Futures Forum: A cob cottage for £150...
Futures Forum: RIBA House of the Year shortlist > Cob Corner, Devon
Five years ago, Kevin McCloud was in Ottery St Mary:
Futures Forum: Building Cob Castles in East Devon... on Grand Designs
He has just made a return visit:
Grand Designs:
Everything you need to know about Devon's stunning 'cob castle'
It is believed to be the 'largest cob building on the planet'
Abbie Bray
31 OCT 2018
(Image: Channel 4)
Grand Designs is back for its 18th series and tonight's show will feature a stunning cob house from East Devon.
The 'cob castle' has been built by the 'King of cob' himself, builder Kevin McCabe from Ottery St Mary.
The home - believed to be the 'largest cob building on the planet' was built a stone's throw from the cob house Mr McCabe shared with his then wife and their family.
It has also been dubbed the most 'eagerly anticipated' revisits in the show's history.
Talking to the Daily Mail, Mr McCabe admitted that he doesn't know how much he had spent on building his dream home, however being eco-friendly it costs nothing to run.
He said: "Size wise it's a manor house but its running costs are negligible. That's what I was trying to show. You can have a very green building that is still a very luxurious building."
Passionate about the historic building approach, he wanted to show how it could be brought up to modern standards by meeting the highest environmental performance targets ever set in the UK.
The property took the shape of two separate cob cylinders, connected by a glass-sided greenhouse walkway.
The basement level of the main three-storey cylinder, built into the ground, houses an 'arcade-sized' games room and a gym.
The main access is via a bridge to the second level where the living spaces are and the third level contains the master suite and two 'cavernous' additional bedrooms.
The annexe is now a self-contained rental home generating extra income. The undulating roof, which mirrors the curves of the rolling hills beyond, is covered with soil and a natural wildflower garden.
At the start of the project Mr McCabe estimated it would take three months for the cob build to complete, a prediction presenter McCloud thought was wildly ambitious.
Stepping onto the site for the first time, McCloud said "It looks like they're building a bloody bypass. And there's a Roman ampitheatre being revealed. It's vast."
Together with his family and hired help, Mr McCabe tirelessly worked to build his home with his bare hands.
The schedule was further delayed by the torrential downpours of the summer of 2012, meaning the roof wasn't laid until just before their deadline of winter 2012.
The cameras returned the following spring to find the home was starting to take place and by the summer of 2013 Mr McCabe had started to insulate and clad the 1m thick cob walls with polystyrene to make it more energy efficient.
The master craftsman revealed he had to return to full-time work in order to cover the spiralling costs and the family put their five-bedroom £1.1million home on the market.
They were dealt a blow when a potential buyer pulled out, with Mr McCabe's then wife receiving the call on camera.
On Mr McCloud's final visit of the initial stint, in September 2013, he said: "You get a sense coming in of a farmstead really... It gets bigger.
"It goes from one to two to three stories. It's a cob castle, a fortification in mud that sits astride the hill.
Take a look inside Cob Corner below
Grand Designs is back for its 18th series and tonight's show will feature a stunning cob house from East Devon.
The 'cob castle' has been built by the 'King of cob' himself, builder Kevin McCabe from Ottery St Mary.
The home - believed to be the 'largest cob building on the planet' was built a stone's throw from the cob house Mr McCabe shared with his then wife and their family.
It has also been dubbed the most 'eagerly anticipated' revisits in the show's history.
Talking to the Daily Mail, Mr McCabe admitted that he doesn't know how much he had spent on building his dream home, however being eco-friendly it costs nothing to run.
He said: "Size wise it's a manor house but its running costs are negligible. That's what I was trying to show. You can have a very green building that is still a very luxurious building."
Passionate about the historic building approach, he wanted to show how it could be brought up to modern standards by meeting the highest environmental performance targets ever set in the UK.
The property took the shape of two separate cob cylinders, connected by a glass-sided greenhouse walkway.
The basement level of the main three-storey cylinder, built into the ground, houses an 'arcade-sized' games room and a gym.
The main access is via a bridge to the second level where the living spaces are and the third level contains the master suite and two 'cavernous' additional bedrooms.
The annexe is now a self-contained rental home generating extra income. The undulating roof, which mirrors the curves of the rolling hills beyond, is covered with soil and a natural wildflower garden.
At the start of the project Mr McCabe estimated it would take three months for the cob build to complete, a prediction presenter McCloud thought was wildly ambitious.
Stepping onto the site for the first time, McCloud said "It looks like they're building a bloody bypass. And there's a Roman ampitheatre being revealed. It's vast."
Together with his family and hired help, Mr McCabe tirelessly worked to build his home with his bare hands.
The schedule was further delayed by the torrential downpours of the summer of 2012, meaning the roof wasn't laid until just before their deadline of winter 2012.
The cameras returned the following spring to find the home was starting to take place and by the summer of 2013 Mr McCabe had started to insulate and clad the 1m thick cob walls with polystyrene to make it more energy efficient.
The master craftsman revealed he had to return to full-time work in order to cover the spiralling costs and the family put their five-bedroom £1.1million home on the market.
They were dealt a blow when a potential buyer pulled out, with Mr McCabe's then wife receiving the call on camera.
On Mr McCloud's final visit of the initial stint, in September 2013, he said: "You get a sense coming in of a farmstead really... It gets bigger.
"It goes from one to two to three stories. It's a cob castle, a fortification in mud that sits astride the hill.
Take a look inside Cob Corner below
CLICK TO PLAY INSIDE COB CORNER IN DEVON
"The rooms are monumental and the thick, hefty cob walls suggest extraordinary mass... But not a single room is habitable... It's clear this house won't be ready to live in any time soon."
Returning this summer, seven years after the project started and five years after his last visit, Kevin McCloud explained Mr McCabe had divorced his wife and now lives at the property with his new partner and her children.
Grand Designs: Everything you need to know about Devon's stunning 'cob castle' - Devon Live
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Returning this summer, seven years after the project started and five years after his last visit, Kevin McCloud explained Mr McCabe had divorced his wife and now lives at the property with his new partner and her children.
Grand Designs: Everything you need to know about Devon's stunning 'cob castle' - Devon Live
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