Shiamh - McCloud is not a fan

Grand Designs is a hugely influential UK TV series which has shaped the way the Brits think about architecture. It is fronted by posh, pin striped ex private schoolboy turned property developer Kevin McCloud � a man who is less interested in architecture than might appear.

Everything about Grand Designs has to centre around Kevin and his very grand ego. And that includes the awards for this year�s winning houses in the Grand Designs competition.

But it was not just McCloud’s ego that was bruised by the awards ceremony.

The closing sequence featured McCloud on glass ramp as a Land Rover drove towards him. But each time the sequence was filmed McCloud fell off. Eventually someone had to lie on the floor and hold him in place.
Much to Kevin�s apparent disgust, it was the off-grid home - a unique $150,000 straw bale house which was the winner of the eco-home section this year, beating much slicker buildings, thanks to a huge majority in the vote-in from viewers.

Many Off-Grid readers voted for the house after we called for your support in an article last week.

Built over four years by teams of dedicated volunteers, Rachel Shiamh’s house in St Dogmaels was constructed from local natural materials and is self sufficient, powered entirely by the sun and wind and using a rain water harvesting system.
The two story structure was built from 350 straw bales. It was the UK’s first-load bearing straw bale house and is one of only two such structures in Britain today.

�He didn�t show any interest in any of the houses really,� said Rachel afterwards. �I think he rather disliked it.�

McCloud called the winning eco-building �the hobbit house built by women,� but he was too busy to talk about it to Rachel, or to ask any questions about the way it was made.

�I got a slight cynical vibe from Kevin,� Rachel told Off-Grid.net after the ceremony � and this is someone who as we reported last week, has a good word for everybody - �of course his house was built by professional men.�

Rachel has earned very little in the last few months which were spent �finishing the house — getting it ready for Grand Designs.

�Now I am in the early stages of making it into a centre for meditation and yoga.

�I�m waiting to see what interest there is now � what people want.

�I want to build a couple more eco dwellings in the woods as well as my eco hut � I will be renting the house out for a couple of weeks at a time this summer.

Rachel�s house in Wales was pipped at the post in the finals of the TV architecture competition last week.
After winning the eco-section, she then went head to head with the winners of four other categories, all competing for the title of Grand Designs Home of the Year 2008.
She was narrowly beaten into second place by the Black Sheep house, a stone cottage with a turf roof on the Scottish Isle of Harris..

When the current owners Paul and Christine Hope, found centuries-old Black Sheep House - a former blackhouse where crofters would have lived alongside animals - it was down to three crumbling walls and a rusty tin roof.
But its shoreline setting and uninterrupted sunset views convinced them it was worth the risk.
“We didn’t go to the Outer Hebrides to be mainstream,” said Christine, a social worker turned rug-maker. “We knew it would be tough but we were fairly determined.”
The quirky turf and stone home took 18 months to rebuild.
Log on to www.blacksheephouse.co.uk for more information or to book a holiday
Log on to http://www.gwaliaessences.co.uk/courses.htm for more info about courses at Rachel Shiamh�s house in Pembrokeshire or to rent the place for a few weeks.