‘i designed my own home from scratch’

When Kate Whitefield spotted a plot of land with planning permission to demolish the existing house and rebuild, she knew she had to act. ‘We were living in a big old Victorian place in a town nearby, and it needed lots of things fixing,’ Kate recalls. ‘I was fed up with it, and had always wanted to build my own house – so my husband had agreed if the right property came up, he was in.’

After viewing the plot in a rural location, with stunning views over rolling fields, the couple were sold. ‘It was everything we wanted,’ explains Kate. ‘The existing 1970s house had already had so many extensions added to it that it wasn’t worth saving. I’m not sure if there were any other offers, but it went ahead quickly.’

But Kate wasn’t keen on the suggested design for a new build that had already been drawn up. ‘It just wasn’t in keeping with the area, and was like a modern house from an estate. I wanted something that looked like it had been there a while, but with mod cons.’

After spotting a house she liked on an interiors site, designed by a New Zealand architect, Kate went to their website to study it further. ‘I discovered that the property was actually a bungalow, which I didn’t want, but I really liked the way it had been done.’

So Kate got to work herself, designing a house with a central cottage and two barn extensions on either side. Although she doesn’t have design experience, Kate has always been creative, so once the couple had talked through her initial design, they took it to an architect to have it drawn up.

The whole process took a year, with planning permission going through smoothly before the search for the right builder began. ‘I googled local builders, and Martin Silcock of Tricklebank came up,’ explains Kate. ‘He emailed me straight back asking if we could meet that Saturday, which I took as a good sign that he wanted to meet on a weekend – and it was.’

After taking an immediate liking to Martin, the co