Couple spend a decade building a Roman-inspired ‘zig-zag’ villa of their dreams on land next to a protected abbey
Golf coach Chris and ex-figure skater Kayo employed an architect friend to oversee every element of the giant single-story abode in south Hertfordshire, which featured on Grand Designs last night
THIS REMARKABLE home is the result of a couple’s dogged ten-year pursuit of their dream.
Mired in planning delays for six years the Roman-inspired ‘zig-zag’ villa was built on land next to a protected abbey.
Golf coach Chris and ex-figure skater Kayo initially budgeted £600,000 for the project but costs are estimated to have spiralled up to £2million.
The couple enlisted their architect friend Rogan to design every aspect of the home in south Hertfordshire including all elements of its interior.
Its creation was the subject of an episode of Grand Designs last night where viewers learned that the intricate design put the family of five’s budget under immense pressure almost from the outset.
As the scale of the project dawned on him Chris said: “I got a eureka moment when I got the planning permission, then I had to ask myself, do I really want to live in this house?”
The interior of the one-storey home is clad almost entirely in maple and features bespoke light fittings.
There are four bedrooms and and an extremely large utility room to house Kayo’s kitchen gadgets.
Its elaborate timber frame stretches over 557 square metres - nearly six times the size of the average family home.
In the garden there is a putting green and sculpted grounds.
Presenter Kevin McCloud hailed it, saying: “It's a really unusual project, a fantastic house, beautifully crafted in a tradition that goes back to the middle of the twentieth century, to [the late celebrated architect] Frank Lloyd Wright for example.”
He added: “It's built in the shadows of a great cathedral, on a site of great archaeological importance, both Roman and medieval. Both these things affected the design.”
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