix anything that changes how the house looks.
Our demonstration cinema in Walton-on-ThamesA cinema room for the family
Many of our Surrey clients watch as much sport as film, and Stoke d'Abernon homes often have the space for a dedicated room. Our nearest published project is the immersive home cinema in Oxshott, just up the road: an Epson LS-12000 laser projector, a 120 inch acoustically transparent screen, a KEF 7.2.2 Dolby Atmos system and six Front Row recliners, with separate Control4 modes for films and football. Book a showroom visit to hear a similar system, or book a free design consultation.
