An oak framed family home built on a neighbouring plot of land in Warwickshire
Vision, desire and an open-minded, positive perspective.
All attributes Jamie and Sonia Hockaday had in abundance when designing and self-building their oak framed family home in the wonderful county of Warwickshire…
Project Details
- Warwickshire
- Country contemporary
- Self-build
- 4
Finding a building plot
Finding a building plot
Jamie and Sonia lived next door to the site they later purchased in Warwickshire for seven years. Then in 2015 when the plot became available, they began pondering its possibilities.
In addition to land and outbuildings, the site comprised a 1950s bungalow that Jamie and Sonia initially considered improving and extending. However, after discussing the challenges this may present vs. the self-building opportunities with a builder, they purchased the plot with a vision to design and construct their dream family home.
The plot of land itself is located on the edge of a village, outside the boundary, so Jamie and Sonia had additional building constraints to consider in contrast to a site in a more central position. Due to this, they chose to submit two varying planning permission applications, and after working with their local planning authority and listening to their neighbours, permission was accepted!
Choosing to build with oak
Choosing to build with oak
To kick-start their home building journey, Jamie and Sonia visited Grand Designs Live where they first met with us.
“A clear memory of ours at the show was speaking to an Oakwrights Architect who we instantly knew we could work with – John Williams,” says Sonia. “We both felt he understood our vision and for us, that feeling was incredibly important.”
Jamie and Sonia’s ambition of building a country/classic/contemporary family home was brought to life with the exciting prospect of building with oak: from its natural charm to the versatility it would offer their architectural design. From that day onwards, oak had stolen their hearts, and their journey started to take shape with our teams.
“We had many opportunities during our design-build experience with Oakwrights to visit them in Hereford and virtually walk through a 3D CAD design of our home,” explains Sonia. “This meant we could make changes to our architectural design as Jamie and I gained a clearer picture of how our family would utilise each internal space.”
External key design features
External key design features
A spectacular oak framed face glazed gable takes centre stage at the front of Jamie and Sonia’s home (and rightfully so!). Subsequent roof pitches add contrasting heights and aesthetical intrigue, while the horizontal weatherboarding and Flemish bond brick pattern allude to the two storeys inside.
“We consciously opted for clay roof tiles because we’ve lived in properties with slate roofs which had cracked and were difficult to replace,” says Jamie.
To the left of Jamie and Sonia’s home is a timber garage that purposefully neighbours their side “working entrance” – ideal for the hustle and bustle of everyday family life and the positioning is perfect for the future.
Walking around to the rear of their home, you’re warmly welcomed into a tranquil, Warwickshire countryside oasis.
“We wanted to create a country garden that merged into the surroundings and appears as if it has been here for a long time,” explains Sonia. “And like our home, we envisaged it housing various, little spaces for our family and friends to relax in and enjoy.”
“We both felt our Oakwrights Architect understood our vision and for us, that feeling was incredibly important,”
“We both felt our Oakwrights Architect understood our vision and for us, that feeling was incredibly important,”
Sonia
Internal key design features
Internal key design features
Jamie and Sonia’s vaulted entrance hall is showered in natural light thanks to the soaring height of the gable and all its glorious face glazing. From here, your eyes can’t help but follow their chunky floating oak staircase upwards to marvel at the stunning chandelier suspended between both floors.
From the outset, Jamie and Sonia knew they wanted their architectural design to invite as much sunlight in as possible, and they: “Worked with John Williams to incorporate windows into all elevations, so if you’re standing within a room, you can see out and similarly if you’re sat down, you can still enjoy the views,” says Jamie.
The hub of their home is undoubtedly their open-plan kitchen/diner, framed by golden hues of oak, which effortlessly leads into additional, break-out family living areas. “We opted for sliding doors instead of bifolds leading out into our back garden from our kitchen/diner, as we feel it frames our space more elegantly while untouching the view,” adds Sonia. And to link both areas, they also chose to lay the same porcelain flooring.
To ensure their oak frame home would be as energy efficient as possible while curating a comfortable, cosy living environment, Jamie and Sonia opted to include high-performance technologies such as a Mechanical Ventilation with Heat Recovery (MVHR) system, air source heating, and underfloor heating, all enclosed by our WrightWall and WrightRoof panel system. You’ll also notice a wood burning stove has been nestled downstairs to add to the homely ambience.
Upstairs, an open and airy landing leads you into four vaulted oak framed bedrooms, with accompanying bathrooms that cleverly benefit from loft areas and supplementary storage space.
A perfect plot of land to nurture and support family life
A perfect plot of land to nurture and support family life
In addition to falling in love with the site, Jamie and Josie saw business potential in the ancillary outbuildings sitting alongside the bungalow.
“The outbuildings had been previously used for agricultural purposes, and we anticipated we could get Class Q planning permission to convert them into residential buildings,” says Jamie. “They now provide us with an additional income.”
The Hockaday family moved into their home in 2020 and have fond memories of their self-building journey.
“Thanks to the Oakwrights team, the whole experience has been fantastic,” concludes Jamie.
7 home building top tips:
7 home building top tips:
1. Have a vision and a strong desire to work within the laws and regulations alongside finding the best fit for the building you’d like to achieve.
2. Don’t underestimate time and how long each part of your self-build journey will take.
3. You need to be a strategic thinker, be open-minded and always remember your end goal.
4. To finance our build, we sold our home and moved into rented accommodation. For our family, this ensured we were close enough to the site but also provided us with space away.
5. Regularly visit your site and invest time in building a relationship with your builder and sub-contractors.
6. Plan everything as early as possible.
7. Know where to position your Christmas tree and determine the location of the light socket so your first tree can go up without a hitch!
