Build a New Life in the Country

This week, Hugh and Jude leave leafy Surrey for a sustainable future in a remote corner of Wales. With the couple hoping to host their daughter's wedding just six months after the project begins, the heat is on to finish the complex build in time. Hugh and Jude Crawford are looking forward to the next chapter in their lives. They have given up their house in Surrey to create a more rewarding, sustainable life in a remote area of Wales. The couple have spent £300,000 on a 15-acre smallholding with a run-down farmhouse in Cardigan Bay, and hope to renovate and extend the property to create their dream home. The smallholding also includes derelict barns, which Hugh and Jude plan to turn into holiday lets to provide an income for their retirement. Hugh has a unique vision for this project. After years of working as an architect specialising in underground railways, he is excited about designing his own home. His plans for the farmhouse extension are inspired by what he calls ‘postagricultural architecture’. Sustainable elements will be used throughout the build – including cement-free construction techniques, heat stores, a wind turbine and solar panels. The couple also have dreams of being self-sufficient – they want to set up a polytunnel, and have plans for keeping hens and other animals further down the line. Hugh and Jude are working to a strict deadline – their oldest daughter, Jessica, is getting married in six months and they are determined to have one of the stone barns ready to host the wedding. This is a big incentive to push ahead with the build, but as the barn takes priority during the winter and spring, the work on the farmhouse starts to fall behind... Fortunately, the couple manage to meet their deadline. The wedding is a huge success, with the whole family coming together to make the site beautiful for the big day. But once the wedding is over there is little time for Hugh and Jude to relax. The pair know the project will have to move at a more rapid pace if they are to complete the house before the end of the year. Hugh and Jude make good progress – the roof lights are fitted, the house is plumbed and the electrics start to go in. But just as things are picking up, Hugh’s plans for agricultural-style tin roofs are rejected by the council in favour of a more traditional material. The couple are upset by the decision, but they continue work on the rest of the house and lodge an appeal. Can Hugh and Jude persuade the council to approve their beloved roofs – or will they be spending another wet Welsh winter in their caravan?