Wonderful high-specification home for sale in Histon

Finished to an exceptionally high standard, with many energy-saving features, this eco-friendly marvel is situated on the outskirts of the popular village.

The property – which is being marketed by Bidwells – was constructed with a timber frame, brick and rendered elevations under mainly slate roofs and was built in 2014.

Incorporating the latest in 21st century technology, the home has been designed with energy efficiency in mind and incorporates many energy-saving features, including well-insulated walls and roofs, zoned heating, triple glazed windows, a mechanical ventilation heat recovery system, photovoltaic panels and solar thermal panels.

Phil and Claire Richards are the hardworking couple behind this highly impressive accommodation. Claire told the Cambridge Independent: “I knew of the land, which had a derelict bungalow on it, all my life. It then took me three years to convince the owner to sell me the bungalow.

“We moved in for five and a half months, while we got planning permission, and then we started in 2013 through the wettest winter for 100 years. We moved in on the fourth of July, Independence Day, 2014 into a brand new house that we project managed and built ourselves.”

Claire continued: “It’s an eco-house and I got the timber frame from northern Sweden because timber’s grown slower there, so it’s denser. We’ve got top-of-the-range installations such as a triple A-rated boiler and underfloor heating downstairs and upstairs...

“It’s absolutely state-of-the-art. Had I ever known I was going to sell, I wouldn’t have done what I’ve done – I thought I’d come out of here in a box. Unfortunately I have to sell, but someone’s going to have the most stunning house – the patio alone is bigger than the square footage of most houses.”

Claire and Phil, who have two children, have to sell due to personal circumstances. Claire said: “Both children chose the wallpaper in their bedrooms; they had complete free rein. Both made beautiful choices and we had great fun getting all the accessories.

“The whole journey of doing this was great fun. Stressful but fun. We’ve never put the heating on in the lounge because it’s so well-insulated.”

Clearly incredibly passionate about the house, Claire is equally as enthusiastic about the fact it’s amazingly eco-friendly.

She said: “I spent years obsessing over eco and, if I could, I’d have had water storage from rainwater and I would have used it to flush the loos and stuff – there’s so much more I would have done had we had more money.”

She added: “It’s so eco-friendly. We get about £800 a year back on the feed-in tariff on our PVs, and the heating’s so minimal. The energy company didn’t believe us when we said that we hadn’t used gas from the beginning of April to the beginning of November.

“We turn our boiler off and we run exclusively on solar PV energy and a little bit of electricity at night.”

An avid gardener, Claire has also created the garden from scratch. “Most of the plants I’ve grown from seed and that has been an absolute joy for me,” she said, adding: “We did so much of the work ourselves.

“My husband bought a nail gun for the batons in the wall and I sanded and applied two coats of varnish on every single piece of wood in the house – all oak.

“We both sanded and applied three coats on all the wood outside. It’s all colour-matched to the windows, guttering and down pipes and is in pristine condition.”

“I think people need to come and see this house to believe it.”

bidwells.co.uk/01223 841841