FAMILY magic

It’s one of the biggest choices facing many self-builders and renovators: pull down an existing house and start again, or renovate what’s already there. For Daniel Luhde-Thompson, a computer programmer, and Sarah MacLaren, a garden designer, the decision was even harder: the existing property, a suburban chalet bungalow in Hertfordshire, was Sarah’s much-loved childhood home.

In the end, the couple opted for a new home for themselves and their two young children — as long as it was eco-friendly, easy to heat (unlike the freezing Welsh farmhouse Daniel had lived in previously) and incorporated favourite elements of the original bungalow. “We had a double-height space at the back, which was the best bit of the house when I was growing up,”