Aargh! I missed this as my DVD recorder didn't work. It's not repeated is it? It sounds wonderful. This series of GD has been fascinating so far and it sound like the best yet!

I've just watched it and would agree with all the positive comments made on this post. I'd read most of them BEFORE I watched it and they enhanced my enjoyment of the prog (waiting for K to get covered in newspapaer dust.....). My point is that I can't think of a single other programme on the box that I would want to know about pre-viewing.

Solidek, I dont pretend to know every planning law, but in our district:

If an individual can show a genuine need to live on a piece of agricultural or forestry land, they can install a temporary home for 3 years. If they are still on the land and making between 10 and 15K a year profit (depending upon where the land is) after 5 years, they can then apply for full building permission outside of the scope of the current enforced local dev plan.

Not sure on this 10 years thing but I do know you have to have a need to have at least 1 full time worker on site for the given period (in our district it is 8 years) Perhaps by the fact the his wife ran the stables on the land, they qualified for the permission in their area.

The Scandinavian timber trade uses the most efficient and low impact tools they can to harvest their timber. True, they use a bit of a monster to take the trees down, but it is their interest to plant, maintain and harvest their forests as efficiently as possible. They’ve been going this for literally 100's of years and are one of the market leaders in the development of sustainability procedures such as Chain of Custody. Without harvesting, their forests would be crowded and unmanageable, and then they would only have ABBA to export!

The timber industry in the UK is OK, and something to be proud of if you need a piece of furniture, but it’s not the best in the world for industry. You will be lucky to find a straight piece of timber in the country over 130ft that grows to the required thickness. To find enough material to build their house, they would have had to look very hard.

I think they approached the build in the best way possible, including their consideration to the environment, except for the concrete blocks, but you cant have everything.

quote:

Originally posted by IronGiant999:

On a separate topic, does anyone else agree that this series is far, FAR better than the *mostly* rather awful Grand Designs Abroad (which seemed to spend far too much time wibbling on about the people rather than showing the build)?

This new series is so much better as it shows so much more about the build (as used to be the case in the excellent earlier series) - any 'wibble' about the people involved is incorporated within the structure of the programme when talking about the build.

Good point and could well be why I am thoroughly enjoying this series. I have to admit that the last couple I have not been bothered if I missed one, two or three but these are different. Probably is because it has gone back to being 'building led' rather than the personality of the eccentric builders!

I enjoyed this too. However, it annoys me when people go on about the "advanced" Scandinavian technologies. Just as timber frame construction has been with us for years and we haven't really woken up to it , when Kevin waxed lyrical about the windows.......well they've been available here for 30 years, but people don't want to pay for them! He particularly stressed "triple glazing". I put this type of glazing into my place in 1983, and it was expensive, but it has proved itself and was certainly worth the extra. ( Oh, and it was all British made).
In fact, most advances in glazing technology have been BRITISH led. Pilkingtons developed float glass, and have always been at the forefront of coated glass technology . However, we seem to have the attitude that foreign products are better than ours. We import at far greater cost, rather than use what's available here at a price which is much more affordable.

I loved the house, it's a shame the irritating 'background music/realism neutraliser' spoiled the programme.

It was interesting to hear that Finland has 75% tree coverage if I remember right - I believe Britain has about 2%

They were a lovely family and the hse looked stylish and functional.

I think this week's edition is a return to the couple who modernised their Victorian terrace into a modern open plan space. Seem to remember that the results were rather nice.