All language subtitles for Grand Designs - Peak District, 2017

Construction is really hard.

Whether it's a road or
a skyscraper or a house,

it has to happen outside
in all kinds of weathers.

So you want to give yourself
an easy time, don't you?

You want to make sure the planning
process is relatively smooth,

that you choose a level and reliable
piece of ground to build on,

that you have enough money
in the bank to pay for it all.

If you don't have these things in
place, do not expect an easy ride.

The Peak District National Park

is a prehistoric limestone landscape

that is filled with folklore
and strange archaic traditions,

such as well dressing.

Well dressing
is the ancient Derbyshire art

of sticking petals on clay
to make a design.

It sounds bizarre, but it goes back
a long way in this village.

Two of the Peak District's
finest well dressers

are Fred and Saffron Baker.

For them, this ancient pastime holds
a lot of personal significance.

It is also where I met Saffron,
many years ago now.

I used to insist, when I was a
child, that I put in the last petal.

And my first impression of her
wasn't good.

HE CHUCKLES
But, er...that changed!

But ancient ephemeral arts

aren't the only contribution
Fred and Saffron want to make

to this community.

They are also planning something
a little bit more permanent.

Well, this is the dale
where I grew up.

I spent my whole childhood here,
one way or another.

And this is now where
I'm going to build a house.

Two, three, go!

It's been Fred's dream forever
to build his own home.

It's all the children have known.

But now it's our project.

He might have the ideas, but it's
not going to happen without me.

That one's mine!

That was mine, actually!

OK!

A few years ago, Saffron and Fred
spent close to £100,000

on an old dairy
just outside Bakewell,

in the village
where Fred's ancestors

have lived for generations.

This is the site!

Very undeveloped. Right on the edge.

I mean, this is the last bit of land

before open countryside, yeah?
Yes.

And you've got this little hut

and that remnant
of a building there.

So is this where you build?
Is this what you do?

No, no. So the building
is basically over there.

Good Lord!

People may have built on this site
up by the road,

but no-one has dared to take on
this steep hillside.

Getting machinery onto this site
and storing materials...

Yeah, that will be a challenge.

..is going to be
logistically challenging, isn't it?

You've got one way in,
one way out, it's a slope.

Every structural engineer that
I have stood here with

has sucked their teeth and gone,
"Oh, really? Are you sure?"

It's like, "Well, yes, we have
designed the house for this site."

The difficulty is actually
building it. Yeah, building it!

Well, it's been difficult
in planning,

so building it
is going to be a piece of cake.

How long were you in planning
to get it? Seven years.

Good grief!

Well, I was in my 30s
when I started this process.

I was 50 this year.

But we didn't have a plan B.
We had no plan B.

So you just kept pushing?
Yep. So we just kept at it.

Fred is an ecologist

and he and Saffron
run a successful consultancy

helping big companies fulfil
their environmental obligations.

It's critical their house
reaches the highest eco standards.

One of the things
that I'd always wanted to do

was to build an earth-shelter house

and this plot was absolutely ideal.

The whole ethos of the build
is that it should be sustainable

and it takes advantage
of its position.

So its south-facing aspect

meant that we could actually heat it
almost entirely from the sun.

I mean, listening to you speak,
I can understand

why you kept going
at this since 2003

because of the site, the aspect,
where it faces,

being of the village,
you being of this place.

You know, as you say,
there was no...plan B.

Having got planning permission,
Saffron put her job on hold

to help manage the site with their
main contractor and architects.

Work will begin by excavating
the thick Derbyshire limestone

to make a huge step in the rock.

This may be an environmental home,

but there are no hay bales
or mud walls here.

Concrete will form the platform
for the house to sit on.

And more carbon-heavy materials,
like blockwork and steel,

will form the rooms
and the superstructure.

To offset all this, Fred wants
this house to be heated by the sun.

So a wall of south-facing glazing

will allow sunlight in
to warm the concrete foundations,

and then that heat will be
locked in at night

by closing heavily-insulated
timber shutters.

Three modest bedrooms
and two bathrooms

will be tucked into the hill
on the lowest floor.

But it's the middle floor where
this house really will open up.

The main living spaces
will be drenched in light

and will take in some spectacular
views across the valley.

The kitchen, snug and family room
of the middle floor

will be crowned by
the smallest floor at the top,

which will house
Fred's timber-clad office

and a timber bridge
leading to the front door.

Disguised as a traditional
Derbyshire barn,

this small stone-clad top floor

will be the only visible
part of this house from the road.

And all the stone used
to clad the barn

will be recycled from the site
in the local vernacular.

This place has the potential to be
a beautiful home to live in.

But a possible nightmare to build.

So what is the cost of it, then?

At the moment, that isn't set,
there's no fixed contract,

priced contract yet.

We know what we're aiming at.

I know what I can borrow,

when the bank finally get round
to agreeing a mortgage,

and the rest...

What, you mean they haven't yet?
No.

And the rest of it comes from
the profitability of our business

and our savings as we go along.

We're going to live in this house
for the rest of our lives

and the key thing is that
we can build the structure

watertight, habitable, etc, etc.

How much, then,
to get you to that point

where you can move in
and you've got a habitable house?

So my target amount is 600.

I can pay for them
to dig the hole in the ground

and then the bank
have to come up trumps.

They have no mortgage and no idea
what this house will end up costing.

Nevertheless, by early September,
the diggers have moved onto site.

We did a bit of a test dig
yesterday,

just to see what was there.

And I looked down into the hole

and I wondered, "What the heck
have we let ourselves in for?!"

Fred and Saffron
have taken responsibility

for the excavation themselves,

using two local farmers.

They'll need to remove
over 800 tonnes of hard limestone

before they can start filling it
back up with their new house.

Yeah, I think they're mental,
building it here, really.

But hopefully, it won't rain

and then we'll stay where we are
instead of down in to the dale.

It's our very own quarry!

Look at the size of that!

For the past eight years,
the family have been renting

one of the village's
more traditional houses.

My father always wanted
to build a house.

He never did it.

It was an ambition that I probably
inherited from him.

That's my father up there.
He died five years ago now.

He was always very supportive
of what we were trying to achieve.

That desire to build
goes back a very long way.

I never thought I'd actually do it.

In fact, I still don't!

The temptation of work, careers
and new homes

means Fred has seen many
of his childhood friends

leave this village.

But his commitment to this place
is constant.

As is that of his mother,

who still lives in the house
both she and Fred grew up in.

Fred is treading in
a venerable path here

of family members
who have built houses, yeah?

His grandfather built this.
Yes, yes.

Now Fred is building his house up
the hill. He's doing his up there.

Which is wonderful.

I do feel quite proud

that he's been able to build
a house in the village.

I mean, all his contemporaries
have had to go away.

The loss of a generation moving out

is...is just so sad.

What do you reckon to the house,
though?

I don't think it will be a house
that...I will choose to live in.

And I think it's going to be just
a little bit too modern for me.

Their design maybe modern,

but they are excavating through
ancient limestone,

a seemingly epic task.

Three weeks in, progress has slowed.

It is getting harder,
isn't it, now?

Unfortunately.

We've got to go down another three
meters into the rock again.

So, obviously,
we're going deeper again,

so it's going to be harder, so...

What would you say, Ben? Are we
halfway yet or not, do you think?

I wouldn't say so, no.

It looks like we have got a lot
further on than we have,

but I don't think we have,
really, now.

Two months into a year-long project

and Fred and Saffron
still don't have the mortgage

they need to start
laying the foundations.

We've had an e-mail conversation
with the broker.

They are wanting to charge me
a vast amount more money

to continue with the progress
of this mortgage application,

which I think
we are going to have to pay.

That's the way it is.

I've had an e-mail conversation
with Jennifer today.

I'm going to push for them
to actually come to site,

because they can't be that far away.

We spent a whole load of years

talking about how unique
this project is.

But when you talk to the banks,

you've got to tell them
how normal it is,

because they don't want
a unique project.

They want something
that's really easy to understand.

By early December,
the excavation is almost complete

and this project looks
anything but conventional.

The scale is quite breath-taking.

This is just like walking
into a very large Derbyshire quarry.

What a place, hey?

The hole, obviously,
has to be large enough,

excavated large enough, to
be able to fit the building in it,

so they need working space
around the building.

You have to ask, however,
why on earth...?

In building into this kind of
really solid rock,

you could almost just stick
a roof on the top and move in.

It's cost almost 25 grand
to get this far,

but there's no mortgage
and no-one is prepared to lend

on such an unusual project.

By the end of the year,
all work has stopped.

It's just really frustrating.
I just want to get on with it.

I want to get on with it
and I don't like the fact

that people who don't know
anything about our project

or what it means to us
are making decisions.

We're going to build it.

It might take longer.

A bank is not going to stop me
building this house.

# Rise morning sun

# Rising

# Rise morning sun... #

Fred and Saffron Baker
have spent the past 13 years

dreaming of building an
earth-sheltered house

in the village where Fred grew up,
in the Peak District.

So far, with no mortgage
and no sight of one,

all they have been able to afford
is an enormous hole.

At the moment
we haven't got a project.

It's not done anything
for three months.

And just to be held up at this last
minute is just so frustrating.

Building your own house
is not for the faint-hearted

and it tests your relationship,
absolutely.

We want to live in this house
when we've built it,

we don't want to hate it
or each other.

So we've got to make it work.

Six months in
and the site is still empty.

But there are finally reasons
for optimism.

How's the project?

Well, we're building a house.

How's the finance?
We have some, which is good.

A mortgage? Yes, we did.

We found a mortgage from the people
we should have gone to

right at the beginning.

Sorted it out in three weeks.
Oh, my Lord! How much?

500,000.

When's it start?
We've had the first payment.

You'd think that would be
a champagne moment, wouldn't you?

Well, you'd thinks so! Was it?
We were exhausted.

It was relief,
more than celebration.

The mortgage is a positive step,

but the pressure on Fred and Saffron
is unrelenting.

This is the windows payment here,
I think

Their main contractor has come back
with a construction quote

that's almost a ?100,000
more than they were expecting.

That's still a worrying figure,
though.

I know, I've no idea how we fix it.

To save money, they're going
to have to strip back on finishes

and hope they'll have enough
to make this house habitable.

By late May, and nine months in,
the groundworks team have moved in

and the pouring of this building's
concrete shell can finally begin.

Here is the concrete.

The concrete structure ought to be
finished in three months,

so Fred and Saffron
might move in by Christmas.

We should be able to see.

He's lining it up
with this hopper here.

Can you see, Billy?

Almost a decade in planning

and at last there are some signs
of a building.

But this won't be
the first concrete home

to try and bury itself
in the Peak District.

So this is a garden
which is also a house.

A building which inspired Fred
and Saffron.

I say it's a building.

It's not architecture that you can
recognise from the outside, is it?

It's what the man who built it
called geo-tecture.

Geo is Greek for earth,
and this house is covered in it.

The man behind this building
is architect Arthur Quarmby,

one of the biggest proponents
of earth-sheltered houses in Europe.

The green exterior is a big contrast
to what's inside.

HE CHUCKLES

What a centrepiece that is!

Look, I know this place looks like
a 1970s film set but,

on the other hand,
it was built then.

The architect who put it together,
Arthur Quarmby,

lived here for 41 years
before he sold it recently.

And it's quite important that
Arthur Quarmby was an inspiration

for Fred and Saffron here

because a lot of the ideas in their
house have taken a lead from here.

They've got these flowing spaces,

a connection between floors through
light wells, big glazed areas.

For Fred and Saffron, this building
doesn't just hold ideas,

it is also where ten years ago,

their dream for an earth-sheltered
house first took shape.

Now, you see this view
across the valley,

this place is where Arthur Quarmby
sat and drew at his table here,

the first iteration of Fred and
Saffron's house. How about that?

I bet, in fact, if I go outside,
there's more of a connection.

Ha-ha! Look at this...

If you were to repeat this elevation
three or four storeys deep,

then you have their home.

This is the prototype, almost,
for what they're building.

You can recognise
the connection between them,

the DNA that they share.

It's hard to imagine
how Fred and Saffron's house

will ever be in keeping
with its surroundings.

At the moment, it looks more like
an underground car park.

Getting to grips
with the steep incline and access

is causing some painful delays.

Probably the hardest thing
on the build is the access.

I would say, on a weekly basis,
we're kind of re-adjusting the ramp

to work certain areas
and service certain areas.

I would say it's probably adding
about 15% to 20%

above what it would take to build
this traditionally out of ground.

By August, this project
is way behind schedule.

The concrete work should have been
almost finished by now,

but they're not even
halfway through.

Wow.

It's like coming down a scree
on the side of a peak.

Blockwork, lots of steel,
slab, massive formwork.

This isn't a building, this is
a piece of civil engineering.

Oh, and I can just see
the edge of the timber

that is lining the shuttering.

And that, when it's removed,
is going to leave

a beautiful board-marked finish
on the concrete in the kitchen.

That's the lovely thing
about concrete,

it is a plastic medium
that will take the surface texture

of whatever is holding it
while it sets.

You can't help but be impressed
by the scale of the concrete work.

But for Saffron, the mounting delays
are pure frustration.

It is slower than I would hope.

This stage has probably taken
an extra 20% or 30% longer,

which is quite a long time. Yeah,
you have my sympathy about that.

But you made this rod for your own
backs, it is of your making.

It is. We chose this site,
we chose this site,

it's awkward to develop on.

Getting out the ground is what is
the pain, that's where...

And it's all in the ground, so...
And it's all in the ground.

And the access is outrageous!

What's the financial knock-on from
the delays to the work so far?

Our rent. But now I can see
where the money could go,

I don't want to spend any more.
Yeah.

Fred and Saffron still don't know
if they have enough cash

to fully complete this project

and they've made some brave choices
for the interior

to bring the costs down,

like leaving much of the blockwork
exposed.

This is actually, at the moment,
my favourite bit of the building.

What, this downstairs bit?
This downstairs back corridor.

Oh, yeah?

These walls are sort of more or
less, as is, as they're going to be?

It's a cost issue.

Certainly, initially, we are going
to have bare breeze-block walls

and over time it will evolve.

You've had to use how many cubic
meters of concrete?

185.

That's enough!
Yeah.

And the steel? All of which has
a heavy carbon impact.

That's the bit that hurts, actually.
Does it?

Yeah, there are compromises along
the way and, you know,

I'd have loved to have used
an eco-concrete product,

but actually nobody could do it.

It's standard concrete, admittedly,
and, yeah, that hurts.

So the carbon impact of making all
this steel and all this cement

and resourcing this building

might well be paid back
in how many years, do you reckon?

I think five to ten years.

Exposed concrete walls
aren't typical of many eco-houses,

but Fred wants zero heating bills,

and the use of concrete
will be key in achieving that.

What I am drawing here is a sort
of schematic representation

of Fred and Saffron's house.

Big concrete box
set into the rock behind.

Of course, concrete is a very, very
environmentally-harmful material.

For every tonne of cement produced,
a tonne of carbon's produced.

Nevertheless, it has fantastic
abilities to store heat.

The sun, of course, will beam in,
heat the concrete.

The difficulty is,
this glass is always

going lose heat at night.

So what's their solution?
It's brilliant,.

It's to build shutters,

which are also
brilliantly insulated.

It should mean, they can stay warm

with no extra energy inputs
into the building at all.

To save money,

by October, Fred and Saffron give
notice on their rented house.

An optimistic move,
because their new home

has only just revealed
its first finished detail.

This is our beautiful board-formed
concrete wall of the kitchen,

and will be lit from the top,

so you'll see all that lovely relief
in it from the timbers.

It's beautiful. I love it.

A glimpse of what's to come.

But this is an unforgiving site.

It can be quite tricky.

A lot of slipping and sliding
and stuff like that with the rain.

To avoid the expense of a crane,

everything on this site
is now manoeuvred by hand.

I just can't imagine
how they are going to do this.

How are they going to lift it?

Just hold it there, John,
keep it there!

Whoa! That'll do!

It's slow progress,

on a project which is now
three months behind schedule.

There's a whole list of things
to do before it's a proper reality.

I can't tell
when it will feel like our home.

In the heart
of the Peak District,

Fred and Saffron are now 14 months
into their project.

Around 325 tonnes of concrete

have been poured
into their hole in the ground.

Everybody at school's
talking about it

and saying, "Have you got to this
stage yet? Is the concrete in?"

And stuff like that.

They don't ask me anything.

Can I just get the tape straight,
please, mate?

Progress has been slow so,
so to try and save some time,

the steels for the middle floor

are being measured and cut to size
on site.

5615 is tight,
so you need to take 10mm off that.

But it will only save weeks

on a project that is running
months behind.

Since she's on site every day,

Saffron can enjoy
the occasional big step forward.

Like the steel tray floors,

which have at last enclosed
some of the spaces.

Fred would obviously like to be here
every day,

because it's hard for him
missing out on stuff.

But he's got loads of really
exciting work on,

which is what's paying
for this building.

So that's just the way it is.

Fred only gets to site
in the evenings and at weekends.

Of course, it is right and proper

that you are away earning money
to pay for it.

Well, it's a necessity.
Absolutely.

Yeah, yeah.

It's frustrating because I,
you know, I like to be hands-on.

How are the finances?
I think, budget-wise, we'll hit it.

We've stripped out a lot.

Where have the compromises been?

The compromises have been in
interiors. Right.

Things like plaster, paint...

Yeah, thinks like plaster, paint,

you know, ceilings that we decided
not to put in.

They'll be nothing else
to strip out soon!

We'll be back to this!
Yeah.

What about the insulated shutters?
Are they a luxury that you...?

No, they're not.
No, they are a necessity.

They will be going in.
Oh, OK.

Tat thermal efficiency
of the building

is something that I won't
compromise on. Car park aesthetic.

Car park aesthetic. On the inside,
I think you'll be surprised, Kevin.

Super house functionality.

I think you'll be surprised
by the interior.

Do you reckon? Because I think
I'm looking at most of it already!

The insulated shutters that promise
zero heating bills

are already being hand-made
in Sheffield.

How's it going?

Is this the first one?
This is the first one.

Thick insulation is sandwiched
between two skins of timber.

You don't know how critical this is
for our house,

for how this whole house functions!

It's now late autumn

and Saffron's getting ready to move
house towards the end of the month.

Not into their new home,
but to live with Fred's mum.

We moved in here temporarily whilst
we got planning permission to build.

It was always temporary.

So we have made it home.

We've had, you know, eight,
nine...eight Christmases here.

But not this one!

For over a year, Fred and Saffron
have been given nothing to look at

but rock, mud and concrete.

As their new house takes shape,

we're heading to the other
side of the valley

to get a different perspective.

So this is the first time
that I've come across

to have a look across
the opposite side of the dale.

It looks like a proper building,
you know what I mean?

As oppose to an extended
piece of groundworks.

I can see the finished building,

how it's going to look

and how it's going to blend
into that hillside. Good.

It's the first time I've been able
to see that, actually.

Now the lids are on
and that curve's starting to form,

I can actually see how the whole...

You'll be up here every tea-time,
won't you?

It's probably good for you.

It's good to get the physical
perspective that you get here

in order to understand, you know...

I shall be coming up here
more often. You should.

Yeah, I think we need to walk,
we need to come up here every week.

It's the first time I've seen this
and it is...

Yeah, it's breath-taking, actually.

Yeah.

But Fred and Saffron's new
perspective is short-lived.

A sudden cold snap heralds
the beginning of another winter

and the last concrete pour
for the roofs

has been delayed by almost a month.

By December, the family have had
to move in with their new landlady.

Well, at the moment,
I've got my son and his wife

and their two children
living with me.

Have you done mine?

I've done them.
Yeah, I've done them already.

I did yours last night.
Yeah, I did them last night.

I've learnt to just sort of
bite my tongue.

I would never put a milk bottle
on the table,

even at breakfast!

Today, the roofs go on.

It's taken far too long to get to
this point, but we're here now.

And it's not snowing,
so that's a good thing.

We're essentially six months behind.

So there's been further delay,

mainly because of the groundworks.

In fact, entirely because of
the groundworks.

This will be the final day on site
for the groundworks team.

A job that was supposed to take
three months

has taken close to seven.

Yeah, it's been a difficult job.
Access has been a bit awkward.

We have gone over the programme,
but you can't rush quality.

In the New Year,
the top floor barn goes up

and the first piece of timber
makes its way on site.

This should be a momentous day.

But Saffron's had bad news
from the contractors.

It's not going to be finished
until June,

which has taken me the best part
of two months to accept, I think.

It's difficult to take,

it's knocked the wind
out of my sails a bit, I think.

I think I was expecting to move
out of our rented accommodation

and then feel renewed energy
for this project,

but that didn't happened.

What actually happened was
the stress kind of took hold

and got to me and...

..I've not been able to do
very much, really.

Saffron's difficulty is accompanied
by a harsh winter.

But by April, she and Fred
have restructured their finances.

At last, something positive
has come from all those delays.

Business-wise,
we had a good year last year,

so I'm able to release a little bit
more money

than I thought I was going
to be able to.

Fred and Saffron are also increasing
their mortgage.

In total,
they'll have an extra ?130,000.

That'll get spent on stonework
cladding, an extra bathroom

and some landscaping.

Even so, they're standing by
the decision

to leave much of the blockwork
exposed.

I don't think I would ever choose
to see blockwork.

I'm sure it will irritate me.

But for financial reasons, I'm happy
to make that blockwork attractive.

Fred and Saffron are going to spend
over ?700,000 on this building.

But for the first time, they know
they can afford to finish it.

Tea!

As the windows go in,
there is a new optimism on site.

That's very satisfying.

Well, this is going to be where
I sit and work.

I love it. Absolutely love it!

There's absolutely no way

I could have built this house
without Saffron.

Absolutely no way.

She's taken what was my dream
and turned it into our dream

and made it happen.

I want this office now.
You're out. It's my space!

This project wouldn't have happened
without you.

You found the builders,
you found the architects.

This wouldn't have happened
with out you.

Better get it right, then!

By early summer, this eco-house
has started to produce electricity.

The curved concrete terraces
are taking shape

and the top floor barn

is receiving its remarkable cladding
of napped stone.

How beautiful.

Oak roof, beautiful wall,
which is...

Oh, it's almost engineered.

This is... This is something else.

After a year of seeing nothing
but concrete on this site,

it's a real joy to see
properly-napped,

beautifully-bedded dry stone.

If they can do to the front of the
building what they've done here...

..it's going to be a cracker.

The quaint Derbyshire barn is
sitting on top of a concrete shell,

where the car park aesthetic
is really coming together.

Pipes, tubes, wires, guts.

Yep, arteries.
Some people would loathe this.

Have you got enough money
to finish it?

Yeah, I think so.
Yeah.

We just wanted to get it to a state

where it was going to be as finished
as we possibly could. Yeah.

We're so desperate to get in now.

Over the coming months,

all the new available cash
has been spent

on their kitchen
and bathroom fittings.

Elsewhere,
compromises are still on show.

By mid-summer, the annual well
dressing festival is underway.

Saffron now knows her family are on
the threshold of something new.

This is something that we've
fought for for a long time.

It'll be something,
the beginning of a new life.

So I don't feel like we're racing
to the finish.

I feel like we're kind of trotting
towards the start line.

I've been visiting Fred and Saffron
in the Peak District

for over two years.

It's one of my favourite landscapes
- it's heroic and momentous,

a place to walk, think and dream.

A place where not everything
is as it seems.

Well, that building looks like it's
sort of...a little hut, a workshop.

Absolutely a decoy for what's
underneath it.

The beautifully wrought barn
and porch give no hint

of the struggle that lay beneath.

No suggestion of the buried
concrete fortress

now wrapped in stone and timber.

My word! It looks like a great...

..curving cliff of stone.

All that rubble has been
assembled into this beautiful shape.

What a deceit, hey?

Every stone was dug
out of the ground here, split,

shaped and faced to produce walls
that are unerringly fine.

It's mesmerising work.

It's hard to imagine the sloping
scrap of land that once was here.

Fred and Saffron's patience would
seem to have been rewarded.

Hello!

Oh, it's very good to see you both.
Are you all right?

Yeah, yeah, I am, how are you?

And this is looking just...peachy.

Absolutely great. And from the road,
no indication at all of what's here.

Absolutely nothing at all.
Just a bungalow.

The stonework is particularly fine.

The stone's almost become one thing,
one surface.

I think it's just triumphant.
What's it like inside?

Erm... Is it done? Are you in?

Yes, yes, we're in.
Good! Come on, then. Come on!

Yeah, yeah.

Into the dark corridor.

And into...

Ooh! Into some light.

Oh, into a great deal of light.

This middle floor is open
and bright,

despite those heavy blockwork walls.

Do you know, this is...

..this is very surprising because
I was fully prepared for all the
conduit and the exposing,

but I was not prepared for all
of the timber and that,

all that panelling up there.

There's a lot of very finely crafted
lining of this building

that's gone on.

And the tubes and pipes
everywhere do not exactly...

I mean, OK, it's a raw,
brutalist finish in a way,

but it's not minimal, is it?

I wasn't sure
I was going to like it,

but I like the honesty of it now.

The craftsmen who did
all of this worked

so hard to get this looking right.

You mean the plumber
and electrician?

The plumber and electrician.
Yeah, yeah!

Because, for the first time ever,
their work has been on show.

It's exquisite.

It's sort of semi-open plan.
You're kind of drawn, aren't you?

Yes.

This is your beautiful
staircase down.

And then through to music room.

Music room, spare room.
It's, it's... It's magical.

The exposed blockwork
began as a cost-saving exercise.

It seems to have emerged
as a style of decoration.

I don't know how you feel.
I mean, is this, is this finished?

What's interesting is I didn't think
it was, but now I'm here with it,

I'm seeing it's not a hotel,
this is our home and, actually...

That, up there...?

Yeah, that'll stay. I don't want it
filling. Why would you fill it?

It's a block that got dropped
on its way to being put there.

That's OK.

It's not common, what you've done.

No. It's that juxtaposition
all the time between the personal,

the finished, the polished,
the cherished and the raw.

And it's only when you put them
together that you realise that,

actually, it doesn't really matter
how raw the raw is.

And I do, you know, I walk around
and it makes me excited.

Just looking, whether it's
the stonework outside or the,

you know, the kitchen, the light.

All of those details just bring
a smile to your face.

This semi-open floor has one
slightly cosier concrete snug.

But, upstairs,
on the very top floor, in the barn,

the building becomes fully refined.

Oh, there's no more concrete up
here. In fact, it's all wood.

So this is the only level
that's above ground,

and as you go down,
you go down into the concrete.

I do like the idea of arriving
and immediately being faced
with a bridge.

It's like, there's the portcullis,
there's the draw bridge.

Up here, Fred's contained ply-lined
office captures some pretty

good views across the hills.

What a very nice place to work.

As you descend from the dizzy
heights of the barn at road level

to the lowest level
where the bedrooms are,

the plywood timber linings give way
to more and more solid masonry.

Down here, it's the only place

that you've used stone inside
the building. Inside. Because?

We started off light
and airy up at the top end,

and this is the sleeping room.

So it's enclosed... Yeah.
..cave-like.

This is perhaps the most unfinished,
raw part of the house.

There are three straightforward
bedrooms, each of which enjoys

the views and a splash of luxury
in a polished plaster bathroom.

Concrete aesthetic apart,

this house was never primarily about
how it looks, but how it works.

I have been very
excited to see these.

They're just like bifold doors,
really.

Yeah, they are. They're
bifold doors and... Oh, wow!

..they close up. And they've got
seals? They've got rubber seals?

Seals, and this keeps all
the heat in at night.

What's your big objective here?

The objective here is
a zero carbon house,

so it doesn't take any
energy to run it.

Of course, this house isn't
just for Fred and Saffron,

it's for their children too.

For Billy and Grace,
family conversations about building

and planning have dominated
most of their lives.

What do you think about the house,
though, generally?

I wasn't expecting to see the pipes
and the blockwork from the inside.

It's amazing,
I really like all of it.

Do you feel proud of your parents?
BOTH: Yeah.

Because they're my parents,
and that's what they'll always be.

They've done an amazing job.

It looks really good.

This building has only just
begun to show its charm,

and as the hillside heals,

it will be more and more absorbed
into the landscape.

There is a very obvious hanging
question about this project which,

given the fact that you didn't
know how much it would cost

when you started and had no...

well, not much in the way of money
to pay for it!

How much, do you know,
did it cost to get this far?

It's got a seven in front of it.

A seven, but nothing near an eight?

I would think it's
quite near an eight.

There's a few things to come in
and we've done a lot more

of the landscaping than
we were planning to do.

So, late ?700,000,
nearly ?800,000.

On top of that, you've got land
and fees and extras

and all kinds of mucking about.
Planning, the years it took...

Oh, yeah, no,
you can't quantify that stuff.

So, what, you're getting
on for a million quid or something,
aren't you? Yeah. Easy!

Yeah, well, there's some things
I've never added up

and communicated because you'd just
be terrified, yeah.

I think that's remarkable that you
both accept that it's just money,

because you both believed
that you would get here.

This was something we've planned
and dreamt of doing, you know,

for 16 years.

And we're going to be here for ever.

You know, it's worth it.

All of that was worth it in order
to achieve this one

thing of being able to
stay in this place?

Stay in the same place?

Well, that continuity was
really important,

and that's where it started from,
is wanting to remain in the village.

Do you think that the length of
time and, for that matter,

Saffron's kind of very energetic
role here, has that caused friction?

It has been difficult,
but, you know, relationships,

building houses,
you have to work at it.

I think it's made us stronger.
We couldn't have done it separately.

So it's a keeper? Oh, yeah.

Somebody asked me the other day,
"Are you doing this to sell?"

No, I don't think you quite
understand what we've been
through to get it!

No, this is it,
why would you need to do it again?

Sitting here, it's architecturally
adventurous, it's complex,

it's rich.

To the village, it's a little...
Tiny little barn.

..stone barn, yeah.

So, what is it?

It's our home.

I don't mind how it's
labelled by anybody else.

It's been made with passion
by everybody who's worked on it.

We've got to this point with
determination and positivity,

and I'm really proud of that.

Been over the valley much
to look at it? No.

I have not seen it
from the far side.

We've got to go over and look at it.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, we do.

THEY LAUGH

Look at that!

Wow! It's a great view from here.

That is so exciting,
to see it from this side.

What I want to know, really,
actually, Fred,

is whether you feel this does what
it's meant to do on the lid?

I love it, absolutely love it.

It's given me the wow factor
from this side of the dale.

It's blended in much more quickly
than I imagined it to.

You know, OK, we've worked really
hard at the landscaping, but it has.

We've been building it,
we've got to know how it works...

We got to know it
in a different way.

..and how we relate to it. Yeah.

Home.

You might think it a miracle
that this place even exists,

given its early financial history.

But then, miracles do require faith.

And there was a lot of that here -
Saffron's faith, her absolute

determined belief that this project
was going to get completed.

Her inability to accept that it
would not exist,

coupled with Fred's quieter faith,

his faith in the power of place
and his connection to it.

In the end, it is the architecture
of quiet determination.

We've got what's officially
the smallest two-bedroom house

possible in London.

This is a bit of a new challenge,

to put a basement on a piece
of land the size of a postage stamp.

This is spectacularly shambolic.

Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa!

Yeah, I've lost 30 grand on this.

Stand out!

Everything's taking much
longer than we thought.

And you've made it more complex?

Oh, 100%, yeah. Why not?
HE LAUGHS