Build a New Life in the Country

Rebecca and Jim Constantine moved from Wimbledon, south London, to the Buckinghamshire village of Sherington to stay with Rebecca's mother following the death of her father in 2003. A temporary arrangement lasted longer than expected, so, as they continued to have children, they decided to stay for good and buy somewhere of their own. They bought a 1960s bungalow on a plot of land backing onto Rebecca's mum's house for £420,000. With a mortgage of £350,000, they demolished the bungalow to build their dream Georgian-style house, made from mostly reclaimed materials and built to their own specifications. Rebecca has spent a lot of time sourcing materials and features from across Europe: from windows reclaimed from a Georgian house in London, to doors from France and tiles from Geneva. The whole house has been designed to fit around a reclaimed Georgian stone staircase. The renovation bug is something Rebecca has inherited from her late father, a builder by trade, and wants to produce something that would make him proud. She shops online for antiques and bargains every night after putting the kids to bed and, as a result, deliveries are turning up on site every week. Also, she regularly presents new challenges to her builders - fixing some French windows into the barn roof, or building the front of the house from reclaimed stone. When she finds a feature banister on the internet which will go with her staircase, she drags Jim off to Paris to have a look at it before buying it. Whilst there, she makes the most of the trip by visiting her contacts at reclaimed yards and comes home with a few additional purchases too. Whilst Jim continues to work full-time, commuting to London every day, Rebecca is on site with four children and dealing with the builders. Once the main building work has been done, the plan is for Jim to work in the evenings and on days off, laying Rebecca's French parquet flooring throughout the house and finishing the bathrooms and kitchen. But although they have some experience in building extensions in the past, the Constantines have never managed a build of this scale and each job takes longer than expected. Will they make their end-of-summer deadline, or will they end up spending another winter in a caravan? It all sounds idyllic, but the family come up against various hurdles when the real renovation work begins; their plans for solar panels are rejected due to their appearance (despite the fact they are at the back of the house and can only be seen from one street in Canterbury) and, when work starts on stripping out the kitchen, Al has to invite archaeologists in to conduct some research before the new floor goes down. Also, quality and authenticity of materials is of great importance if they are to do this house justice. Al renovates and repairs over 50 windows in the house himself, and commissions a number of hand-crafted oak staircases from a local joiners to match the original staircase in the house. So, before the Kennedy family can move in, they must climb a steep learning curve - and work their fingers close to the bone. Charlie Luxton charts their highs and lows as they endeavour to create a comfortable family home in a derelict and ancient shell...