REAL PROJECT SELF-BUILD
Peter and Romney Lelliott opted for an upside-down new build, enabling them to enjoy far-reaching country views from the elevated living space of their contemporary new home
HOMEOWNERS Peter and Romney Lelliott
PROFESSIONS Romney is a midwife and Peter is a retired software executive
HOUSE Detached two-storey fourbedroom house
SIZE 290m²
LOCATION Wiltshire
PROJECT Self-build
BUILD ROUTE Builder, subcontractors, and DIY
BUILD TIME Thirteen months
PLOT COST £730,000
BUILD COST £850,000
CURRENT VALUE £2.5 million+
WORDS Debbie Jeffery
PHOTOGRAPHY Mark Ashbee
After time spent living in a charming, single-glazed 600-year-old thatched cottage, Peter and Romney Lelliott decided to build a new energy-efficient home to meet their needs. “I was approaching retirement, when my business partner spotted a rundown brick and flint property advertised in the paper,” explains Peter.
“We hadn’t really been looking for a plot, but the owners of the house had already applied for planning permission to either extend it or build a replacement. Although the building was too small for our needs, the three-quarter-acre garden and amazing view convinced us to make an offer. On a clear day you can see for around 40 miles over farmland to the Isle of Wight.” Set on the edge of a picturesque village, in an area of outstanding natural beauty on the Hampshire/Wiltshire border, the property was purchased in 2018 and there followed a lengthy series of planning applications and appeals, lasting more than a year.
AN EVOLVING DESIGN “We always knew we’d need to demolish and start again, but although there was an agreement in principle for a replacement house, no detailed plans had been drawn up,” says Romney, a midwife. “We chose to work with Fowler Architecture and Planning, the same company who had designed a house for our next-door neighbours, as well as for Peter’s business partner. The first design they produced was for a traditional Georgian-style property with bedrooms on the first floor.”
A covenant on the plot dictated that the new house could not exceed seven metres in height, which was adhered to, but the first application was still rejected. “Our planning appeal took forever with it being during Covid,” says Peter. “So in the interim Romney and I sketched out other alternatives and came up with a far more contemporary design, with flat roofs and living space upstairs.”
