Rescue remedy

After a series of frustrating setbacks with planning permission, Gary and Sue Hilton came up with the ideal formula for building their new home

- Jane Crittenden

HOMEOWNERS Gary and Sue Hilton

PROJECT Oak frame self-build

LOCATION Ormskirk, Lancashire

SIZE 245m²

BUILD ROUTE Project management and subcontractors

BUILD TIME 19 months

PLOT COST £250,000

BUILD COST £290,000

VALUE Circa £1.2m

Gary and Sue Hilton have always renovated houses, moving from one project to the next since they got married in the 1980s. Back in 2013, in the run-up to Gary retiring from the police force, a piece of land caught their eye — but they didn’t expect it to take eight years for the project to come to fruition.

“We instantly liked the unusual quarter-acre plot in Lancashire at the foot of a long drive leading to a factory,” says Gary. “Two derelict houses had been built there for workers in the 1960s, but you couldn’t see the industrial buildings, only lovely south-facing views across farmland.”

The couple put in an offer and were disappointed when they weren’t successful so they looked elsewhere. They were 18 months into building another house, 10 miles away, when the seller asked if they were still interested in the plot.

“I was just a month away from retiring by then, so I was lucky to be in a position to buy the land,” says Gary. “Sue and I worked out that we could finish the first house and live in it while we built the second one, then sell it to fund the rest of the build.”

NAVIGATING THE PLANNING SYSTEM