I turned £1.1m farmhouse into Grand Designs-style home – but it took YEAR to install IKEA kitchen, says Kevin McCloud
GRAND Designs presenter Kevin McCloud has turned an unloved £1.1 million farmhouse into his own dream home.
The 65-year-old bought the rural hideaway in Herefordshire in June 2021.
The property was marketed through Grant & Co, the local country house estate agent.
It came with planning permission to convert a cow shed into another home.
Planning documents refer to McCloud hoping to restore the 400-year-old Grade II listed property’s “lost dignity and historic character”.
The dad-of-four snapped up the home – which dates back to 1600 – after separating from his wife of 23 years and marrying businesswoman Jenny Jones.
‘DISRESPECTFUL’ CHANGES
A previous owner was prosecuted for undertaking “disrespectful” changes without planning permission.
Planners said the works had led to “irreparable loss of historic fabric which has compromised its character as a building of special historic and architectural interest”, reports the MailOnline.
The farmhouse – measuring 4,858 square feet – was advertised through Country Life magazine.
It was described as a “secluded, spacious farmhouse situated in a superb rural location” with “land available separately”, and a “charming and generously proportioned” layout.
And despite McCloud following the headaches of countless families in creating their perfect homes through his Channel 4 programme over 25 years, he insists he won’t be allowing TV crews into his home.
He said: “It’s like walking around with your trousers down.”
But he has admitted the restoration was inspired by one seen in a previous episode of Grand Designs.
GREATEST GRAND DESIGNS DISASTERS
GRAND Designs has been the catalyst for divorce, two heart attacks, serious injuries and vandal attacks in its nearly 25-year run.
Multiple marriages were broken by ambitious building projects that took up years of free time and millions of pounds.
Here are the Channel 4 show’s biggest disasters.
SADDEST EPISODE EVER
It took Edward Short, 53, a decade to build his lighthouse-inspired home in Croyde, Devon.
It cost him £6million and his marriage to ex-wife Hazel.
Featuring on the show in October 2019, the episode was described as the “saddest ever” after recession, building issues and the divorce sent Edward scrambling.
VANDALISED HOUSEBOAT
Chris Miller and his wife Sze Liu Lai’s 2007 episode followed their renovation of a two-storey houseboat using only recycled materials.
The couple dreamed of escaping their small London flat.
But the project cost £80,000 before it failed and the 100ft barge was left unfinished in the Thames estuary near Southend, Essex.
It became a target for vandals before the abandoned vessel washed up on an Essex beach in 2011.
It is now thought to have been overtaken by squatters and party-throwing teenagers.
FLAMING DISASTER
A design nicknamed “Britain’s Cheapest Home” went up in flames in Pembrokeshire on New Year’s Day in 2018.
An electrical fire reduced the £27,000-build to ashes as fire crews battled for six hours.
A JustGiving page set up to help owners Simon and Jasmine Dale rebuild the home raised £35,000.
NEIGHBOUR ROW
Architect and owner Robert Gaukroger ploughed £1million and two years of his life into his seven-bedroom “Dome House” above Bowness-in-Windermere.
But he and his wife Milla reportedly fell into a vicious £55,000 battle with a neighbour after the couple was accused of encroaching on their land.
The house was slammed for looking worn, as the gardens were allowed to grow wild and the wooden exterior left unvarnished.
He moved back south and tried to sell the luxury home for £2.3million in 2015.
Months later the price was dropped to £1.45million.
A once-anonymous donor to the project, Yvonne Malley, eventually bought it and it’s now run as a successful holiday let.
It’s currently on the market for a huge £3.5million.
CONVERSION GONE WRONG
Dean Marks suffered two heart attacks and lost his wife Hilary over an 18th century church conversion gone-wrong.
Dean, who then shared the home with his daughter Abbie, said the heart attacks were brought on by exhaustion and pressure from the project.
He was also diagnosed with testicular cancer.
Dean, who paid £12,750 for the dilapidated building, previously claimed he wouldn’t have done anything differently.
He said: “If people chose to move away from what I was doing that was their choice. I don’t know if I’m obsessed.”
He said he was “absolutely blown away” by the transformation of the ruins of Astley Castle in Warwickshire after it was destroyed in a fire in the 1970s.
In particular, he liked a contemporary “hanging” oak staircase, which he has replicated to help cover up previous botched work.
Planning documents show McCloud began submitting plans within weeks of buying the property.
Proposals included for one of the first floor’s double bedrooms was to create a huge bathroom with “his and hers” sinks.
McCloud has also admitted spending a year installing a new IKEA kitchen, initially himself before bringing in “proper craftspeople”.
He said living without a kitchen so long gave him a newfound admiration for the emotions faced by those on his TV show.
He explained: “It’s hard to express and to understand, there was a very deep sense of threat.
“It came from the fact that we didn’t have a kitchen, we didn’t have a heart to the home.”
McCloud previously shared a 500-year-old farmhouse with second wife Suzanna near Bruton in Somerset before selling it in 2010 for £1.85 million.
