All our own work
Their search for the perfect home led this family to build a new property that’s packed with ‘period’ features
One family’s new-build house packed with character
Building a house to your very own design is, for many people, a distant dream, but with a bit of ambition and lots of hard work, Rosalind and Jonathan Lang have made that dream come true. The couple were living in a 150-year-old cottage in the charming, ancient town of Wotton-under-Edge at the time. Nestling in the southern Cotswold Hills, this country town is close to Gloucester, Bristol and Bath and the couple feel it’s the ideal place to bring up their children. ‘We knew we wanted to stay here,’ says Rosalind, ‘but we needed more space, and nice properties are hard to come by.’ In 2014, a plot in the centre of town came on to the market and Jonathan, a builder, thought it had potential. ‘Initially, we saw it only as an opportunity for our construction business,’ recalls Rosalind, ‘but once we started to pull the plans together we realised that we could build ourselves exactly what we wanted – a forever home tailor-made for family life.’
Jonathan asked his father Neil, also a builder, to work with him, while Rosalind got to grips with the paperwork and the planning issues. ‘It was a massive task and none of us could have done it on our own,’ explains Rosalind.
‘The whole project went smoothly because we all supported each other and brought different skills to the table.’ The site included three
Grade II-listed buildings in need of renovation, plus space for two new semi-detached properties. One of these would become the Langs’ new home.
To the couple’s relief, the planning phase went remarkably well. ‘The council kept a close eye on us,’ says Rosalind. ‘They wanted the new houses to echo the style of the older properties nearby, so they specified traditional features such as brick arches over the windows. That wasn’t a problem for us as we wanted the new builds to have plenty of character.’
Rosalind and Jonathan used their previous cottage as inspiration, and recreated some of its traditional features in their new home, using reclaimed brick to form arches over the windows and choosing pebble-grey frames.
Work began on their house in 2015, and the couple lived in one of the newly renovated properties on-site with Lucia and Thomas until it was completed 18 months later. ‘It was pretty full-on,’ admits Rosalind. ‘The children were really small at the time and I was expecting Isaac, so it was a constant juggling act. But I was able to spend lots of time with Lucia and Thomas while I worked. We moved into our own house a week before Isaac was born, so the timings were pretty tight.’
Despite the family pressures, the most enjoyable phase for Rosalind was designing their new home’s interior. ‘I’ve always been really interested in architecture and design, so was keen to have some input,’ she reveals. ‘But I surprised myself by getting so heavily involved.’
One particularly demanding aspect was the kitchen because it needed to include a cooking space, a dining table and a seating area. ‘It’s not a huge room, so it was a challenge to fit
everything in,’ she says. She specified folding doors that run the length of the room, an island unit that would house the sink, and designed a floor-to-ceiling corner pantry with curved doors so that there would be plenty of storage space available.
With its sophisticated cabinets, brand new appliances and stylish copper sink, the kitchen looks smart and high end, but Rosalind managed to keep costs down by scouring the internet for the best deals. ‘We saved hundreds of pounds by buying appliances that were marked as seconds. The faults often aren’t serious – it might be that the packaging is damaged or there’s a superficial imperfection – and the products still come with a guarantee. For instance, our dishwasher has a dent at the back that’s completely out of sight, but it cost us far less than an undamaged model,’ says Rosalind. ‘Also, our copper kitchen sink came from America but, even with shipping costs, it turned out to be much cheaper than anything we would have been able to afford in the UK.’
As the project progressed, Rosalind also became more confident with using colour, painting the rooms in bold shades, from a deep aubergine in the main bedroom to a moody graphite in the living room.
‘These colours create a fairly dark backdrop,’ she admits, ‘but I added bright fabrics and artworks, so the overall effect is really zingy and vibrant.’
Being able to build exactly the house they wanted and the lifestyle it’s created for this family of five has been an enormous success. ‘I’ve actually never enjoyed anything as much,’ says Rosalind.