Green with envy
THIS WEEK: Stunning eco-homes, including this fabulously desirable pad with views to die for...
CHERRY TREES is an ecohouse in every sense. Not only does it have triple-glazed windows, solar panels, a biomass boiler and rainwater harvester, it also has views that take in all the nature on offer in a beautiful valley of green fields and mature trees in the Garden of England.
And it was this view that persuaded owners Rodger and Carol Braidwood to build Cherry Trees. For 25 years, they lived next door and, where Cherry Trees now stands, there was a 1920s bungalow. The Braidwoods became good friends with the owners, who promised that i f they ever moved on, they would give the Braidwoods first right of refusal to buy.
Fast-forward to 2008 and, when their friends were downsizing, they made good on that promise and sold their three-bedroom bungalow to the Braidwoods for £600,000. The idyllic five-acre plot stands on the edge of the village of Langton Green, near Tunbridge Wells.
The Braidwoods already had experience of self-build, having built their own home next door in the 1980s. While that home was ahead of its time with lots of modern features, including an open-plan design and swimming pool, they couldn’t wait to create something even more strikingly modern on the much bigger plot next door.
With the help of a friend who is a property developer, as well as an architect and their son, Nick, 43, who has a keen eye for design, Rodger, 71, and Carol, 68, set about creating a modern new home that made the most of the view. ‘The five of us put it together and the design evolved over a few months,’ explains Rodger, who is now retired from his job as finance director at a shipping and transport company.
He explains: ‘The eco features seemed to go with the concept of building an ultramodern house and have really been very cost-effective. It’s a big house so it’s jolly helpful in reducing fuel bills. It was a no-brainer really – if you’re building a house, why not use a rainwater harvester?
‘There was a lot of flat roof so solar panels made sense too. We’re also paid for the electricity the panels generate so we get an annual rebate of about £1,500 until 2033 through the Feed-in Tariff.
‘ The biomass boiler qualified for RHI [Renewable Heat Incentive], which means the entire cost of the system was reimbursed over seven years. And because it’s an ICF [ insulated concrete form] house and the windows are triple-glazed it stays cool in summer and warm in winter.’