more heavy snow - but maybe it will bag you a prize?

I thought it might be fun to have an informal competition - and I promise to think of a lovely prize (or prizes!) So, here are the 'rules'..........

Do you live in or near a Border Oak house that would look spectacular in the snow? Perhaps you walk or drive past a Border Oak building that looks fantastic in the frost, or magical in the mist or wonderfully wintery in the early sun - if so take a photo, send it to me at merry.albright@borderoak.com and I will make a winter montage here on the blog. 

The best pics win a gorgeous prize or a donation to the charity of their choice (oh, ok, lets do both). 

Competition ends at the end of February.

'Marvellous Project Manager Mark' sent me the blog topper photo and this pic which are both quite amazing, but sadly not eligible because they are missing one vial ingredient - the Border Oak building (although strictly speaking those oak trees could, one day,  be a BO house .........)

Good Luck!

and then I saw this............!

Blimey! Two magazine articles in one week!

This is the house that features as the lead house in the February issue of Country Homes and Interiors and isn't it lovely? I haven't seen the magazine yet but there is a sneak peak on the CH &I website and it has got me all a jitter! It looks so enticing. 

CH & I magazine is really good if you like, well, country homes and interiors - but seriously, it's a very good magazine with a great images so I would recommend buying it even if we weren't in it.

The couple who live in this pretty cottage are incredibly nice people with a gorgeous tortoise called Darwin (who makes a guest appearance in the new Border Oak brochure) and so 'thank you' to Stephen and Elizabeth for everything - we are very grateful to you both.

p.s and thanks to Vivienne and the team at Country Homes - we really really appreciate your support and think the article looks fab.

The back of the house - Ben and I used to live next door

The house has settled into the village beautifully

a little bit of press coverage.......

This is the front cover of the current Homebuilding magazine - and guess what - it has a Border Oak house on the front cover! A HUGE thank you to Jason and the team at HB&R for this article, we were all over the moon. And an extra HUGE thank you to the house owners who kindly let me borrow their gorgeous house for the day to take the photos and then agreed to share the pics with the world. We are very lucky.

Out now in all good (and bad) news agents, super markets, corner shops and doctors surgeries.

ta da! the finished article

And so here are the pictures of the frame from the previous post - miraculously completed and landscaped! If only real builds could happen so quickly eh?

Doesn't it look great? Modern but considerate and totally appropriate for the site, which is amazing. Well done to the owners, we hope you have many happy memories here.

I'm not usually a fan of oak frames without traditional sole plates (the horizontal beam which lies at ground level or just above the plinth) but this building has changed my mind. I love the way the glazing runs to the ground and the building appears to growing out of the plot - and I bet the natural light inside is amazing.

This is a 'typical' Border Oak glazed link solution to connecting an extension to an older property. It allows you to leave the existing building alone whilst integrating the new building honestly and deliberately.

If you had a view like this then you would want as much glass as possible.......and I love the understated contrast between the two buildings. 

What do you all think?

I can't wait to see the finished result

A lovely client kindly sent these photos to us showing his Border Oak frame being erected by our gang - the beautiful hand made cruck frame is an extension to his home, linked by a small glazed frame. It will be pretty impressive once finished and I will post the completed project pics here.

He also bought one of our outbuilding frames to erect himself - and what a great job he did! Looks very good indeed.

I hope he isn't having to stand there to hold the building up.....

and here is the garage before the rafters are finished

The end gable of the extension

The internal frame is formed by a curved truss and will look amazing internally

the demonstration house

Border Oak are hoping to build a 'show house' next year - demonstrating how oak frames can be used for contemporary projects and also showcasing how Border Oak might approach the more and more stringent eco regulations - we are aiming to the top level of classification on the Code for Sustainable Homes - a tough and expensive challenge. 

It's no cutting edge avant guarde fantasy creation but more of a 21st Century reinterpretation of a redundant barn - to respect the Conservation Area and residential surroundings (aka satisfying the local authority and pleasing the neighbours) but  also because what Border Oak does best is contemporary vernacular.

It will be super insulated, with local, prefabricated materials and systems, carbon neutral (or maybe even carbon negative) and low impact. We are using a wood pellet boiler, PVT panels, underfloor heating, Black Mountain Sheeps wool, Hempcrete and of course, green oak.

I will try to keep a detailed 'self build diary' as we go so its progress can be shared step by step - but once it is up and running please do come and see it and let us know what you think. It's an exciting project for Border Oak but one we hope to share with all sorts of self builders, developers, schools, planners and designers.

The plans were a shared design effort between Dad, my cousin Jim and myself - but lots of things were included or altered at the planners request and after consulting neighbours.

The site isn't huge, but there is a walled section and views over a field so it has some good points. It is 2 mins from Border Oak's office and workshop and in a great village so should be an improvement from the old corrugated industrial unit that was there.

I would love to rent or purchase some of the field behind and plant a small orchard and herb garden - maybe get a couple of Border Oak donkeys?!! I think a wildflower underskirt in an old fashioned orchard would be just beautiful.

ho ho ho!

I am so sorry that I haven't updated this for ages - sometimes life just gets in the way of all the fun stuff! Brochures, websites and magazine articles all need to be done but I am making progress so 2010 is looking like being a vintage year - it's Border Oak's 30th anniversary (30 years......I can't believe it!) and I am determined to make it great.

Anyway the house here is slowly getting the Christmas treatment - but everything has to be waist height or higher because of pesky Gabriel -  there have only been two bauble casualties so not too bad (and all the posh baubles are at the top of the tree!)

Here are some photos of the advent calendar I made for Min and Gabriel consisting of chocolate coins, a polar bear, old paper hearts and , um, an octopus and anchor - and I will being posting about the show house update and about a lovely cruck framed barn later this week - to make up for being a truely awful blogger.