Planning

Today we met with Roy; who because of his local knowledge we have instructed as a planning consultant. Although the plans welsh oak frame have drawn up are detailed enough to submit for planning Roy has already met with the planning officer on our behalf on a couple of occasions and we felt that relationship that he has already established is worth the extra expense we shall incur.

Roy is confident we are working within the council guide lines and with the type of build we are proposing, planning should be granted without to much objection, we should know by the end of June.

We also have being talking to brick suppliers; we are keen to keep the building looking as original as possible. With this in mind we have been looking at mixed colours and particularly like a farm house brick from www.hoskinsbrick.co.uk but they are not the cheapest I have seen so I have an open mind at the moment.

Still, all that is going on at the moment it really feels that we are moving forward. I am confident that we have some real professional’s around us for the first time in the last 3 years.

Only time will tell!

Drawings are here!!!!!!

Today we received our revised design proposals from Welsh Oak Frame; they look superb. Working closely with John Edmunds their design director we have come up with a fantastic Wealden Hall home, the main feature is in the dinning hall which has a rafter’s high void with a galleried landing on 3 sides and a huge brick chimney rising through the centre of the roof.

The remainder of the downstairs comprises of a sitting room/play room, lounge, study and utility room; John has also come up with unusual octagonal Oak and glass breakfast room running of a good sized family kitchen. The breakfast room was high on Angela’s wish list and gives the roof some character sloping all the way down to the first floor on that side.

Upstairs there are 5 bedrooms, 4 are doubles and 2 have on suite bathrooms. The master bedroom has a walk in dressing room with built in wardrobes there is also a family bathroom.

The house will have the Oak frame exposed throughout with feature fireplaces oak and stone floors, oak windows. If anyone is thinking about an Oak frame build then so far I can thoroughly recommend John and his team, I just hope the finished product is as good!

It has been a boost for us to see the progress after the last very slooooooow three years!

Security

Over the weekend we had a bit of a wake up call; our land borders a piece of common ground which has suffered recently with youths on motor bikes making a nuisance of them selves. While walking our dog we discovered that they had climbed into our land and “decorated” a fence and the container where we keep the kids motorbikes, with graffiti.

I am glad I put the container down there as I am sure we would have lost the the bikes otherwise. It has got me thinking now about security, we have several boundaries that are exposed with nothing to stop anyone with a mind to, coming over doing what ever they wish.

So I have been doing some research and the answer seems to be Berberis Ottawensis Superba or in other words a hedge, simple really this variety grows vigorously up to 6 foot high and a few feet deep they also have barbs that are over an inch long!

You can see them here along with other recommended varieties; also the BBC gardening website carries more information. Seems at 2 per meter I am going to need several hundred which will still work out cheaper than a fence and a lot more secure once they are fully grown.

It all started................

I have been meaning to start this Blog for a year now, so I am very behind!!!

In an effort to play catch up here is our story in brief so far….

5 Years ago we were looking for a plot but had no luck through estate agents, newspapers etc, I do not think back then the likes of build store’s plot search were about.

We had come to the conclusion that if a plot was any good or reasonably priced then it would not even get into the window of an Estate Agent. We decided to drive around our chosen area in Kent and look for any signs of a potential plot, we did this most Sundays for weeks much the Kids dismay!

Funnily enough we found it right under our noses not 2 minutes from our home, it was just what we were looking for, a very run down old cottage that had plenty of land with all but one of the surrounding houses having already been developed.

We decided my wife should knock on the door, which she did several times over the next few weeks until finally she spoke to the very elderly owner who said that although it was not for sale at that time she would take our number and call us if she ever did want to move on.

We thought that was the end of that and continued our search, but to our suprise she called about six months later, she was considering selling as she was going into a home. We agreed a price with her solicitor and marketed our own house for a quick sale, only for the old lady to die before completion. The house was put into probate and to our horror the family wanted £80,000 on top of the agreed amount or it would go to auction.

We reluctantly paid them their asking price and 2 years after the first knock on the door we exchanged, the sellers allowed us access to the house prior to completion so we could make the house habitable as the old lady had not lived in any of the upstairs rooms for 25+ years.

As the old house was structurally sound we spent a few thousand pounds on a “referb” replacing carpets, kitchen and bathroom, giving the whole place a lick of paint as we would only be in here a “short while”! Famous last words…..

That was nearly 3 years ago, we have nearly cleared the over grown seven acres the house sit's in. We have also built an Oak framed triple garage and a further Oak framed play room which we are currently in the middle of finishing; I will post some pictures shortly!

I'm listening to: CORINNE BAILEY RAE - 'PUT YOUR RECORDS ON'