In tonight’s episode, Kevin McCloud returns to where it all began, revisiting the show’s very first featured home from 1999.
He reunites with Tim, a former hang gliding and paragliding instructor, and Jules who ran the office for the hang gliding school, who wanted to create a timber clad seaside home with panoramic views on the cliffs above Newhaven.
Their project was fraught with problems, similar to the Grand Designs lighthouse home, and they tried to get the project done before their fifth child was born and amazingly managed to complete the home in just six months.
Now, 25 years later, Kevin revisits the home to see how it looks today.
Took just three days to assemble
The couple managed build the shell of the timber frame house in just three days.
The couple used a local architect who recommended a prefabricated home that arrived on the back of one lorry and Kevin said: “It’s the ultimate in flat pack assembly”.
When revisiting the home Kevin said: “The difficulty with this house was that it was put up so quickly and that it was made of timber you wonder whether on top of this cliff with these strong salty southwesterly winds whether the building’s been able to survive properly over that quarter century and whether it’s still in one piece.”
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Bedroom with panoramic views and New Zealand decking
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Set against the stunning backdrop of the cliffs, with sweeping views that remain as captivating as ever, the episode promises to reveal the beauty and resilience of a home designed to stand out.
Kevin said: “Getting planning permission for a prime coastal site is pretty well impossible but Tim and Jules managed to find a derelict house with panoramic sea views”.
The couple had their heart set on New Zealand decking surrounding the house, which was worth it as Tim said: “The girls would often drag their beds onto the balcony and sleep under the stars.”
The four daughters have now moved out but an attic bedroom was added and the bedrooms were turned into guest rooms.
Kitchen-dining area that ‘hasn’t changed’ in 25 years
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When Kevin saw the kitchen-dining area he was stunned by how little it had changed in 25 years. He said: “They haven’t changed a thing.”
The open plan kitchen area was called the “heart of the home” with two fireplaces but Kevin did note it was “softened” by the presence of family photos and etches of memories made by the family.
He praised them by saying: “We seem addicted to remodelling our homes. Here is a couple who are content with what they have.”
‘Snooze room’ added to their ‘forest of a garden’
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As Kevin trawled around the house he was “amazed” that “a forest has flourished around it”.
Oak, Scotts Pine, Silver Birch and numerous other trees planted 25 years ago had sprung up, which Kevin called a “forest maze”.
And the baby seen 25 years ago, Tiger, now 26, still lives at the home and took after his father as a paragliding instructor. He said, “The garden was instrumental in my childhood and shaping how I see the world and environment”, and he even wrote a book on the environment.
Something new was added though in the garden, a garden room that Jules called “a snooze room”, which helped the house take advantage of the south facing house. They used it to grow grapes and propagate a variety of other plants.
Couple say they have ‘no regrets’
The house that Kevin says laid the “groundwork” for numerous other homes over many years that followed in this home’s footsteps.
When asked if she had any regrets or anything she would have done differently, Jules simply said “none”. She said the house meant “life” to her and her family and that she wouldn’t change a thing.
Grand Designs Season 25 episode 6 airs tonight at 10:00 PM on Channel 4.
