By designing and building their own home, Chris Hughes and his wife were able to achieve exactly what they wanted. Here, he explains their vision for their dream home.
“Because of an ever-expanding family, both grandchildren and elderly parents, we found we needed a house which would allow us to have the whole family home at once. Most houses on the market at the time were too big, too small or too awkward to run economically – and we really needed some outdoor space.
We found the land totally by accident and were really not sure what we could do with it. Fortunately, it came with outline planning permission, but the plot was in the wrong place so, after some negotiation with the council, we relocated the site and persuaded them to let us build a cedar-clad house.
The style of the building came from working in the south of England and looking at beautiful black barns, Tudor houses and old boathouses.
We had to decide what we expected from the house – sufficient space for all the family, downstairs bedroom and bathroom with wheelchair access – and being warm and easily heated was also a priority.
The obvious choice was to use a wood-fuelled system, being surrounded by so much of the stuff, so we installed a large multifuel stove with a back boiler which heats the whole house and the water too.
The layout was governed by light – the house is oriented north to south – and to make the best use of the views, most rooms are dual aspect. The second decision was that the room sizes were built to the length of timber available so there was no wastage. It had to be practical, lots of storage and solid wooden floors – easy to keep clean with an army of grandchildren and dogs.
We have a large quantity of assorted furniture that hold family memories but we also like contemporary design and clean lines. It was important to build something that would take the knocks and spills of everyday life.
The pond we put in at the very beginning because my wife likes wild swimming; it’s 35 metres x 25 metres but too cold for me, which is why we eventually built the heated indoor pool.
The library is a beautiful place to sit and watch the sun set; the sitting area on the upstairs landing is truly stunning to sit in at night, particularly when it’s been snowing. The sitting room is very much a cosy family room with its fireplace. The kitchen holds a good-sized table at which we seem to spend hours talking.
So we had the look, and the design, and 22 acres for walks and for children and adults alike to play in. We love playing Poohsticks with the children down in the burn and they love climbing trees.
We are going to miss everything about this property: the wildlife, the views and the peace and quiet. But our children are so scattered now that our time is taken up with travelling so we want to pass the baton on to someone else who will love it as much as we have.
By designing and building our own home, we were able to achieve exactly what we wanted. Our advice to anybody building their own home is to be brave, be focused and stick to your budget – you can make your dream happen.
To keep up with my Irish wife, who had been working in building/property development for 40 years, I qualified as a quantity surveyor as a mature student in 1994 at RGU and spent a year working with Doric, now part of Robertson. This was a major help with our ability to cope with a self-build along with a fantastic father-and-son team of joiners, very patient building regulations officers at Turriff, the planners at Inverurie and engineer, also from Inverurie. Not to mention the Canadian company that produced our giant jigsaw.”
The house
- Pond House, Auchry Woods, Cuminestown, Aberdeenshire.
- Inside: sun room, sitting room, dining kitchen, master bedroom with en suite wet room and walk-in wardrobe, guest bedroom with en suite, library/bedroom five, bedrooms three and four, family bathroom, swimming pool.
- Outside: garden, pond, 21.5 acres of woodland.
- Offers over £495,000
- Contact: Strutt & Parker on 01330 826800.