Another brick in the wall

GILLIE Armitage is used to showing people around her home.

It’s not that she’s selling it; it’s that her husband built it using bricks from his factory and likes to offer potential customers a look around.

David Armitage owns the York Handmade Brick Company and had always fancied building a house from scratch using his own bricks.

The opportunity presented itself in the form of the wonderfully named Batman House Farm in the village of Nun Monkton, off the A59 York to Harrogate road.

A divorcee, David was already living in the village and hoped his Scottish fiancée (her name pronounced like a Highland fisherman) would see the potential in the site.

The green rendered building had been on the market for two years and was in need of some serious restoration.

“We didn’t want the house as it was, as we felt the site had so much more potential,” recalls David.

“We also had no need for the extensive farm buildings surrounding the house at the back where our garden now stands. But we decided to take a chance and bought it for just under £200,000. It was a gamble, especially as we knew we would need planning permission to demolish it and build another house in its place. Still, gambles are there to be taken.”

Thankfully, Gillie liked that the site had plenty of sunlight and a beautiful view so she went along with the plan.

“There was a part of me that wondered whether we should be moving to a completely different village to start our married life,” she says. “But it didn’t take long for me to realise why David loves Nun Monkton so much.”

Once planning permission came through, the hard work started.

Partly to save money and also because he knew this probably would be the only opportunity he would ever get to build his own house, David took on the role of project manager.

“I say to everyone who is thinking about self-building make sure you’re on site,” says David. “I was determined not to miss a day. Things just don’t run as smoothly if you’re not around. If you can’t put your own life on hold don’t self-build.”

He chose an architect, Bill Pinner, who had previously worked as a stage director in the theatre so had a wonderful eye for lighting.

“There’s plenty of natural light but you need somebody who knows what they’re doing to make the most of it,” advises David, who proudly reports the house has 32 Georgian-style windows. The one at the top of the galleried landing is particularly impressive.

The design the couple chose was a traditional L-shaped Georgian-style farmhouse, featuring an Old Clamp Blend of bricks, which have a ready-weathered appearance that blended in - rather than stood out - with the neighbouring houses.

It took just two weeks, and £6,000, to demolish the old house in the summer of 1997 and the race was on to complete the new house by the following Easter when David and Gillie’s children – six between them – had promised to come to stay to see their parents’ new home.

Like many modern couples, David and Gillie have had to balance the needs of their children from previous marriages. Since building, grandchildren have come along.

“If I can give one piece of advice to families in the same situation it’s give the children as much space as possible and let them choose their own things,” says Gillie.

“We worked in a little sitting room for the children so they didn’t have to be downstairs with us if they didn’t want to be. We even had another phone line put in and an extra little bathroom. I also felt it was important that they chose the colour of their bedrooms rather than stepmother deciding everything.”

Time has ticked on and while Gillie would like to “do” the kitchen again – “I’ve reached an age where I don’t want to be bending, I want everything to be at a more convenient height” – it’s a credit to the couple’s original design that it’s not looking dated.

“Times have changed,” reflects Gillie. “We now spend a lot more of our time in the kitchen. I wouldn’t necessarily have a separate dining room these days. We do a lot less formal entertaining and much more sitting around the kitchen table. So that’s something I’d do differently, have a large open-plan kitchen cum dining room.”

Over the Aga there is a hand-painted tile mural by local artist Shirley Madden, featuring the ducks on the village pond. The terracotta floor tiles are David’s. An old-fashioned touch is the north facing pantry – not many are included in the average new build.

Hanging in pride of place on the kitchen wall is a gift from Nun Monkton Primary School, which stands at the opposite side of the green.

“This mosaic means the world to David,” says Gillie. “It was made by the children and presented to him when he retired as chairman of the governors after 25 years. The school was once threatened with closure and David led the fight to save it.”

Local carpenter Mick Dowson did much of the work in the house, including the windows and the wonderful book case in the snug.

The paintings on the wall in here are by Gillie’s goddaughter, Scottish artist Georgia McMaster.

“I got her to paint Teal, David’s dog, and I just love Highland cows,” explains Gillie. “They remind me of home.”

Behind the door in the downstairs cloakroom is a striking dog wallpaper by Jane Churchill, a gift from a friend for David’s 70th birthday.

Neither David or Gillie are keen gardeners, although they’re very proud of a wisteria that cost just £7 from Marks and Spencer ten years ago which has grown to cover one side of the house with the most wonderful blooms.

David’s face lights up when he talks about his beloved brickwork, saying nine out of ten potential customers decide to buy his bricks after getting the tour of the boss’s house.

Features such as key stones – the V-shape above the windows – abound.

“We once had a couple from America and they said ‘we’d like the bricks but can you get us the grass as well?’ remembers David. “Ours is a different, less coarse, mix of grasses than they have over there so we sorted it for them.”

Bricks have been sold to as far afield as Japan and California. Closer to home, they have done work at Whitby Abbey for English Heritage, as well as Scampston Hall and Harewood House.

David Armitage, York Handmade Brick Company, 01347 838881 or visit www.yorkhandmade.co.uk

Mick Dowson, 01347 838272 www.dowson-joinery.com