Simon and Louise Sturdy

Wiltshire   2007   07-188

Winners of the 2011 Potton "Dream Home" Awards

Louise and Simon Sturdy’s property was voted winner because of the fastidious attention to detail the couple took in creating the Rectory look. Having been in the fortunate position of inheriting a plot of land, the next challenge was to choose the design.

“The Sturdy’s home illustrates how to recreate all the charm of a traditional style home yet with all the conveniences of modern day living,” says Potton. Their home had already been voted Best Rectory design and shortlisted along with four other properties nominated ‘Best Design’ in their individual categories. The judges were looking to credit good project management as well as good design.

Potton considered everything from how existing designs were modified to suit the plot, through to how these inspirational families took on and overcame challenges throughout the entire process. This covered all aspects of the self build journey including finding land, getting the look, gaining planning permission, inclusion of green technologies and how well the project was managed through to completion. The Sturdy’s project ticked all the boxes. Their property is a stunning example of what can be achieved when you build your own home.

When Louise and Simon Sturdy exchanged London living for a place in the country they were lucky enough to inherit a house on a fabulous piece of land, nestled at the edge of a valley in East Knoyle near Salisbury. Their only difficulty was that the house was incredibly ugly and not in-keeping with it’s surroundings, which was noted as an area of outstanding natural beauty. “We looked at modifying the existing house but the builders told us that we would spend as much fiddling around with the design of the old house as we would if we knocked it down and started again. “The beauty of starting again, is of course, that we have created a home to suit our needs entirely but I wanted to create a new home that had all the charm of a traditional Queen Anne style property.” Louise Sturdy went to painstaking lengths to make sure that their new home included all the architectural detailing of Rectory style homes; she went to Potton who created a totally bespoke design based on their range of Rectory house designs, she used York Handmade Bricks and specialist stone masons to create detailing on the external brickwork and asked Potton to create a sweeping staircase and windows that were styled to echo the architectural hall marks of the Queen Anne era.

The ingredients needed to make this home theirs included large bedrooms for the children, a master bedroom for Louise and Simon that featured a walk-in wardrobe and en-suite bathroom, an attic space with two bedrooms and a bathroom to accommodate family and friends when they came to stay, and a ground source heat pump to future proof their home against rising fuel costs. They also moved the utility area upstairs because Louise felt there was no sense in lugging laundry upstairs and down. (A clever idea and why isn’t that included in every house?)

“It is amazing how the money from our London flat has translated into this dream home but we couldn’t have done it without self building,” explains Louise. The Sturdy’s started building in March 2008 and moved in in December 2008. They spent £380,000 on the build and their new home has been valued in excess of £850,000. “The sense of achievement and relief we had when we moved in were equal. It was a relatively smooth process but by the end of it we were exhausted and since then, haven’t even hung a picture!” Asked how it felt about winning the award, they said: “We are absolutely delighted to be put up for this prestigious award and to be recognised for turning our dream home into a reality.”