PUTTING DOWN ROOTS

The combination of a disintegrating 18th-century gamekeeper’s cottage and an acre of heavy clay might not seem the most promising foundation for a beautiful family home and garden, but Erica and John Bibbings weren’t expecting instant results when they first moved to a remote spot within the Severn Vale in Gloucestershire.

Indeed, there were times when the going was exceedingly slow as they set about taking down the derelict property, brick by brick, and rebuilding it on a slightly higher area of ground, using the original design and materials as much as possible.

The couple did everything themselves, constantly juggling time and money and coping with the demands of their growing family as they worked on the project, which got underway during the mid 1980s.

‘Both our childhoods were peripatetic but the one fixed point for John was his grandmother,