Kevin McCloud builds his very OWN Grand Designs: TV star, 64, transforms 400

Release time：2024-06-03 17:39:40 Source：Stellar Stream news portal

Grand Designs presenter Kevin McCloud has quietly spent the last three years turning an unloved former farmhouse into his own dream home, MailOnline can reveal.

McCloud, 65, bought the rural hideaway - which came with planning permission to convert a cow shed into another new home - for £1.1 million in June 2021.

Planning documents highlight how McCloud set out to restore the 'lost dignity and historic character' of the 400-year old Grade II listed property in Herefordshire.

His bold intentions for the timber-framed property may come as a surprise to some after McCloud admitted this week that he had spent a year working evenings and weekends to install a new IKEA kitchen.

He told how he put in the 'carcass and doors' and did some 'basic carpentry and screwing together' before adding that he brought in 'proper craftspeople' to customise it and bought a 'very, very beautiful, expensive hot water tap'.

Pictured: The driveway leading up to Grand Designs presenter Kevin McCloud's dream home 

The 65-year-old has quietly spent the last three years turning an unloved former farmhouse into a rural hideaway

Father-of-four McCloud snapped up the property after splitting with his wife of 23 years and tying the knot with businesswoman Jenny Jones.

A previous owner of the farmhouse, which dates from around 1600, was prosecuted for undertaking a major series of 'disrespectful' alterations without planning permission.

READ MORE: Can't afford a house? Move to Germany! Grand Designs star Kevin McCloud tells first time buyers to relocate because of country's 'healthy' property market

Planners said the unauthorised works led to 'irreparable loss of historic fabric which has compromised its character as a building of special historic and architectural interest'.

Despite this, estate agents were keen to highlight the positive selling points of the property when it went on the market in 2021.

The 4,858 square foot farmhouse was advertised through Country Life magazine after a local estate agent who specialises in the sales of country houses and equestrian property was instructed to sell it.

Described as a 'secluded, spacious farmhouse situated in a superb rural location' with 'land available separately', a series of glossy photographs showed off its 'charming and generously proportioned' layout.

Highlights included the farmhouse's two 'very generously sized reception rooms' with the main sitting room opening from the 'kitchen/breakfast room' and featuring 'a wonderful inglenook fireplace with wood burner' and 'a snug nook'.

A second reception room also featured a fireplace with wood burner and offered 'a versatile space'.

An online brochure added: 'A superb, spacious open-plan kitchen/breakfast room forms the heart of this house; the country-style oak fitted kitchen offers plenty of storage and also benefits from a large central island with granite work surface.'

The kitchen included an electric range cooker and the ground floor featured further rooms including study, utility room and boot room as well as two WC. 

A look at the Grade II listed property before it received a makeover from the television presenter

Father-of-four McCloud snapped up the property, pictured, after splitting with his wife of 23 years

The presenter admitted this week that he had spent a year working evenings and weekends to install a new IKEA kitchen. Pictured: The kitchen before it was renovated

A series of images show off the 'charming and generously proportioned' layout of the farmhouse 

Highlights include 'very generously sized reception rooms' with the main sitting room featuring 'a wonderful inglenook fireplace with wood burner', pictured

The first floor features a galleried landing with three double bedrooms and a single bedroom, three with ensuite bathrooms as well as a separate family bathroom.

The attic has a further two large double bedrooms and a family bathroom with separate wet room.

Cambridge-educated McCloud has followed the trials and tribulations of families as they attempt to create their perfect home as host of the popular Channel 4 programme for the past 25 years.

READ MORE: Fancy a Grand Designs project on the Isle of Skye? Historic ruin with 14 acres listed for £295k

Last week he insisted he would never throw open his doors to TV viewers adding: 'It's like walking around with your trousers down'.

But in a teasing insight into his own personal project, McCloud told how he had been inspired to copy a restoration featured in an episode of Grand Designs.

He said he was 'absolutely blown away' by the transformation of the ruins of Astley Castle in Warwickshire after it was destroyed in a fire in the 1970s.

McCloud was particularly impressed with the inclusion of a contemporary 'hanging' oak staircase among its updated features.

Council documents show that within weeks of buying the farmhouse, McCloud submitted detailed plans to make some major changes to the interior in a bid to restore it to its former glory.

McCloud's project includes new staircases on the ground and first floor to help create an area that 'should respond well to a sympathetic contemporary solution' to the previous botched works.

The documents show plans for the kitchen to be moved 'to the north wing' while permission was sought to turn one of the first floor's double bedrooms into a huge bathroom with 'his and hers' sinks and a freestanding bath in the centre of the room. 

The first floor features three double bedrooms and a single bedroom. The attic, pictured, has a further two large double bedrooms

It has been described as a 'secluded, spacious farmhouse situated in a superb rural location'

A look at the staircase and hallway in the 4,858 square foot farmhouse

The presenter sought permission to turn one of the first floor's double bedrooms into a huge bathroom with 'his and hers' sinks. Pictured: A bathroom before it was redesigned

Other proposals include removing 'false ceilings' to expose historic beams along with the removal of 'modern cement and plaster' to 'reverse the damage caused by the use of modern previous materials'.

The plans show the removal of partition walls and 'blocking doorways' to reconfigure layouts as well as 'a more sympathetic solution to the altered main fireplaces'.

Outside, the proposals included replacing modern brickwork with a timber-framed wall using traditional materials, landscaping gardens and the removal of the property's oil tank and its replacement with a heat pump to 'make an important contribution to the building's sustainability'.

READ MORE: From very Grand Designs.. to shopping at Ikea: Host Kevin McCloud reveals he's a fan of the Swedish furniture

Architectural historian and historic building consultant Dr Catherine Gordon said the proposals represented 'an important opportunity' to regain some of the property's 'former integrity following a phase of inappropriate alterations'.

In a heritage statement written to support the application, which was approved by Herefordshire Council in March 2022, she wrote of the staircase feature: 'The proposed works will address the issues raised by the awkward insertion of the modern staircase, which does not occupy the full width of the stairwell and has altered the layout of the first-floor landing.

'A sympathetic solution that relates to the historic fabric and layout will dramatically improve this key central area within the house and the extent of recent alterations provides scope for an interesting contemporary design that underlines the house's dramatic proportions and robust character.'

She said the plans 'should serve to protect the building's surviving historic fabric, restore part of its original layout, improve its sustainability, and ensure it is adapted with an informed and careful approach to meet modern requirements'.

Dr Gordon added: 'They will set an important and valuable precedent for future alterations and repairs to this building that will continue to restore some of its lost dignity and historic character and increase both its individual significance and also that of its exceptional setting.' 

Kevin McCloud, pictured inside the 'Grand House of Ideas' as part of Grand Designs Live in May

The 64-year-old pictured in the kitchen of his former home in Somerset in April 2004

Host Kevin McCloud said in an episode in May 2023 that he has never spent more than £7,000 on a new kitchen. Here he is pictured speaking to a homeowner on the show

McCloud told how being without a kitchen for a year gave him an appreciation of the rollercoaster of emotions faced by participants of the home building show.

He said: 'It's hard to express and to understand, there was a very deep sense of threat.

'It came from the fact that we didn't have a kitchen, we didn't have a heart to the home.

'It was as though something had been taken away from the building that made it feel more dangerous to be there. I can't describe it in any other way, and I talk to people about this - it's a very common feeling.'

McCloud has spoken of his love for 'ancient buildings' and has said of his new home: 'It's a bit of a new build, a bit of an old build, a bit of a garden build and a bit of a barn conversion.

'Ancient buildings are fabulous, but like elderly relatives, they do not thank you. And they're smelly and damp like elderly relatives. It's like living with a lunatic.'

He also said: 'My great love is old buildings and I get hot under the collar if I see people doing stuff which is not good. I'll wade in.'

McCloud had previously shared a 500-year-old farmhouse with second wife Suzanna near Bruton in Somerset.

The couple, who have two children, sold their previous Grade II-listed home in 2010 to Fifty Shades Of Grey director Sam Taylor-Johnson for £1.85million.

McCloud, who also has two other children from previous relationships, told how he lived in a camper van for three years so he could carry on working during the pandemic.

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