Season's GREETINGS

Sue and Greg Smith took great pleasure in designing every detail of their new-build home and they now love sharing it for the festivities

- WORDS ANNA TOBIN | PHOTOGRAPHY RACHAEL SMITH

Building their own home had always been a dream for Sue Smith, a swimming teacher, and her husband Greg, a sales director, but they never expected it to become a reality. 'Our plan was to buy a holiday flat in Devon, but we were shocked at how expensive it would be,' says Sue, 'and that's when we began to think the time was right to build our own home somewhere. Though we had no location in mind.' The couple began exploring building opportunities and quickly ruled out Hampshire, where they were living at the time, as too pricey. 'We started to look further afield and we came across a house builder, Border Oak, who had plots for sale. We went to one of their open days and we really liked the natural oak structures they were known for and we chose one of their plots in Herefordshire, an area we did not know at all, and it went from there,' says Sue.