It takes a vision to look at an acre of overgrown West Sussex farmland and see the home of one’s dreams. But Polly Meynell knew as soon as she set foot on what was then a derelict smallholding near the village of Barnham that it was the perfect location to build the house she and husband Joe Harmston had been planning since they first met. Although the plot itself was a jumble of orchards and old greenhouses obscured by towering brambles, Barnham offered a good primary school for the couple’s children, Beatrice, then two years old, and Elyot, four, as well as transport links to London, where they both worked. Most importantly, they could afford it. They were ecstatic when, in 2006, their offer was accepted. Yet it would be a decade before they were finally able to move into their new home.
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