Green dream (From Living Northeast)

Green dream

11:42am Tuesday 29th December 2009 in

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Building your own home is quite a challenge. But Paulette and David Benjamin didn’t just stop there, as Jenny Laue finds out.

DESIGNING and building your dream home is something only very few of us ever get to do. Doing it all yourself can be great fun and fulfilling, but at the same time it can be challenging and frustrating.

Paulette and David Benjamin, from East Cowton, in North Yorkshire, managed to overcome all the usual problems related to house building, things such as financing the project, finding the right plot and fulfilling building regulations. On top of that, they had the extra challenge of researching, sourcing and importing the state-of-theart materials and components that would allow them to build the ultimate eco house – a home so energy efficient that it not only uses the smallest amount of energy possible, but also produces energy.

So it is rather surprising that after only two years of living in their dream home, Paulette and David and their rescue dog, Don, are moving out again, hoping to rent out the house to sympathetic tenants.

“We’re off to Doncaster to set up a Buddhist retreat centre,” says Paulette when I ask her why on earth they would leave something they’ve worked so hard for. “Last year, we were asked if we would like to set one up on a voluntary basis at in a 120-acre nature reserve at Lindholme Hall, near Doncaster. It’s just something we felt we’d like to do.”

In fact, it was at just such a retreat centre in Denmark that the couple met and fell in love in 1997.

You could be forgiven for assuming that being Tibetan Buddhists sparked the couple’s interest in living in an eco friendly way, and although both do go hand in hand, David, who is American and studied architectural engineering at the University of Colorado, has been interested in eco friendly homes since the Seventies, long before he became a Buddhist. In Paulette he found a partner who not only shares his religious beliefs, but also his passion for green living.

It took the couple until 2006 to find the right plot – here in the North – and until 2008 to make their dream come true and move into their eco house.

“I have done lots of house builds and renovations in the US, but I had the idea that I should be able to build a house that heats and cools itself,” says David.

Wild Wood House, situated just behind the village church in East Cowton, looks like any other house. From the outside there is nothing that indicates its green credentials.

It’s inside where the magic happens.

“It’s super-insulated. There are no gaps anywhere and the fresh air is created through mechanical ventilation.

Seventy per cent of the heat in the house is actually produced by sunshine and the rest is supplemented by the back boiler where we burn wood and gas to cook,” says David.

“We also make our own electricity and sometimes we have enough to feed back into the main grid,” he adds, proudly.

David and Paulette have spent hour upon hour on the internet researching the latest innovations to help them reduce their energy needs. A lot of what they wanted had to be especially imported from countries that are much more advanced in green technology than the UK, countries such as Germany, Sweden and Japan.

Insulation is the key word at Wild Wood House. All the exterior walls are double-skinned to provide that allimportant inside void, and they are all insulated with seven-inch foam and a reflective foil vapour barrier. The roof cavity also has seven-inch foam insulation, while underneath the concrete floor there are eight inches of foam.

The windows are triple-glazed and were specially imported from Sweden, as were the doors, which are also triple-glazed, have extra weather stripping and an airlock entry system which prevents warm air from escaping and cold air from getting in.

“All the windows are triple-glazed and they all face south,” explains Paulette. “We’ve also got an awning on the south side which David designed so that the low winter sun can come in, but we’re protected from overheating by the high summer sun.”

And that’s not all the awning does. It’s been fitted with photovoltaic panels, to make the best use of the south-facing position. David and Paulette hope these panels can provide all the electricity they need.

Then there is the super-insulated roof. David has fitted enough solar panels on it to produce the couple’s hot water, which is stored in a 1,000 litre tank in the master bedroom and is used for showers, under-floor heating and radiators.

Last, but not least, there is the wood burning stove with back boiler and the heat pump, which takes the heat that occurs naturally in the air out to keep the water in the tank hot, almost like a fridge in reverse.

With all this eco-friendly technology going on, it’s easy to forget that Wild Wood House is also a really nice-looking family home. From the outside, it looks like a traditionally-built detached house, with red brick walls and a slate roof.

The living room, where we sit with tea and biscuits, is traditionally furnished with a huge squashy sofa and comfy chairs, all grouped around the lovely wood-burning stove. There are tall bookcases let into the walls and the cosy, ambient light is provided by elegant floor lamps and ceiling lights that have all been fitted, of course, with energy-saving bulbs.

The kitchen is lovely too. It’s L-shaped and one wall is taken up completely by windows looking out over decking and the garden beyond. All the fitted units are held in a neutral cream and match the natural stone floor perfectly. A big dining table takes pride of place in front of the windows.

Next door, small but adequate, a bright utility room has space for a washing machine, drying rack, as well as coats, shoes and wellies. A door leads to the decking, which is big enough for deckchairs and other garden furniture.

Venturing upstairs, Paulette proudly shows me the fabulous from the master bedroom at the back of the house over the open fields and tree-lined lanes of the Pepper Arden estate.

All the rooms upstairs are grouped around the main staircase and further along from the master bedroom there are two single bedrooms, one of which David uses as his study, a large family bathroom and another double bedroom with en suite shower room.

David and Paulette do nothing by halves. Everything at Wild Wood House has been thought through and thought through again. Everything in it has been put there not only to make life easier, but to facilitate conserving energy or produce it – from the layout of the house to the triple A-rated kitchen appliances.

And my favourite bit? The double light switch in each room which switches off all the appliances – TVs, computers, lamps – in one go. No need to go round each and every single socket to switch them off at the wall. Simple, but ingenious.

■ If you’re interested in renting Wild Wood House, contact Wardhorne Residential Lettings, Richmond, on 01748-826000, or visit wardhorne.co.uk