Grand Designs (1999–…): Season 3, Episode 12 - The English Barn: Revisited - full transcript

It's actually been five years since I
last saw Dennis and Marjorie, and I'm

very interested to see
whether their house

has mellowed and
what it's like to live in.

Hello?

Anybody there?

Hello.

Hello, Dennis.

Can you get me in?

Kevin, come on in.

Hello, there.

Hello, Dennis.



How are you?

How long did it take you to see him again?

Long time no see.

How are you?

Hello, Marjorie.

How are you?

I'm fine.

So nothing's changed.

I mean, I look around the furniture here.

That table is exactly the same.

I'm sitting at the table
with the plastic tulip chairs.

The pictures are all in exactly the
same places when I was here last.

So the building works for you?

Oh, yes.



Wonderful.

Yes.

Really?

Yeah.

I'm very pleased with what Rod gave you.

Love it.

Yeah.

We haven't altered anything, really.

Hardly at all.

We did change that
picture over for the one

that's upstairs, which
is the same size.

So you made one big change?

Yes.

You moved one picture.

And then you changed.

And where do you spend
most of your time in this place?

I spend most of my time there.

Well, I do a lot, but then I've got my
study as well, and so I spend quite a

bit of time there.

Well, we can yell at
each other, you see,

because if Dennis
is in the study, he can

yell through his hatch
and see me sitting

over there, and I
shout back at him.

But you've also got your
library upstairs, haven't you?

Yes, I do.

Don't you use that?

And I use that... Well, there's a
lot of reference books up there.

Right.

And so I will go and hike them all
down and then take them all back again.

So you always gravitate
back to the conservation.

Yes, I always come back to him.

So what's it like then in summer?

Does it not get really
hot in this conservatory?

No, you open all the doors and all
the windows and let what wind there is

blow through, and

it's all right.

And that keeps you cool?

Yes.

Yes.

And what about in winter?

Because again, you've got all the glass,
so how do you keep the place warm?

Well, we have this wonderful heat
pump that we were worried about at the

time, and it's
dripping beautifully.

Is it?

Keeping the other floor heating at
about 26 centigrade, and then we boost it

overnight.

But you get 26 degrees C off the heat pump.

That's remarkable,
because it's just a

little pump pumping
the water out, isn't it?

It's all cheers.

Inside, the building continues
to work really quite well.

I love the bridge.

It breaks up that big living space.

It's a very ingenious way
of getting to the guest wing.

And it's fun.

The magnificent oak is aged beautifully,
and the cracks that are beginning

to appear only
add to its character.

But that's the only real change I've
noticed on the inside of this building.

However, it's clear that Dennis and
Marjorie have been spending a lot of

time and energy outside.

And outside the pergola looks fantastic.

Thrilled with it.

Vines for shade.

Marjorie did it all.

Yeah?

It's all your own work.

And pretty roses.

Terribly pretty roses.

What about this gun
emplacement at the end here?

What's happened to that?

The wall to which you took such
an objection is underneath here.

Now, of course, it's all disappeared.

It's actually very pretty now.

All this planting is absolutely delightful.

Well, I have to say, Marjorie,
this is a very prolific garden.

It's full, bursting with stuff, isn't it?

Yes, it's lovely.

I'm quite delighted with it.

You deliberately kind of contain
the former guns or the planted garden.

On that side.

And have the terrace.

Close up to the house.

Yes.

By the terrace.

And then, Dennis, all
this is just mown orchard.

That's a grass sculpture in
front there with two spirals.

Oh, this one here, yeah?

Going into the sundial.

In the middle.

Yeah.

And that bit on the other
hand, you just let it grow.

Well, that's all wildflower.

That's wildflower made over there.

Well, we've mowed
paths through it so that

you can sort of walk
all the way around.

One big difference
from when I was here last

is that there was a
pig farm just there.

That field was full of pigs.

Well, unfortunately, they weren't
profitable, so the farmer got rid of them.

But we like the pigs.

Anyway, now you're approaching my lake.

Oh, yeah.

It's a very small lake, Dennis.

That's not a small lake.

It's a water wheel.

Is this your own invention, Dennis?

Yes.

It's all solar powered.

It's solar powered off these pedals.

Yes.

It's just lined properly now
and it's holding the water.

So what happened to
the island in the middle?

Well, that was the trouble.

I'm trying to try and line it if
you've got a hump in the middle.

It would have been all right
with Clay, but the Clay didn't work.

I want to put an artificial idea
in, but Marge is not very keen.

A floating one?

Yes.

I mean, now that
you've done it, I mean,

looking back, the
house looks very hidden

and very softened by all of that planting.

What was the wall has disappeared.

Completely gone.

The house looks particularly
good now from here.

Yeah.

I have to say, I'm almost
prepared to eat my words.

Well, that's very gracious of you, Kevin.

In terms of realising all your
initial ambitions, you've got there?

Oh, yes.

Yes, I think we have.

You've achieved what you set out
to achieve five years ago, certainly.

But now we're in the second five-year plan.

We've done the first five years.

And most of that is just
to sit back and enjoy it.

Dennis and Marjorie have put everything
into their lake, wildflower Meadow

and opulent garden,
which are a real success.

And with Dennis's own inventions
and sculptures everywhere,

this place certainly doesn't
lack the personal touch.

Tell me, how soon after
moving in did it feel like home?

Very quickly, actually.

We arrived and we were
absolutely exhausted

and decided we'd have
a Chinese takeaway.

We had it and flopped
into bed after that

and, you know, it
really did feel like home.

The first night?

Yeah, first day.

So is the one bit of the house, is the
one feature, one element that stands

out for you as something
you particularly like?

Oh, as far as I'm concerned, it's that
main room, the atrium with the bridge

across and the conservatory.

It's beautiful, I think.

But presumably with all this glass,
you're also very close to the weather.

I mean, you see all the changes
in the weather and the seasons.

The funny thing is, though, that now,
because there's so much glass in that

house, we are used to living
virtually in a greenhouse.

And you go into other people's houses
and think how dark and pokey they are.

So how was the experience
of the building for you?

It's great fun. It's something we
love doing, planning things all the time.

And I will confess that every now
and again I get a slight urge to think

about doing another one,

but I get to quickly
sort of brush that

on one side and
find another project.

That's why you go off and do these
other little projects around the place.

Yes, well, that's why I bought him a
woodturning lathe one Christmas and

sent him out into the toolshed.

What else has the house given you?

Happiness. I don't know.

I've got a lovely
office. I've got a

lovely toolshed.
I've got all this land.

I've got a wife.
She's rather a good one, too.

And I don't need anything else.

But you plan to spend the rest
of your days here, that's the point.

Oh, yes.

If we possibly can.

I'm wondering whether or not in
planning a house you invest hope and ideas

and expectation in that building.

And that when you come to live in
it, that that hope and expectation is

matched or not by reality.

I think you're right there. And I think
our expectations have been matched.

We love it. It's fabulous.

We're absolutely delighted that we
found this place and we're able to build

this house and have the opportunity
to do something with the landscaping.

We have exactly what we want.

It's really interesting to come back
here and see how all this planting and

landscaping can be such an
important element in architecture.

I mean, all these shrubs and roses
and vines can really soften and obscure

bits of building that don't quite work.

But if the outside
of this place has

been transformed,
well, then the inside.

is curiously exactly as
it was five years ago.

At first I thought this was a bit bizarre.

But then I thought, well, maybe
Dennis and Marjorie's very careful and

considered approach
to the interior,

which is absolutely
right, has paid off.

In the end, they got
exactly what they wanted.