Our adventure into the world of Self Building
We’re moving!
That’s not to say we’re not still hopeful of our self build scheme, but one of the eco-homes that turned our heads a while back was up for sale and we decided to go for it.
It may not be an ideal time to be buying a house, but the family needs to be settled and that’s what we’re doing. But we WILL self build in the future, and we’ll be posting up our scheme on here in some form or another when we finally do…
Until then….
Well, the plot that was for sale for £300,000 or over sold pretty quickly, which amazed us but shows that people want land around here quite badly in some cases!
True to say we don’t know exactly how much it went for, but it interesting to see none-the-less.
So, our neighbour down the road is not self building, but has put their plot (aka chunk of their former garden), with full planning permission for a four bedroom house, up for sale.Sucks for us, can’t even find the place on the company website to be nosy about the price they’re asking!In other news, we’ve had a baby, so we’re now a family of four.
Another of our near neighbours appears to be on their way to building their own new property. We first heard of this a while back, but all had apparently gone quiet. However recently a ‘plot’ has appeared where once stood a garden, and part of a wall has now been knocked down, one can only assume to make way for the planned access to the new house.We haven’t had time to look at their application online, if you can still do this, but it will be interesting to see what goes up there, as the house it is attached to either was or is for sale, and, like the other house built recently I’ve grumbled about before, this seems purely a money making exercise on behalf of the land owner. Not that there’s anything wrong with making money, but I’ll be willing to bet it’ll be another mock something-or-other put it up big-n-cheap and make a killing type property. I do hope not though.
I’ve been watching this excellent series from the BBC, where television legend David Dimbleby travels around the British Isles, taking a walk through architectural history as he goes.
The series is captivating for an ignoramus on the subject such as myself, it’s amazing to see architecture on all scales from down the years, all over the country, and to witness a taster of the evolution of architecture in the UK.However, one thing that saddens me as I watch it, from our own experiences as well as anecdotal tales of others, is that so many of the amazing, trailblazing houses the documentary features would probably stand a cat’s hope in hell of being built in Today’s apparent climate of bureaucracy and planning application systems by numbers.
I can only imagine, in the future, what a dull and lifeless period for domestic architecture and construction it will be to look back on, from maybe the 1950s onwards in the UK. Especially from the 1970s to the present day, where cram-em-in build-em-quick housing, almost completely devoid of character and lacking any regional variation seems the norm.
Who’s fault is this though? Is it the architects all playing it safe? Is it the big building companies who don’t want to take risks and will do the minimum required to get as many houses built and sold as fast as possible? Or is it our fault, the general public, for accepting, even embracing the architectural status quo we seem to be stuck in.
Maybe it’s those retrospective rose tinted glasses at work again, but it does seem that the countries rich tapestry of buildings with character and styles each of their own, certainly at the lower end of the scale, will never be as lush and varied as it once was. But who knows, maybe more people will wish to break the mould and do their own thing, maybe developments like the previously mentioned Oxley Woods will sell like hot cakes and planners and builders will grow enough balls to push the envelope a little more each time, to be more adventurous.
Maybe it’s just me, but I do wish there were more variety, more daring in the habitats we’re creating at such an alarming rate, surely that would be a good thing for everyone, from the frustrated talented architects right through to the construction workers seeking a new challenge, and certainly the occupants looking for a place to call home?
Or maybe people actually like the bland, they seem to be lapping it up just now?