Re: Mud hut couple

As Tara says, its probably a planning permission issue more than anything else, even outdoor buildings can only be a certain height or so many metres from a boundary , otherwise you need planning permission

Re: Mud hut couple

Who are they supposed to be offending or harming exactly?
Their lifestyle suits them, they looked content and in harmony with each other, the animals and their surroundings.

The animals looked well cared for and were in good condition, and seemed relaxed and docile. The couple seemed very much of the same mind as each other and looked happy.

As clumsy said, they must have some sort of access to electricity as they were using a lap top.
Do we know how she cooked and boiled that kettle?

I don't know how long they have been there, and how they would fare in a severe winter, but it is still their choice, and I can't see how they are harming anyone else.

Re: Mud hut couple

Everyone has to get planning permission, and so should they.

Re: Mud hut couple

Do we know they haven't?

Aren't we only assuming that is the reason they council want it pulled down?

Re: Mud hut couple

I know you didn't clumsy.

Re: Mud hut couple

I would love to live off grid.

Re: Mud hut couple

Published on 4 Mar 2017Inside the house made of MUD: Woman who is 'allergic to rented housing' reveals how her ex-photocopier engineer husband gave up work to build their bizarre home - but they now face eviction
Kate Burrows, 45, and husband Alan, 47, built their house from tree trunks, mud, straw and lime mortar
Mrs Burrows said home cured her 'allergy to modern life', which was causing chronic 'flu like' symptoms
But North Devon Council said they broke planning laws and told them to move out by December

A couple are facing eviction from their mud-hut home where they have lived for 19 months.
Kate Burrows and her husband Alan built their house from tree trunks, mud and straw, in the Tarka Valley, near Chulmleigh, Devon.
Mrs Burrows said the home cured her allergy to modern life, which she felt was 'like having the flu all the time'.
She said the move was prompted by a series of illnesses caused by living in her former rented home.
It took the couple six weeks to build the roundhouse, which is topped with tonnes of turf while the walls are lined with lime mortar - an alternative to cement.
But North Devon Council said they broke planning laws and have given them until December to move out.

Mrs Burrows, 45, has been married to her husband, 47, for 10 years.
She said she bought the piece of land in Chulmleigh ten years ago after receiving a marriage settlement from a previous relationship.
Before building their new home, Mrs said she was largely bed-bound and had no idea what was making her ill until she gave up modern living.
Up until they moved in she worked as an artist while Mr Burrows worked as a photocopy engineer.
She is now a carer and he works full time trying to establish a farm on their land.
Mrs Burrows said: 'We were living in rented accommodation and it became clear I could not carry on with that lifestyle.
'I was permanently ill and didn't know what was wrong. I owned this piece of land from a previous marriage settlement so we initially moved into a caravan on site there.
'Planning said we could not stay there in it so we built the roundhouse. We put in planning in retrospect but we failed. The council did not even look at it.
'It is remote, but it is on the edge of the A377. They call it high landscape value so you are not allowed to build.
'Before this we lived a normal life in normal rental accommodation in a terrace house. The impact on my health and moving here has shocked me.
'I was ill for a very long time and I did not realise how bad I was. Living in a modern home had left me bed ridden for a long time and I am now able to work.'
She added: 'I am a carer for an individual and work part time which is enough to tie us over. Alan works full time setting up a farm on our land, which is our ultimate goal.
'I have always enjoyed nature and like to be self-sufficient, but we use to live in a normal house in Taunton with central heating and taps.
'We just lived a very normal life, but now we don't have any of that. We don't even have a tap and filter our water.
'We have to cut our own wood and we have to do everything for ourselves. But I am so much healthier for it.
'The physical side was much easier than I thought. I was an artist but it was always a bit of a struggle to earn enough money to get by.
'I don't know what would happen to us, if we had to leave here.
'Our home would just turn to compost if we left - but I have no idea where we would go.'
Mrs Burrows appealed against an enforcement order, citing illness from a condition called Multiple Chemical Sensitivity (MCS), but this was rejected.
'It was a collection of stuff in my system that literally poisoned me,' she said.
'I think it was the water and the electricity and the wi-fi, the paint on the walls and my body couldn't handle it.'
The house has an outside compost toilet, kitchen, living area and two bedrooms.
Alongside one wall is a bath supplied with hot water from a makeshift boiler.
Outside a hand pump brings water from the river, solar panels on the roof provide power and the couple keep chickens, goats and geese.
'This is our nest, this is our everything, this is our art,' said Mrs Burrows.
'We have sculpted it with our hands from the soil.
'I can't go back to being ill like that, it fills me with absolute horror.'
She is campaigning for planning policies in England like the One Planet planning laws in Wales which can allow largely self-sustaining homes like theirs.
'I think it's really important that people like us are allowed to live sustainably on their own land without causing any damage,' she said.

'We're collecting water, we're chopping wood, we're growing food.
'Isn't that what everyone has done throughout time?'
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence calls MCS a 'medically unexplained condition' but admits it can cause 'severe functional impairment for afflicted individuals'.

Re: Mud hut couple

Thank you. I don´t want any misunderstanding.

Re: Mud hut couple

A farmer called Fidler built a tudor house and hid it behind hay bales, then asked for permission to build it, which was denied......HERE

He even said it was home to protected bats and newts so couldn't be knocked down. HERE

And HERE it is as rubble.

They are the same protections that stop people building in their back garden, or super markets where nobody wants them.

I would assume the lady knew the land was protected when she obtained it.
She can always sell it and buy something to suit her needs.

Re: Mud hut couple

I never know how people do get planning in some cases,
There was a horrible house in Grand designs looked like two grey boxes one on top of the other it was build in a London suburb of Edwardian houses .
Absolute eyesore.