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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
[quote=binners said]I'd happily move in tomorrow
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.
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
[i]they appear to have delivered on budget without any drama to a very high standard and without going bust themselves[/i]
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 - MemberBut 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.
Ah, thought that was an ensuite!
We've missed the important question though. What's the beer like?
Been trying to find if it is in the supermarkets.
This relates to my question earlier, the taller one, who previously ran a marketing Company, was very good at marketing.
Looked like every other house on Grand Designs to me, open plan big rooms, an underground bit with a grass roof and a bit above ground that looks a bit like an office but with a "feature" wall and one big window which must cost at least £30 000.
I don't know- the injured Army Captain's house/project made me literally wince 🙁made for dull telly, didn't it
Was there a house bathroom
Did I hear it was divided into separate zones? hmmm
I'd definitely like a taste of [url= http://twococksbrewery.com/ ]Two Cocks[/url]
"IdleJon - Member
Oh and I need a micro-brewery of my own, now!"
Try this:
Scamper - Member
Very interesting build, but come on, the view out of that window is just a bog standard field.
It's a farm near Newbury, in Berkshire; you were expecting herds of Wildebeast and gazelle, perhaps, or snow-capped mountains?
Personally, I'd be more than happy to look out of my window and see that view every day, instead of the row of semi-detatched 1930's council houses I look at every day.
Having watched it right through properly, I can see why they went for non-local flint, for the uniformity of colour; that finished wall looks stupendous, and very much in keeping with buildings further south and in the south of Wiltshire, too.
The sliding window is genius, I love it to bits, and the overall design of the exterior is terrific, it sits really well in its environment. The interior I mostly like, but that's a really personal thing, and would change according to whoever was having it built. The beds? Meh, horribly over the top, but, they're not architectural features, so not really important.
I thought they were two really nice blokes, who've taken the bull by the horns, (literally, in this case), and made a huge lifestyle change that would challenge most people, and really made it work for them. And set up a brewery that seems to be proving successful too!
As other have commented, the whole project worked perfectly because of the whole team involved from the very beginning; if I was fortunate enough to get that life-changing windfall, I'd employ exactly the same bunch of people to create a house to my personal specs.
Excellent programme all round, I thought.
Now to find some of their beer... 😀
I really enjoyed it, not the normal smug pretend self build stuff, more open about pretty much everything.
I'm still not keen on the capped priced contract builds though, it does not say a lot about the people paying for it other than they have money & are prepared to spend it, but each to their own.
@count zero. No, not at all. I was expecting just a field, but not to have it described in such lushous terms
Quite a house, wonderfully detailed.
The massive, opening, feature window seems a bit of a trend this season. Both this and the cinema looked great but I'm really dubious that they'll ever get opened - the UK really doesn't often have the weather. Whenever we opened the (normal sized) back door on our last house the kitchen ended up full of leaves - doesn't that just magnify if you open a whole wall?
One thing that's really bugging me at the moment is Grand Designs policy on blurring out company names. Seems completely inconsistent.
They blurred out the number plates on the cars belonging to the 'two cocks' but not on Kevin's hire car
When the 'two cocks' were at the country show selling beer they blurred out the branding on their brewery polo shirts but didn't bother later in the programme when they were clearly visible.
They blurred out the branding on the back of the reflective vests the guys were wearing but didn't bother on the glass company (Cantifix).
When they went to the flint place the company name was blurred in the foreground of one shot but clear in the background.
Just not sure why they bother.
I don't get the blurring either, although last night I assumed that they had blurred the farmers' logos because they changed their business name part way through from Christmas Farm to Two Cocks Farm.
In previous series it was a good indication if the job had gone tits up if the builder or architect had their name obscured.
Those boys weren't daft though eh? How much would it cost normally to get an hour long commercial for a micro brewery on TV? 😉
I wonder how many supermarket buyers have been banging on their dirty entrance since wednesday?
On balance, I liked the place. Looked awesome. Fitted the site. Glass wall was great.
Interior, not my cup of tea. I just prefer less "open plan" houses and a bed with less curtains.
Very dull episode though - nothing went wrong!
As mentioned, absolutely fabulous hour long advert for their brewery, the canny buggers.
I emailed the two lads to say thank you for a good prog/build. Why? I really like Grand Designs, most are an exercise in 'why' but some I find really entertaining and great. So why not?
They actually emailed me back to say thank you.