I


f building a brand-new house in a village conservation area wasn’t challenging enough, the new family home of Craig and Jane Devonshire also had to be multi-generational. his isn’t the first selfbuild we’ve done says Craig, who previously owned and ran a building firm which built the new house with the help of a team of sub-contractors. “Our last house was of timber-frame, timber-clad construction. e lived in that for four or five years before we sold up. Jane’s mum was ill, so we moved in with them – next door to where we are now, living there until the new house was completed. Craig, 52, now a technical sales specialist for an insulation company, and Jane, 55, a commercial interior designer by training, live with their two children aged 17 and 22, and Jane’s 82-year-old father, a retired pharmacist who has dementia, in the village of Teversal, near SuttoninAshfield ottinghamshire. et door’ is eversal anor a thcentury Grade II listed mansion said to be the inspiration for Wragby Hall in D.H. Lawrence’s 1928 novel Lady Chatterley’s Lover. Famous literary visitors included Bloomsbury Set writer Virginia Woolf. Some of the manor’s most notable residents were the arls of arnarvon including the fifth arl who financed the illfated ecavation of Tutankhamun’s tomb in Egypt in 1922. Jane’s mother Janet died in 2017, about a year after her daughter, son-in-law and grandchildren moved in, and then John, Jane’s father, was diagnosed with dementia. Although huge, with up to 14 bedrooms, the manor house – restored and renovated extensively by John and Janet and now being divided up and sold – has several staircases and key rooms on different levels. Therefore,


28 www.sbhonline.co.uk


it was no longer suitable for John’s needs, so the decision was made to build a new multi- generational family home.


‘Last House,’ as they named it, also needed


to provide living space for Jane’s brother, who lives in Thailand but regularly visits England with his family. “John wanted to build it big enough so all of his family could come and stay says architect aul esta of  in Sheffield. So the Oakworth timber frame and brick-skinned detached 360 m2


house was built with John


at the fulcrum, and various family members contributing to the cost. he result is a fleible space with fivesi


bedrooms and a substantial multi-purpose basement. Timber frame was chosen as the build method to speed up construction and provide superlative airtightness and thermal performance.


At the heart of the house is an open-plan livingdiningkitchen area. ohn has his own groundfloor bedroom ensuite and separate lounge, with easy access to the central family livingdiningkitchen space. is rooms are fleible to enable them to be used as a main suite, potentially for Craig and Jane, in the future. There is a further bedroom on the ground floor with an ensuite plus a separate shower room and a snug. n the first floor three bedrooms share a bathroom and a large walk-in shower room. All these rooms are connected by a generously-proportioned mezzanine landing. “In multi-generational living, the key thing is spaces to converge and spaces to retreat to says aul. ven in larger spaces for more communal living, the opportunity to sit apart but in the same space feels important.


HIGH POINT


“The relationship with the local conservation officer and the planning department at Ashfield District Council. I stand by getting the planners on board at the beginning of the project. Building this relationship right at the start ensured that the planning journey went smoothly, saving us money in the long run as we made very few amendments to the original design.


LOW POINT


“I had some sleepless nights, especially build- ing up to the installation of the huge £20,000 triple-glazed sliding doors which had very narrow tolerance.


nov/dec 2024


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