Ferdinand

I think you are also better with the utility and WC being combined, and the entrance to the utility off the hall, with the WC at the end, ideally with a shower in it as well ... dogs and guests who cannot climb stairs. F

Depending on how the detail works, your "view through" could be a tall, thin window instead next to the patio door instead of the door yourself; it is working out what is best by sweating the detail as your design develops. Below I will add a piccie of the one I have in my 'fat at the back' extension. It just has a tall flower arrangement there. This is the concept I am talking about, with the hob in black. Having drawn it, the space is compact so you need to take care and get it exactly right. To have the hob there ideally the peninsula would be somewhat larger. Even without a hob a BB is a good thing there, as you get the kitchen-diner through sweating the space.

My first thought to improve that plan and make it a little more flexible would be: 1 - Move your patio doors slightly to the right - enough such that there is room at the LHS to put a sofa or a desk along the side wall should you wish to do so without blocking the window - say to give you 800-900 mm of wall between the window and the corner. 2 - The same move should give people coming into your front door a peep-view of the back garden, which is always a good thing architecturally, and a straight path through when needed - also good. 3 - I would turn the bottom arm of the G into a worktop perhaps 300 longer and 850 to 900 wide, so that the end and the back can be a breakfast bar with approx 2.2m run of seating which would be enough for 4-5 people if you need and 6 at a squeeze with one on the other size. That should still leave a comfortable access gap. Barstools will add almost nothing when under a 250-300mm overhang. If wanted you could extend the "G" to the LHS to align with the stair wall; that would be neater but would need a detailed workthrough. 4 - Then the LHS can become more than a formal dining space, and you could treat it as more a multifunctional with eg a table against the wall. I have a desk that folds in half lengthways and becomes a shelf against the wall, for example. 5 - Many people put their hob in such a location for socialising whilst cooking. Ferdinand

Or you could still be talking about it on BH ?.

Where's North, your best view, and any closeby neighbour houses? Am I correct the kitchen is the RHS of the diagram?

I think you also need to list your requirements, and how you will use it. What is it for? What are your priorities? Really this is a subquestion of "how shall we live?". I would suggest start with a plan if you have a defined space already and a half page Statement of Needs, including a list of stuff that needs to be in there. Just on the size, there is space for almost anything normal, probably including a breakfast bar plus perhaps a dining table. In normal house terms, that is a medium large sized reception room.

Aha. Southern Flatlanders ? . TBF I should have got that far with the location under my own steam. But I'm just thick.

Welcome. Were are you (ish) in the EM?

If you are going to be the villain filled with devious cunning, you could write them a "is it this or that" letter. Personally I would do it in 2 halves.

I would put a an access to the paddock in first from the road, if they may insist it is some sort of separate unit. Then obvs you need one from the house curtilege to access the horse.

You've borrowed the pointing hand from @Onoff ... Looks good.

What sort of pipes are you needing? Concrete or plastic? Don't buy this at all often, but when I buy heavy things my best local place in Buildbase Civils and Lintels.

Swimming hole or small natural lake? (Depends on the water of course) Gets you boasting rights over mere wildlife meadows.

Sorry - this published too soon. More content is required. And now I can't edit it due to the Lockdown.

I would JFDI unless there is a good reason not to. I think there is also the principle that people with a right of way can improve the surface, and that it is less than 30cm high, which excludes that reason for needing PP. I think the @Temp comment nails it.

For PC Get irfanview from here. https://www.irfanview.com/ Get a window grab of the view from Streetview (using Ctrl-Printscreen for current window or Printscreen for whole screen). Or use a photo. Trim it using the cursor and CTRL-Y (crop selection) Do an Edge Detect from Image > Effects >Edge Detect menu. That gives you the edges in white on black. Invert the image (CRTL-SHIFT-N) to get black on white. Print out. And play. (Most photo packages will have a similar) Ferdinand

I would say that boiler was put on the boundary; I would say that the fence has been put on wheels.

You are the local eccentric distinctiveness to be preserved. ?

Absolutely ? I've put a question mark on the title, just for you.

... may have been well summarised in a quote on the Radio 4 programme "You and Yours" this lunchtime by a gentleman from the Swimming Pools Association about the current boom in swimming pools. "What about Hot Tubs?" "Hot tubs are the devil's own swimming pool." This was known, in almost all its features, to Hieronymous Bosch the artist - 500 years ago. This is "Tondal's Vision". (No, I don't like hot tubs very much.)

I thought loft insulation was still available free and installed in most places. Phone up the Energy Saving Trust and ask - to be sure.

Our hero has a strategy for that. He's going to do the Colditz "how to hide an escape hatch in a ceiling" trick, and draw a whole network of hairline cracks on with a pencil, so you won't notice the real one. aka Trompe l'oeil Bristol-style. It's like you don't notice weeds in my garden, as there are so many people think it *is* the garden.

It was discussed in the thread you read. Go back and read it properly ?. If you put a balloon in front of it people may think it's bigger than is actually the case. (Update: you backroll to make the surface less perfect, otherwise your brush strokes or roller texture later when eg touching up will show up against the perfect spray surface. The idea is to do it at a time that will give a very slight texture. Worth doing.)

Aha - so not official.

Thanks for the reply. Can I emphasise that the most valuable thing is not the particular ideas, but that you take an active approach to find and learn *your* ideas that give you the closest version of your ideal within what you can afford. A huge amount of it is about taking the time to find the best specifics for you. Really, one aspect of what all the comments coming back should do is be stepping stones to your own unique solution, using the things identified, but also all other things you are now going to go out and find.