Grand Designs presenter Kevin McCloud, right, was among those taken aback by the work carried out on a home near Kinross owned by Iain Shillady and wife Jenny.

A150-year-old property near Kinross, restored by a couple from Edinburgh, has appeared on Channel 4’s Grand Designs, but viewers had mixed reactions to their plan.

Iain Shillady and his wife Jenny bought the building at Briglands for £225,000, and built an extension to a bothy in the property’s walled garden.

But the design was not universally popular, with the show’s presenter taken aback while some on social media branded it an “eyesore”.

Iain, 38, and Jenny, 37, linked a single-storey black timber-clad extension on to the existing grade twolisted bothy.

Presenter Kevin McCloud voiced his concern during the building phase, telling the couple they had “trashed” the garden.

Jenny admitted the structure was “bigger than she thought” after Kevin shared his concern.

“Obviously it’s impacting it. It’s bigger than I thought,” she said

The property sits on the site of a former Georgian farmhouse, and was designed by architect Sir Robert Lorimer in 1898.

Iain said he wanted to capture the “Tardis element” in his redesign of the bothy, which had never been lived in before.

“On this side of the wall, it’s going to be a new build bit, which is a single-storey, timber-clad box tucked away behind the wall which you won’t see as you approach the building from the other side,” he said on the Channel 4 show.

The work in the walled garden was complex and the process was complicated further by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Neighbours were also concerned about how the new property would blend in with the surroundings.

One of the couple’s new neighbours, Fred, told the Grand Designs team: “I was hoping they would keep most of the planting and shape of the garden.

“My wife, who is an expert, is a bit disappointed with the state of it at the moment.

“I hope they will get to grips with it and put it back to somewhat what it was before.”

Iain said: “We’re taking a really mature garden and

We have to make it a lot worse before we start to put it back together

making it a building site. We have to make it a lot worse before we start to put it back together.”

After multiple setbacks in 2020, the couple then discovered the roof on the existing bothy was rotten, complicating their plans further.

It took 18 months for the design to be completed, with the couple going £50,000 over their £350,000 budget.

Not everyone watching the show was a fan.

One person on Twitter said: “Can’t disagree with Kevin at all so far.

“Look at this, lovely engineered beautiful building... next to a lump.

“Still didn’t ask how the planners agreed to it.”

A second person said: “Not a fan of tonight’s build.

“The black cladding is quite the eyesore.

“It’s nice but it’s lost its heritage and original features, especially the garden.”

STRAIGHT-TALKING: Host Kevin McCloud told owners Jenny and Iain Shillady that they had “trashed” the garden.