Rural gem

After two grueling years of planning, Patsy Parr took just 22 weeks to complete her first self-build — a modern take on a traditional oak framed home, complete with a boutique hotel vibe

- Alison Wall

HOMEOWNER Patsy Parr

LOCATION Kinver

PROJECT ROUTE Project managed by owner

BUILD TIME 22 weeks

BUILD SIZE 130m2

BUILD COST £191,000

VALUE Unknown

WORDS Alison Wall

PHOTOGRAPHY Jeremy Philips

Tucked away in the village of Kinver in Staffordshire is an award-winning timber-clad house that any self-builder would be proud to call home.

What you can’t tell from the contemporary exterior is the determination, passion and drive that led local 28-year-old Patsy Parr to take on this project and see it through many months of planning before being built during a pandemic lockdown, in less than six months, and for just £191,000.

Patsy, then renting in the village with little chance of getting on the property ladder, first spotted the plot on an early morning run. “We called up the estate agents who told us that we had no chance as they had been inundated and it was sold subject to contract,” she says. “I decided we wouldn’t give up, so we went on the waitlist and shot over to their office when we heard the sale had fallen through.” Her tenacity paid off and Patsy went on to buy the sloping parcel of land with its 50-plus trees. Luckily, the plot (nearly two acres in total) had an old timber and block workshop and cabin on it, with water and electricity, from the time it housed tourist tea rooms.

PLANNING RESTRICTIONS

Helped by family members, Patsy then spent two grueling years getting her proposals through planning, dealing with restrictions on everything from height to footprint size and choice of building materials. She even reworked the designs to change the position of the house from the top of the site to the bottom.