Presenter Kevin McCloud with self-builders Sarah and Mike
(Picture: Channel 4)Fledgling shepherdess Sarah and her husband Mike battle the elements to create a 21st century version of the Derbyshire longhouse for three generations of their family and a host of animals.
The latest episode of Channel 4’s Grand Designs, which aired on 28 September, follows the former pharmacist and her husband (a managing director for a medical tech company) as they move from their quiet urban cul-de-sac to the Derbyshire Dales in the hope of transforming a collection of dilapidated barns into a gargantuan, two-storey modern day home.
The couple bought the 18.5-acre small holding where they keep sheep three years ago (2018) and have been working on securing planning permission for the build ever since.
Twenty-six applications have been submitted and rejected over the years, but Sarah and Mike applied under paragraph 79 – which dictates that the build must be of exceptional architectural quality that can only be built in that landscape.
Presenter Kevin McCloud asks the question: so, what makes your design special enough to qualify for paragraph 79?
"We are building a 21st century version of the Derbyshire longhouse which mirrors the shape of the valley behind it," explains Mike. A longhouse is a series of interconnected stone rooms that would house people and their animals under one roof and have been around for 1000s of years. The angles of the 500 sq m aluminium roof will match and melt into the landscape.
The two existing, weather-beaten barns will be knocked down and instead of recreating the basic timber and stone farm buildings of the past, 30 tonnes of steel will be driven up the narrow lane to form the giant structure.
Insulated panels will slot onto the infrastructure which will be clad in correlated steel with copper detailing. The windows will be triple glazed.
Downstairs will house the open plan kitchen and living area with a double height dining room and an accessible bedroom for Mike’s mum and dad Jean and Robin.
Upstairs will be Sarah and Mike’s bedroom, a study and bedrooms for their two daughters when they visit from university.
There will be independent living quarters for Sarah’s elderly mother Sylvia on the other side of the property, an orchard, a Bothy for storing wool, barns for the animals and a vegetable garden.
Mike’s mum Jean calls the couple "mad," and McCloud agrees. The land cost £250,000 to buy and the build should cost £945,000 by their calculations.
"It’s not just a new home," says McCloud. "They are realising an entirely new way of life and taking a £1m gamble on an idea that is thousands of years old and has never been tested in the 21st century," he says.
How it goes
At the start of 2021, down a frozen dirt track and on rock solid grass, the constructors strip down the existing barns and recycle the steel. By March the site is dug but in the steel factory in Derby, the first challenge arises.
None of the joints of the structure are standard due to the different angles of each plane, which means they will need more steel totalling 45 tonnes instead of 30. This costs them an extra £55,000. Six months later, due to the materials shortage caused by the pandemic, they are still waiting for the steel.
The supply chain chaos also means a hefty delay waiting for the aluminium roof coming into the country. “We have never been in this situation before,” says the contractor.
The delays and extra material costs mean Sarah and Mike have gone over their budget by £70,000.
And their worries are not just financial. “Mum has lost a lot of friends and neighbours recently and is ready to move,” says Sarah, “so we are under pressure there too,” she adds.
A greater tragedy is just around the corner when Mike’s dad Robin has a routine blood test and is diagnosed with advanced cancer, which he dies from in a matter of weeks. Their lives, and the project, are thrown into disarray with Mike driving regularly to see his mum in Stratford, who has a more critical eye than McCloud.
“Have you got everything in place Michael, because a lot can go wrong,” Jean says as she gears herself to make the move after losing her husband of 61 years. The need to finish the build quickly becomes even greater.
“The cycle of life waits for no man,” says McCloud and the programme cuts to Sarah delivering a lamb on the farm.
When the build is finally complete and Sylvia and Jean are finally moved onto the site they are both exited and overwhelmed by the open plan living space. “We will have to learn to give and take a lot more,” says Sylvia, as grandaughter Fran, who was living in London, decides to move back to help care for her grandmothers and save for a deposit for a house.
When McCloud first visits the finished home he comments on the grey steel frame that is left on display in the (very) long living area. “It gives it a big and generous rhythm” he declares.
“No one hides wooden beams in a Tudor house,” Mike says. “So why would you hide a steel frame in a modern one? We are celebrating the steel.”
The huge windows show off the four very distinct seasons and a hand-made, hand-blown glass chandelier made in Derbyshire hangs in the double height ceiling above the formal dining room.
“My dad would have been reassured that mum had somewhere to be with people who will care for her,” says Mike. “Everyone can come and go but this is the base for the family.”
McCloud concludes: “Houses are not just built for shelter, this one is built to safeguard the wellbeing of this family for years to come.”
