Oh dear… ‘farming stuff’ ….. At least it doesn’t look like a rates office though it does look like another massive vanity project.

I like the look from outside so far.

Looks mental

One of the better ones.

EDIT: They’ve just shown the bed… vulgar.

Groan……

Not keen on the interior. Those beds hmmmm?

Two cocks farm indeed!

Brilliant, I love it.

That looks amazing!!! And a massive improvement on the usual cheque-book house building in whatever London burb is ‘up and coming’ this week. A lot more interesting. Lose the mental 4 poster beds and I’d happily move in tomorrow 🙂

Really liked that building, and the view through that large widow was superb.

Mind, I nearly spat my cup of tea out at the mention of a clean entrance and a dirty one. Intentional tounge in cheek?

More of an exercise in architecture than a home, but it worked. They seem to be living the dream.

Nice that – ‘cept the bed.

Not a home in my view, but an amazing building and its what they want so good luck to them. I was more impressed by the lifestyle they’ve made for themselves – farming and brewing beer. Wish I had the courage to up-sticks and make a new life for myself and family.

It looks like a visitor centre, the type of visitor centre where you walk in and think this would make a really cool house.

I love the flint wall and most of all I like the fact that it’s not yet another timber frame build.

Very interesting build, but come on, the view out of that window is just a bog standard field.

And they didn’t use local flint?

Where are the curtains,do these people never make a cuppa in the nuddy?

And they didn’t use local flint?

They may well have been prevented from using local flint, because that would likely have meant quarrying it, and local planners probably have restrictions on that. A friend of mine was building self-catering accommodation at her hotel near Castle Combe, utilising an old milking parlour. She spent weeks trying to find Cotswold stone that matched the local stone, which is greyer and harder than Bath stone, because she was refused permission to take stone from the small quarry along the road that was the original source, for ‘environmental reasons’, but the stone had to match the original stone. But she couldn’t use local stone that would match exactly, because the rules wouldn’t allow the use of local stone.
‘Kin planners and their stupid ‘kin rules! 🙄

Did anyone notice the name of the shop next to the restaurant at the beginning? Sofakingcool… 😉

And they didn’t use local flint?

Nope. In the show Mr McC did make a big point questioning the ‘why not local – it’s free’ thing.
Seems the local stuff was ‘the wrong colour’ hence they bought theirs in, from Norfolk…

Very nice house, great attention to detail.
Nice that it didn’t follow the Grand Design standard……

I liked it and them for what they had achieved with the business. It was a lot of house for £400k, especially sweet when you consider that they sold their place in London for £1m!

Will have to wait for the revisit to see which one Kev got pregnant.

really enjoyed last night’s programme – I thought it was one of the best contemporary builds on GD so far. The combination of the flint and roof worked really well and the architect definitely has an eye for detail… it all looked spot on.

the architect definitely has an eye for detail… it all looked spot on.

This. However. I would question the life of that rubber. Roof wise, no problem, but the return behind the flint will be costly to replace.

I was ready to pour massive amounts of scorn on the place etc etc.

In the end they showed a beautiful balance of colour, it was discrete yet stylish etc. I must admit the beds were OTT but then that was their flourished (and worked). For me, definitely one of the best.

It was a cool building etc but could you imagine living in it? Not a cosy place at all and the echo in the room would do my head in. A very well built good looking building but not a home IMHO

Was the bed big enough for three[point five] ?

One of the better GDs, I particularly enjoyed the taller husband’s continuous Frank Williams impression.

http://twococksbrewery.com/index.html

is this it: http://www.channel4.com/programmes/grand-designs/videos/all/newbury-2013

Love the farm website. Although I can’t help but think the photo of the lamb on the decking is missing some gooey lamb poo which they expel every 5 minutes or when anything remotely exciting happens.

But why have they built it so small? Surely you want a couple of guest rooms? That’s the whole point of a farm house – lots of room for friends to come and stay.

But why have they built it so small? Surely you want a couple of guest rooms? That’s the whole point of a farm house – lots of room for friends to come and stay.

There was a guest annex, wasn’t there? Plus a turtle annex 😉

I thought it was very good – nice people, nice lifestyle, quirky but not totally batshit building, and completely on budget.

I thought it was excellent, my only complaint was the bedrooms looked too clinical and not cosy enough.

Could someone who’s not an idiot (like myself) explain the farming clause, who polices it say 10 years from now?

I thought it was a pretty cool house actually on it’s own but surely selling it when the time comes will be damn near impossible due to the clause on the land and the fact it’s not really a proper house.

Thought the ramp was silly but that big glass sliding window was amazing!

I suppose they must be planning to stay there for the rest of their lives – not sure they’d be too concerned about leaving an inheritance either.

They got two things right in particular. The got themselves an attention to detail ball breaking beast of an architect and then a fixed price building contract so any overrun risk sat with the Contractor. Presumably, they then stuck to the plan rather than changing their minds every 30 seconds as most see to who appear on the prog.

Liked the flint, dint like the building, good effort overall.

I think it would be pretty easy to add further bedrooms and a proper bathroom downstairs at a later date if anyone in the future wanted to do that. It would then be easy enough to relocate the farm office to the barn or to move in with the tortoises.

I’d like to know who the contractor was, they appear to have delivered on budget without any drama to a very high standard and without going bust themselves. That is pretty impressive, I reckon if I were ever in the position to build something for myself I’d be giving them a call.

these were the main contractor
http://www.greenhamconstruction.com/

quality outfit

they appear to have delivered on budget without any drama to a very high standard and without going bust themselves

made for dull telly, didn’t it 🙂

It does look like they decided what they wanted up front, stuck with it and picked a team who could deliver.

I liked the building and I’m quite envious of the lifestyle they’ve ended up with.

andyl – Member

But why have they built it so small? Surely you want a couple of guest rooms? That’s the whole point of a farm house – lots of room for friends to come and stay.

The whole point of a farmhouse is to be a house at the centre of a farm. Two of them live there, so no real need for loads more bedrooms. They built a house which will be realistic for their lifestyle.

Anyway, all their friends will be London media people. The sort who never, ever go anywhere outside the M25 unless it’s on a plane to somewhere exotic.

Oh and I need a micro-brewery of my own, now!

The building sort of left me a bit ‘meh’ to be honest. To each their own I suppose. Plus the interior didnt seem all that homely. Was there a house bathroom?

We’ve missed the important question though. What’s the beer like?

Was there a house bathroom?

Behind the bedroom.

We’ve missed the important question though. What’s the beer like?

Been trying to find if it is in the supermarkets.