After 15 years of saving and planning, ecologist Fred and communications manager Saffron Baker began work on their new family home in a village in the Peak District.
But their plans to transform a £100,000 former dairy into an “earth shelter” built into a limestone hill was quickly met with difficulties.
It was not until sixteen years later that Fred, now 50, and Saffron finished the project but they are very happy with the results.
A failed mortgage bid, unexpected costs and bad weather, as well as the 30 degree slope, took a toll on the couple’s finances and marriage.
Presenter Kevin McCloud gasped when he saw the 30 degree slop the couple planned to excavate.
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The couple admitted that no-one dared to take on the landscape and that structural engineers has “sucked their teeth” when they showed them the site.
But Fred was determined this would be the spot of their new home as he grew up in the village, close to Bakewell, and its positioning it had facing the sun meant a relentless source of energy.
For Saffron, who eventually gave up her own job to be a full-time project manager on site, there was a struggle trying to secure an initial £500,000 loan.
But despite their setbacks, the couple held on to the project and continued to pursue their dream, completing the new home in 2016.
The home boasted three levels and included three bedrooms that were dug deep into the landscape.
Building the home out of heat-retaining concrete also meant the family would have zero heating bills and coulee pay back the carbon impact of using the concrete and steel beams in the build within five to ten years.
At the end of the whole process, the couple admitted that house-building “isn’t for the faint-hearted” and said pressure was placed on their relationship.