Ralph

Hi all I’m hoping that we will be able to build our detached garage at the same time as our house. I was going to just get a wooden kit from somewhere maybe 6m x 8m for about £8k. Thinking about it a bit more I’d prefer to get something that’s more along the lines of an insulated workspace / garden building but still be able to take a car into to work on it on cold days etc. I hate the terms ‘man cave’ but really that’s what it is. Question is, would I be better getting the builders/joiners to build me something a bit more substantial from scratch then line and insulate it myself down the road? Either way it will need a concrete pad and electrics, plumbing is probably a stretch. I’m still thinking wooden with corrugated steel roof. Any thoughts?

Here is ours, red indicating plants and tress coming out and green being new planting.

Soundproofing aside and assuming there is nothing actually wrong with your fridge a fairly simple thing is to make sure your fridge is completely level.

Now that it is interesting. I'd not really thought much about solar gain, NE Scotland not been known for the sun but we have a reasonable amount of glass so I better look into it. Thanks

What's the advantage of the external blinds over internal and are they spendy?

I can recommend getting a cheap trail cam to see what visits when you're not there.

It's so nice to see them. We have a group of three that visit the plot quite a lot. In the summer you can see "doe rings" around the trees, where the bucks have been chasing the doe.

Nice of them to make it so simple, clear and straightforward.

We have moved the entrance along by 20 meters as it was a bit close to a small bridge. Our builder was surprised we got permission because it was close to the bridge so theoretically this is better, although it is now opposite the neighbour's entrance.

We are having a chat with the planning officer next week so I'm hoping for a steer from him is there are any issues. I did not know about the resubmit, interesting.

On it's own it doesn't although our simple flat(ish) roof ended up being complicated and expensive. We've had a complete redesign including knocking 50sqm of the floor space.

It's a bit of a mix, higher than the 70s bungalow and the 1.5 storey Scandinavian chalet style and not as high as the 2.5 Georgian. However you won't see our house from any of these due to the trees.

Thanks for the feedback @recoveringacademic, I'm hoping that having existing planning permission mitigates some of the possible issues but you never know. I'm possibly stressing too much about it but then given the time and money to get to this point maybe not.

First question. What are your thoughts on the chances of a new planning application passing for change of design where the ridge height is about 2 meters higher? The original design was 2 storeys with a flat(ish) roof, the new one is 2 storeys with an apex. There was no mention of roof heights in the original planning conditions and the permission is still in place. The site is rural, hidden amongst trees and while it’s higher over all it’s more modest in size. The background is that we could not get the initial design of our house anywhere near budget. We have planning in place but the closest we got with a lot of compromises was still 60% over. Second question. Planning was applied for on March 4. The roads department have registered an interest (they did not before) with an intent to comment by Standard Consultation Expiry Date, March 26. Since the original planning there has been a change of neighbour (150 meters from the house) who has commented, neither objecting to or supporting the new application but wants to be able to view the roads department comments before the end of the period of consultation. So my question is can the roads department still comment after the Standard Consultation Expiry Date of March 26? As always your comments are appreciated.

You are not wrong. I took this about a mile from our plot last year and there were more before I stopped.

They prefer to run rather than fly although they can fly quite fast over short distances. They don't seem to recognise vehicles as a real danger but try walking up them and they're off making a hell of a racket.

From what I remember it is topsoil to about 850mm then clay to about 1.4 meters.

I think shooting pheasant on the ground is quite frowned upon around here. Our plot used to be used for shoots (along with surrounding ground) for pheasant and geese, plenty of deer have been taken on it as well, not by me I should add.

Thanks, it's actually in Angus, that's a view west towards the Cairngorms. That's a cracking location and house you have there yourself. It must be very satisfying to be finished, although I don't suppose that you're ever truly finished. We've had to go back to a complete redesign, new planning, new architects the lot. It's a massive amount of stress but I just need to spend a few minutes on the plot to recharge the positivity.

I like the sound of that. This is what it currently looks like from the clearing. Those hill are mostly shooting estates, hence the pheasants everywhere.

We're looking to keep it "natural" rather than like a putting green. We also have quite a lot of wildlife including tasty, tasty pheasants that I would like to come back after the upheaval of the build.

So just spreading the subsoil and topsoil over the existing grass is enough to smooth it out? Cool, sounds like plan.

Not sure on the plant that will be working it, we have to be careful of the trees. Good point on the clay as there is a lot of it.

Dry summer would nice, white linen suit may set the wrong tone for the staff though.

We will have but most of it will be going to build some berms alongside a stream. I'm currently thinking a chain harrow pulled by a garden tractor but I don't know if it will work.