Could this be the one?

Even this idea has a few alterations to make!  We really like the curve but it could be that we have to just make it three sides if the quantity surveyor tells us that it's going to cost a fortune.  The house will face due south to maximise the passive solar gain and view to the Dovecot.

• Upstairs will comprise of the living area with a open plan kitchen, dining & sitting room.  Additionally on the west side their will be a good size play room (with a large amount of sound insulation) and an upstairs bathroom. 
• Downstairs will have four double bedrooms, two bathrooms, hallway and utility room.

We've had lots of conversations to make the building as efficient as possible minimising the amount of transitional space hopefully making the 200m sq a good size.

Things to agree: -

1. The window sizes especially for the curved end.  Considerations are wanting to let lots of light in the house but not feeling we're living in a gold fish bowl especially from when driving up Higher Backway!
2. Pitch of the roof - lets see what the planner think!
3. The white render section has two bedrooms but the size of the roof is too large and we want to be able to see the sun setting in the west.

Oh I'm sure there are masses of things Flora can think of but I'm pretty happy with this concept.  I'm itching to be able to know the quantities of materials to then be able to research and haggle.

Drawing showing the full plot.

Eligibility and Tariff levels | RH Incentive

Whilst I wait for the new and agreed plans for our house from Tom .... who said they were going to be sent by yesterday but weren't; I've come across this easy to read website detailing all the information about the new incentive to all households to get using renewable systems. It's something that I've always factored into the house design but makes it even better if the payback time is reduced by the government!

Eligibility and Tariff levels | RH Incentive

Another good link to a biomass company able to burn logs and certainly ticked all the right boxes for me is Eco-Angus

http://www.ecoangus.co.uk/

I'm going up to see Guy near Bristol in May to see his burner in operation which I think is crucial to know the implications of the day to day running of the system.

On Friday I had a constructive meeting with Jeff Ingvaldson at Mill on the Brue who has set up a business installing PV systems as well as investing into large solar farms. We looked at one roof with a due south direction which apparently will be able to take a 4kw system costing £12,000 but it would probably only take 7 years to pay back the cost!! So roughly thinking we would be getting some free electricity and around £1700 per year.