WORDS REBECCA FOSTER PHOTOS OAKWRIGHTS
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Creating a home from scratch had never been on the radar for Richard and Pamela Pearse. After constructing a characterful oak frame garden room as an extension to their current house, however, it wasn’t long before the couple got the urge to tackle a bigger project. They soon realised that they might already own the perfect patch of land to take the scheme to the next stage. “Our garden was originally surrounded by leylandiis, and they were so overpowering”, says Pamela. “It wasn’t until we’d cleared all of them that we thought we might have the ideal building plot right on our doorstep.”
The couple’s plans were temporarily put on hold when Richard unfortunately suffered a heart attack while on holiday in Canada – but not for long. “He took a couple of months off to recover and was looking for things to do”, says Pamela. “He began fiddling around with plans, and everything followed on from there.”
Starting the journey
For Richard and Pamela, oak frame was the only option for their dream home. “There’s just something about the wood that we love”, says Pamela. “We decided that if we were going to build something, we wanted it to be special. Of course, it would have been cheaper to go down another route, but if we’d have done that we’d have literally constructed the property and sold it on.”
The first step was to find a company to design and engineer the oak frame house, and an online search led them to Oakwrights. “We went to visit them at a self build exhibition and at their show house in Hereford”, says Pamela. “We were really taken with their passion and knowledge – especially the enthusiasm of owner Tim Crump.”
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