Halfpenny or Ha'penny?

Many moons ago my Dad came up with a design based on the medieval cottage next to our offices - a little black and white house that unusually had masonry gable ends. As gable oak frames are time consuming and expensive to make he thought that a more 'affordable' house could be designed with softwood and brick gables instead. And if the roof was simple and the floor plan followed traditional bays it would be even more cost effective. And if you designed an 'annex' in weatherboard that contained the utility room, WC, en-suite and other functioning bits (boiler, larder etc etc) then surely you were on to something.........

Well, the resulting cottage was called The Halfpenny (it had a baby brother called Farthing Cottage but it was a bit too dinky for most) and formed part of the Border Oak 'Affordable House' concept. With a starting price of around £60,000 for the frame it is still our most 'Affordable' - alongside Pearmain cottage - and a rebrand of the concept is currently on the drawing board (think pick'n' mix but for handmade houses).

Here is one of the latest Halfpenny Cottages, built in the garden of the owners previous house, with stunning views and every modern comfort you could wish for in a 21st century cottage. Affordable or otherwise ('affordable housing' means so many different things nowadays?) - it makes a very pretty house don't you think?