Built as the village schoolhouse- complete with single classroom and teacher's flat- the Victorian brick building was used a bus garage for the coach to Kings Cross until the 60ies, when the route was closed and schoolroom/ mechanic's workshop became a double garage.

The clients wanted to create a comfortable, sustainable life in the country: a big production garden and greenhouse, their own pigs, a large kitchen for entertaining and a smaller one to make preserves and sausages, a large larder, space for family and friends and gatherings around the pizza oven on the terrace overlooking the fields.

The house has high insulation levels, sustainable materials and re-use as much as possible, biological waster water treatment and a remote-controlled ground source heat pump. It combines modern comfort with the quirky, cosy spaces of the old cottage.