Luxury Holiday Homes in the Cotswolds

May 15th, 2013 by admin No comments »

The Cotswolds is one of the UK’s most glorious destinations. Rolling, lush, green hills are peppered with traditional villages of houses built from local honey-coloured sandstone, with of course, the thatched roof much represented. With charming cottage gardens, stone bridges, dry stone walls and tiny parish churches standing sentinel next to manicured village greens and duck ponds, the Cotswolds is the very essence of the cliché most used to describe it – chocolate box picture country.

Its natural beauty and attractions have drawn tourists and visitors for centuries, and this large area of central south west England is the location of many luxury holiday homes. Buy a beautiful holiday home in the Cotswolds and your choice can include converted water mills, old manor houses, barn conversions, and rural idylls hidden down leafy lanes.

Maybe you prefer the purpose-built, ultra-modern, sympathetically blended into the landscape, but with all manner of conveniences. Modern luxury waterside homes in the Cotswolds offer the full vacation experience. Beautifully built, elegant homes clustered around well-conserved lakes provide a secluded holiday with a host of amenities, and plenty of waterside and water-borne activities. And of course, with the Cotswolds on the doorstep, there’s a whole host of holiday excursions to be enjoyed.

The Cotswolds covers an area of Warwickshire, Oxfordshire, Gloucestershire, and into Wiltshire. It takes in gorgeous, historical towns and cities like Bath, Cirencester and Tewkesbury, as well as well-facilitated market towns like Burford, Moreton-in-Marsh and Chippenham. The villages of the Cotswolds range from the tiny, but perfect Lower Slaughter, to the antique hunters’ Mecca of Broadway, and top tourist favourites like the beautiful Bourton-on-the-Water. The glorious countryside supports every outdoor activity, although many visitors are very content with just wandering the pretty villages, or browsing the boutiques and shops of the smaller towns.

For anyone staying in a holiday home in the Cotswolds, the food and entertainment is a big plus factor. The Cotswold foodie scene is strong and thriving. From simple but hearty pub grub, to Michelin Star fine dining, the area’s eateries make the most of the delicious local produce – particularly the fruits from the orchards of Worcestershire and meat from the old, heritage breeds of cattle, sheep and pigs, much favoured by Cotswold farmers.

Preparing Well for a Grand Design Home

May 15th, 2013 by admin No comments »

If you are the type to want to express your creative self through everything that you possess, you may want to apply this same principle to the design of your own home. Although it has been a running trend in our society to live in a home that is the exact replica as its neighbors, it is not necessarily impossible if you want to jump out of the mold and stand out with a terrifically original design. There are innovative architects out there who are looking for expressive individuals like you. With your combined efforts, you could even come up with new home designs that, when finally brought to life, could grace the covers of next month’s Architectural Design magazine.

Before you even make the attempt to contact an architect that you feel you can work with (click here to see the works of a good postmodern architect), you will have to organize your ideas first. Here are a few questions you need to answer:

1. What kind of house do you want to create? Each one of us has a particular preference, so know what this is for you. Some would just limit their initial thoughts to a general type of house and then work out the details later, whereas others do it the opposite way: starting with the details in order to come up with a whole picture. Either way works fine as long as you know exactly what you want. When you are set in this way, and the choices are really yours, it becomes easier to express yourself to the architect once you set up that first meeting. Open and clear communication is the key to a successful venture.

2. Where do you want to build your house? Ideally, you should already have a location for your home, but if not, maybe it’s best to look for that empty residential lot first. Check out the areas you would like to build on and choose from the ones that are known to have a safe neighborhood, an important factor that significantly affects property prices. You will want to be aware of this aspect because at some point, you may want to sell this property and you want to make sure that you get a great deal for it. Generally it is safer to build in a location that has already part of a property development because all the feasibility tests on the property may have already been accomplished by them, but keep in mind that many of these developments will limit your house design options to what they already have. The usual route for uniquely designed homes is for the homeowner to find a plot of land, have it surveyed and tested, and, then, when all is good, buy it.

3. How much can you afford for this project? This is the most important determining factor for your house design. How big and how extravagant this house is will entirely depend on the amount of money you can shell out for this. Look for financing bodies like banks or independent agencies and consult with them first on how big a loan you can get towards building this property.

You’ve made that step towards the realization of your new home once you have the above information. You are now suitably prepared to meet up with an architect well-known for creative projects like this. View website here to see some of the projects of one such architect.