The Story of Broadleaf Lodge
Welcome to Broadleaf, the home I built. My quest to self-build started around 1986 at the age of 16, this my mother reliably informs me. I had established that I would never be able to buy a home where I wanted to live, i.e. had a wooden 5 bar gate with land but… God knows where this came from, I could build one! An inner belief that I was capable of doing anything, that thought must have been age-related.
I spent the next 16 years riding around the countryside looking at potential building plots and derelict properties, including barns and farmhouses. Approaching various farmers and landowners if they would sell me “a bit of that field” or an old wreck of a Crew Yard.
Twenty-something females riding on horseback shouldn’t ask such ridiculous questions, no one took me seriously, regarding me with caution and a total waste of time.
Nothing had materialized by 1998, and I had a feeling that all the money I had saved since working from 16 for the family business needed investing in bricks and mortar quickly. I purchased a property off-plan, but I knew I wouldn’t be staying so my quest continued for another 4 years.
In the summer of 2002, I had seen a property for sale in the old wood, it had been on the market for some time, I had ridden past not really taking much notice of it. It was taken off the market, then back on again then off again. So in October, I knocked on the door to ask whether it was still for sale being met by 2 German Sheppard dogs. The lady living on her own said yes she was still thinking of selling. I left my contact details for her to get in touch and after 3 months of negotiations, I purchased the property.
The local planning authority was and still is very protective of the over development in the wood, due to the history of the area. Each plot in the wood was originally a “Home for Heroes”. For those officers who were lucky enough to return from WW1, they were given 3 acre’s to enable themselves to be self-sufficient by owning a cow and a couple of pigs and having somewhere to grow their own.
I knew that my intention was to apply for a demolition order and design and build my own house on the plot. This was a risky move. Very few existing properties had done this, most had gone down the route of extending, or in some cases, the planning people were so strict made they build around the existing property to update it then knock it down from the inside.
Four months of head-scratching with a blank piece of paper my house design was decided and the exact location on the site pinpointed, all risky. The majority of properties in the wood were single-story so I had opted for a dorma, a compromise but to move it back from the road “you’ll be lucky”!
Plans were passed without hesitating in May 2003 and the footings dug in August. It took me 2 years to move in, notice I didn’t say finish it, as you never get finished here as the seasons change there’s always something that needs attention. I could go on and on about the years I became a build bore. The sleepless nights, the laughs that I had. One driver with a full load of concrete turned up to ask the ground workers “who’s building this one then mate”, “she is” he said pointing to me sat underneath a tree, watching hundreds of pounds of concrete being poured only to be covered up. The look on his face still makes me smile.
You can’t underestimate how much hard work it involves, I learned so much. I don’t come from a family of builders our background was the design, manufacturer, and installation of signage which I continued to help run, working 3 full days a week whilst building. House building isn’t rocket science but you have to listen to the advice of others and be willing to work hard.
I feel very privileged to have had the opportunity to fulfil a dream and live where I do, I hope you enjoy it too, as much as I do.
