Bart and Klaudia Wilczynski are accidental London leavers who exited the capital for convenience, relocating to a pioneering self-build development in the heart of Oxfordshire.
The couple’s first home was a two bedroom maisonette in Northolt, west London, which they bought back in 2016. Bart, 39, runs his own bespoke joinery business, The End Grain, with Klaudia, 33, acting as an account manager for the firm.
By 2020 Bart was keen to grow the business by investing in a warehouse. “But around London warehouses are going for stupid money,” he said.
So he expanded his search and found the perfect premises in Haddenham, Oxfordshire.
“Then I thought, why are we going to live in London and commute?,” he said. “We may as well just move out.”
Bart had heard about Graven Hill, an award-winning mixture of new homes, self build plots, and custom build homes, shell properties which owners can buy and fit out.
One rainy day he and Klaudia went to have a look at the development, just south of Bicester and some 14 miles from Oxford, and were blown away by what they found. “We were like: “Wow”,” said Bart. “We couldn’t believe this was a place in the UK.”
Self-building is hugely popular in Bart’s native Poland so he wasn’t fazed by the idea of buying a small plot of land and building his own home on it.
In fact, he loved the idea of being able to put his own stamp on his home. “It made me realise how much I wanted the freedom to design my own legacy,” he said. “There would never have been a chance we could do this in west London.”
At the end of 2020 Bart and Klaudia paid £209,000 for a building plot, and then decided it would be much easier to manage the build if they were close at hand.
So they bought a completed home on the site for £330,000, and moved in, having sold their thoroughly refurbished Northolt maisonette for £400,000.
Work on the plot began early the following year and by December 2023 the family — which now includes Olivia, two, and Mac, a Labrador German shepherd cross — moved into their self-designed home.
The timber framed three bedroom house has a study and a gym, is clad in stylish charred timber, and outside space includes a garden, roof terrace, and balcony.
Since he is in the building business Bart managed his build himself, from design to sourcing materials, and overseeing builders.
This helped keep costs down but building the house still cost £209,000, plus taxes.
The Government is a big supporter of self and custom build developments like Graven Hill, seeing them as a useful way of stimulating house building by helping people take a DIY approach.
Bart thinks his completed home, which has around £200,000 worth of joinery within it, is now worth around £900,000, which means it could also be a cost effective way of getting onto the housing ladder, although of course Bart’s expertise kept costs low and he and Klaudia were able to buy a house to live in during the build – that property is now rented out.
Now that the family is settled in their bespoke house Bart and Klaudia are delighted with their new life.
“There is life beyond London, and it is better quality,” said Bart. “Graven Hill is a fantastic place to bring up a family — we are really part of a wonderful community, it really does feel safe and secluded yet close to facilities.
“It also has so much personality, from the individuality of the architecture, the landscape setting and the culture.”
