One of the things that’s often overlooked in the excitement of building is the behind-the-scenes legal work that goes on to ensure that the new owners have exactly what they want. It’s one of those things that you only really notice when it hasn’t been done properly and the wheels fall off in spectacular fashion.
We’ve worked with Kayleigh Ireland from Whitehead Monckton for the last few years, and it’s been a joy. Always professional and with a comprehensive grasp of the details of each transaction, she has made sure all our paperwork is exactly as it ought to be. And – importantly in this industry – she’s always contactable. Thanks Kayleigh!

I’m in favour of snow in general. I like to look at it. I like to build snowmen. I like to throw snowballs. But it does make for challenging building conditions! We’ve closed the site for a few days while we wait for them to clear the roads – but we’ll be back as soon as the snowplough comes through!

We’ve always waited until our houses are finished before selling them. We’re proud of what we build, and feel that prospective buyers visiting a muddy building site armed only with some plans and artist’s sketches won’t get the best impression of a Raspberry Home. On this occasion, however, we’ve experimented a little, and I’m really happy to share the results! We’ve got a full virtual walk-round of the houses, complete with wood fires and the scenery stretching down to the riverbank below. Our CGI whizzes have done an amazing job, and our local estate agents – Red Hot Property are fielding enquiries as fast as they can!

We’ve chosen a team of contractors to take our gorgeous barn forward. Lambert Gill are a well-respected firm based out of Carlisle, with a wealth of local knowledge and an impressive portfolio of completed projects. More importantly for us, they bring a family-run feel to a fully-professional approach. This will be our first project where we haven’t had day-to-day hands-on control, but rather than feeling nervous we’re just excited to be working with such an impressive team.

I’ve always loved the mountains and moors of Northern England. Which is just as well, because I’ll be spending quite a bit of time up there with our new project! It’s a fabulous old stone-built barn near the highest market town in England – Alston (good pub-quiz knowledge!), and it’s part-way through conversion into three wonderful homes. With views across the valley over the river Nent, it’s a truly special place.

We’ve been scouring the auctions for a new project, and have our eye on something pretty different & exciting! Watch this space …

We’re proud of the two Smarden properties. We’ve named them The Swifts, after the birds that soared over us all summer and brought joy during what was a pretty difficult time for everyone.
With the airtight & well-insulated SIPs construction, air-source heat pumps (installed by specialist contractors AirTemp) is the perfect fit. It’s the first time we’ve used these, and I’m looking forward to seeing how well they work.
The rental agents are lining up viewings for next weekend – we’re ready to welcome new tenants by Christmas!

It’s been a challenging time to build, with material shortages, price volatility and the constant juggling of manpower and deliveries to keep everyone safe this year, but we’re almost done! We’ve ordered the fruit trees (apples, since you asked, to complement the artisan cider producer at the end of the lane), and the bare-root hedging will be lifted for us in November. We always use Hope’s Grove Nurseries for our hedging – they do an amazing native species mix, with dog rose, blackthorn, field maple and hazel providing food and habitat for a huge range of wildlife.

Our ecological survey didn’t identify any requirement for us to install bird boxes on this one, but we enjoyed watching the swifts soaring above us so much when they arrived on site in May we’re tucking some in behind the weatherboarding. We’ve put in some bat boxes for good measure – with the ponds at the bottom of our meadow this is perfect habitat for them,

We’ve used SIPs panels before, and I really like them. They’re marginally more expensive than a traditional build, but allow you to get watertight faster, with fewer dependencies – particularly with the weather! The excellent team from SIPS@Clays are on site, and the buildings are flying up. Crane is due tomorrow to get the larger roof panels in place, and then we’ll wrap the buildings and be dry.