Grand Designs

Ten years in the making, this is the longest running Grand Designs ever. In 2007 Ed and Rowena Waghorn started to build a handcrafted five bedroom house on their eight acre smallholding in Herefordshire – on just a £100k budget. Made from individually carved wooden beams and walls of straw and clay, the heart of the house was to be a huge medieval style hall complete with massive stone fireplace and a glorious cathedral like window with panoramic views across the valley. Using his carpentry skills Ed decided to do most of the work himself. A noble ambition, but it meant that progress was glacially slow. Four years in, the house was still a shell, with no internal walls. However Kevin McCloud was so intrigued by what might eventually emerge from Ed’s idiosyncratic and highly creative mind, that in 2012 he decided to follow the build for another 5 years. In the end it’s just possible this house might turn out to be Ed’s masterpiece.