An oak framed forever home to retire to in Herefordshire

Home is where the heart is.

And after living and working in London for many years, Alex and Bev began associating the feeling of ‘home’ with the desire to live closer to Bev’s family in Herefordshire.

“Although we’re fit and healthy now, our new home was going to be our forever home and had to be suitable to live in as we get older,” begins Bev.

“We were looking for a bungalow with level, easy access, in a good location near shops and facilities yet rural enough to be peaceful and have a large garden, but couldn’t find anything on the market we liked and met our needs.”

The concept of self-building hadn’t crossed Alex and Bev’s minds until a drive around Herefordshire led them to our multi-award-winning custom build site, Webbs Meadow.

“Our visit to Webbs Meadow was a game changer,” she recalls. “Simon and Karen (self-builders at Webbs Meadow) kindly showed us around the bespoke home they’d built – we fell in love with their oak frame and knew we had to have one!”

So, Alex and Bev toured the one remaining plot there, before visiting the home building opportunities a stone’s throw away at our Church View development which also had building plots for sale.

“The edge of city location surrounded by orchards: it was and is perfect.”

Stepping through an arch-braced oak framed porch, you’re welcomed into Alex and Bev’s sweeping hallway.

From the outset, Bev knew she wanted the three en-suite bedrooms they’d opted for to be separate from the rest of their home. So, when you enter through their front door, your eyes are drawn up and down the hallway, while the bedrooms appear hidden towards the left-hand side.

Walking right-handed along their White Hall Provence Stone flooring, you arrive in Alex and Bev’s open-plan, L-shaped Minerva Design kitchen/living/diner/sunroom, featuring expansive vaulted ceilings elevated further by their glorious frame, with natural hues mirrored within their White Hall oak flooring.

“The vaulted ceilings and judicious choice of lighting, combined with the warmth of the oak create an open yet cosy and calm environment to relax in,” says Bev.

“Our open-plan kitchen/living/diner works beautifully for us. We decided to include oak posts within the spaces which delineate the areas, and even though it’s open-plan, they achieve the feeling we wanted” – an architectural design feature inspired by Alex and Bev’s stay at The Woodhouse.

This area also cleverly transitions into their sunroom extension and then their garden through double doors. The addition of a handcrafted arch brace within their oak sunroom exemplifies their living space further while nurturing a homely atmosphere.

Alex and Bev chose to eliminate any potential draughts and air leakages by sealing their home with AeroBarrierUK: and it was one of the first houses in the country to use the AeroBarrier technology to achieve a below Passivhaus airtightness level. Furthermore, thanks to their bespoke WrightWall and Roof Natural home insulation, MVHR (Mechanical Ventilation with Heat Recovery) system, solar panels and air source heat pump, their property is incredibly airtight, highly energy efficient, cost-conscious and most importantly, epitomises their forever home aspirations.