‘Abandoned’ Grand Designs eco-dome B&B that cost £1m to build now stands neglected — as holidaymakers are offered refunds
Lake District property was hailed as 'awe-inspiring' by host Kevin McCloud just 6 years ago
AN ECO-DOME dubbed “awe-inspiring” by Kevin McCloud when it featured on Grand Designs seems to have fallen on hard times.
The luxury holiday home in the Lake District appears to be standing empty and families who have booked it are concerned their holiday plans could be ruined.
Architect and owner Robert Gaukroger spent two years building the innovative seven-bedroom Dome House Boutique Bowness-in-Windermere, followed by Channel 4 cameras.
It was to be a family home as well as luxury self-catering apartments but locals believe it has been abandoned.
The garden is overgrown and potential renters are claim they are having difficulty contacting owner Robert after paying £1,000 deposits.
Websites that advertised the property are no longer taking bookings.
Mum of-three Claire Farn has booked for two families to stay in August but when she contacted the owners to ask if the booking was still being honoured she heard nothing for a month.
Now it has emerged that Robert had been trying to sell the Dome for a year, dropping the price from an original £2.3million to £1.45million.
It now appears to have been taken off the market and the architect is still the registered owner.
The amazing Scandinavian property featured on Grand Designs six years ago and afterwards Robert said: “Not only do I have a home but what looks like a flourishing business. After Grand Designs we had 100 bookings in a week.”
They took out a £600,000 mortgage but had only another £100,000 in the bank when costs began to spiral.
Robert and wife Milla told the show the final cost was in excess of £1million.
But some customers have complained about silence from the owner over bookings.
Claire Farn heard nothing for a month and was finally offered a refund this week.
She told The Sunday People “We couldn’t get in touch with anyone and were really worried about our holiday.
“I’d seen it on Grand Designs and thought it would be amazing to stay there. I found them on eBay for about £1,400-a-week. They said they could do a deal if we contacted them directly to avoid the eBay fees.”
After paying for the holiday they received a booking confirmatio but then nothing for weeks.
Claire said: “We started to get nervous. Then their website disappeared and so did the listing on eBay. We’ve tried phoning but there was either no answer or it was engaged.
“We finally got a response on Friday saying there had been problems and promising a refund.
“But do they realise how stressful this has been? Why didn’t they reply a month ago?”
Other customers turned to Facebook to try to find out what was going on.
One wrote: “Dreadful behaviour, the way they’re treating people who have booked and paid up front for accommodation. Not at all honorable!”
Another posted: “I have a family booking for July 2016. I have emailed the owners but have not had a reply. Does anyone have an update? This may be serious for many people.”
In another post he wrote: “I have booked July. I cannot get a response from them. It’s all very suspicious. I have paid £1,490.” Neighbours said they had seen no guests at the Dome for 10 to 12 weeks.
A spokesman for Dome House admitted they had been experiencing problems and offered refunds. They said: “We have had a number of issues, including the pool heat and house heating system, which due to the bio-mass system had cause problems.
“The property had to cancel a booking at Easter. We already have May blocked out as a planned break. The follow summer season was intended to be the last season the property was to be offered as self-catering accommodation with a view to converting the property to affordable apartments.
“We have been looking into whether these bookings could be accommodated. Due to the nature of the bio-mass wood heating it does seem the house does not lend itself to self-catering with this system. If the electric back-up heater for the pool and heating fails it is unsatisfactory.
“With this in mind we are writing to guests to arrange refunds for the small number of bookings we have left.”