Cellweb Root Protection

Day 2

A condition of our planning consent is to protect tree routes around the driveway area both during construction and beyond.  

We chose a product called 'Cellweb' that provides a flexible and permeable solution for protecting tree roots while creating a robust and stable platform when creating vehicular access paths and driveways. 

Build Day 1

Today was the day that we finally got started with the build.  

Kenny from Endrick Landscapes was first on site to build an access road for the construction traffic and supplies that will arrive over the next few months.

Kenny has already cleared the hedging on the road, formed the 'bellmouth' of the driveway and excavated the foundations for the new gateposts.

Calum arrives with his JCB

He was followed a short time later by Calum from the groundworks team.  Calum's guys will excavate & lay the foundations and install the drains and attenuation tank later this week.

A brace of diggers ready to get started!

I've also installed a 'time lapse' camera that should capture some footage of the foundations and build of the house.  I'm new to that technology but all being well I should be able to post some footage in a month or so.  Stay tuned!

July 2014

The Sale of Huntlyknowe

What can I say?

I have to 'take my hat' off to my mate James Lang & his team at Corum Property in Bearsden who managed to sell Huntlyknowe in just one day!

The 'old house' was on the market for 24 hours, attracted 7 viewers and was under legal offer all on the same day!

That's what I call an estate agency service! 

Here's the movie that Corum made to market the house.

July 2014

Sub-dividing the Plot...

The final activity before we could market Huntlyknowe was to build the fence and form the new driveway area.  This took place in July 2014.

Here's the plot layout

and a few shots of the work in progress....  

And the new driveway begins to appear...

June 2014

Clearing the Site

In order to put Huntlyknowe on the market for sale we had to first clear the new plot, demolish the old garage and build a new fence to split the property into two.

The tree fellers (from Caledonian Tree Services) arrived in late June 2014 and duly set about clearing a space for our new driveway and access road. 

After a week of much noise, oily machinery and lashings & lashings of wood chippings we literally could now see the wood from the trees!

Tree fellas! (there's only two of them?)

The Mighty Stump Grinder!

November 2013

Digging Trial Pits

In order to secure the planning permission we had to dig some trial pits to establish the level of the water table and soil make up for the foundations.  This involved the excavation of the lawn in the four corners of the proposed new house.

The view from the Summer House!

Big Boys Toys

April 2012

Designing a New House...

I set up a meeting with Ewan Cameron, an architect friend in April 2012. 
  
We wanted to explore the idea of subdividing our garden into two plots leaving us with the old house and a smaller garden.

Ewan advised us that we should aim to get planning permission for the piece of land that we wanted to sell.  This would increase the sale prospects and the value of the land too.

In order to get planning permission, we'd first need to design a house that would  go on the new plot of land.

So collectively we got our thinking caps on and came up with a few ideas for what sort of house might work on the plot of land at the bottom of the garden.

After several iterations, led by Ewan, we all arrived at what we all agreed would work perfectly on the site.

The only issue was that now, having invested so much time and emotional effort in the project, we wanted to build the new house for ourselves.

High Pines

We applied for planning permission. 

We eventually received planning permission in December 2012.  This involved much work with the council Roads Department, The Tree Officer and The Planning Department.

The biggest hurdle that we faced during this period was in regard to Trees and Tree Preservation.  To that end we employed the services of Alan Motion, a local Arboreal Consultant who help us to develop a Tree Protection Plan that set out tree work and root protection areas for the site.
 

March 2012

The Garden at Huntlyknowe...

One of the big challenges we faced at Huntlyknowe was the maintenance of the large garden.  

The house at one stage was owned by a family that ran a tree & plant nursery.  They set out the garden with many native and non native plants and trees sparing no expense in terms of materials, labour and quality of planting.  

The original garden was laid out in the 1950s & 60s and was now overgrown and in need of lots of TLC.

Fast forward to the present time and the garden was already proving to be very time consuming to maintain.  We'd spend hours in the evenings and weekends just trying to 'keep on top' of it.

Then we had an idea....

Maybe we could subdivide the garden into two plots.  This would make things more manageable us and we could sell half the garden to someone who could even build a new house on it?

Time to talk to an architect !

January/February 2012

Renovations

Early 2012 saw us upgrade the kitchen & downstairs bathroom.  We also rewired the house & replastered around 90% of the walls & ceilings.

Here's the kitchen before and after...

...and a few shots of the bathroom too

December 2011

Our new house...'Huntlyknowe'

In December 2011 we bought 'Huntlyknowe' - a lovely old 1920s bungalow in Bearsden in the outskirts of Glasgow.  

When we saw the house we both immediately fell in love with it. It was set in a lovely tree lined road with mature grounds where the garden extended to almost three quarters of an acre.  

In truth, the old house & garden had been neglected for a number of years so we set about a programme of upgrades and renovations to bring the house back up to date with a few mod cons.  

Here are a few photos of the house just before we bought it.