06/11/14 Michele Blundell. How one coupleÕs labour of love has transformed a drab patch of grass into a convincing Elizabethan style country cottag


06/11/14 Michele Blundell. How one coupleÕs labour of love has transformed a drab patch of grass into a convincing Elizabethan style country cottage with a garden youÕd normally only expect to see surrounding an historic manor house. ***Full copy here: *** In 1998 Ray and Michele Blundell bought a third of an acre of land and set about planning to build their own dream home. The plot was a distinctly unremarkable lawn with three plum trees. It became available when their current neighbour sold-off some of their garden in Barton under Needwood, near Burton upon Trent, Staffordshire. Ray and Michele bought a caravan and endured three winters living next to their new home which slowly began to take shape. ÒWe wanted to build a green oak framed cottageÓ said Ray. ÒWeÕd never done anything like this before. We wanted to do as much of the work ourselves as we could. We ordered the timber frame from a company in Hereford and three builders helped to put up the twenty-ton oak skeletal frame. They also helped us with a few other jobs including the insulation. All Rights Reserved: F Stop Press Ltd. +44(0)1335 300098


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Photo credit: © Rod Kirkpatrick / Alamy / Afripics
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Keywords: acer, acers, autumn, barton, blundell, colour, elizabethan, frame, fsp, garden, house, maple, maples, needwood, press, ray, staffordshire, stop, timber, trees