We are Molly and Pete and when we started thinking about our future, as we approach retirement, we thought about moving somewhere nice and warm, like Italy or France, and buying somewhere small to live.
After much internet and soul searching, and the outcome of the Brexit referendum, we decided that the best thing for our family and ourselves was to stay in Scotland.
We had lived in a beautiful flat in Portobello, Edinburgh, for almost thirty years but it was far too big for just the two of us and so we started thinking about where to move to, that could live up to the views and the location.
To make things interesting we started thinking about having a house built and researched a lot of kit houses. Some of the companies were offering eco houses with lots of insulation and made of sustainable materials. After looking at hundreds of options we decided that we could design something that would suit our needs better than those on offer, and so we did.
this helped us understand the space and proportions.
We are fans of Grand Designs on Channel 4 and have followed the programme from the begining. Seeing all these non-professional builders construct their own houses gave us the confidence to have a go. The programmes we enjoyed most were the ones where people were building fairly modest sized houses but were trying to be sustainable and sympathetic to the environment.
We researched PassivHaus design principles, sustainable materials and renewable energy, all of which has informed our design.
The project went from an idea to a reality when Pete met Andrew Scott, the partner of a former colleague, Manda. Andrew is a PassivHaus Consultant who has a lot of experience constructing energy efficient, sustainable houses and supporting other people to build their own. When we met we hit it off and Andrew was very interested in our project and encouraged us to go ahead. When he saw our models he said, “If you can build a model of your house, you can build your house.”
Style
Molly has a vast collection of photos of old and run down huts, sheds, barns and outbuildings. This has inspired the basic look of the house we are building and so it is to be clad in Scottish larch which weathers with age and turns a lovely silver colour with varied patination.
A nod to the past
The house will adopt a traditional shape and have much the same proportions as a traditional black house but larger. Being clad in larch it may resemble an agricultural building and so hopefully be sympathetic to the feel of its location. Some of this idea was inspired by Jo Hodges’ byer convertion near Moniaive.
Location
We have always loved Argyll and have spent many happy family holidays here. We are both moved by the beauty and ruggedness of the landscape and love Scotland’s temperate rainforest.
We have been lucky enough to buy a third of an acre plot here, close to a village with a train station, a GP practice, a community centre, a bar in the summer and only 102 miles from Edinburgh. Molly’s grandparents had a farm nearby that she often visited as a child..