Roadie Angus Mitchell is selling his eco home with rock 'n' roll built in

Nestled between a beech tree and a sycamore and hidden away in a former sheepfold high above Hebden Bridge, The Sett is designed to be discreet and to blend with its natural surroundings.

The rural dwelling is a quiet addition to the landscape and yet it has plenty to shout about. This is one of Yorkshire’s most remarkable homes, the sort that would have Grand Designs presenter Kevin McCloud spouting superlatives.Handcrafted by roadie Angus Mitchell, it is built almost entirely from reclaimed timber, along with upcycled cast-offs from sets that he helped build for rock, pop and folk artists including The Red Hot Chilli Peppers, The Hollies, Westlife and Joan Baez, among many others.Its domed aluminium frame once formed part of a set at the Royal Albert Hall. Kylie and Girls Aloud danced through it into the spotlight. The plywood cladding is from stages use by Robbie Williams and Jennifer Lopez and the sofa was a gift from Joan Baez.

“Joan asked me to go shopping for a couch and a lamp to make the stage more homely and less bare. I managed to find a second-hand, 7ft long Tetrad sofa. We dragged it on and off stage all round Europe and, as she couldn’t take it back to California with her, she said I could have it. I think the rest of the crew would’ve burned it at Calais otherwise.“I had it recovered and it’s now my favourite piece of furniture,” says Angus, who is selling his idyllic home to go travelling.The “Joan Baez sofa” could be included in the sale of the property, which is on the market for offers in the region of £240,000. The plot it sits on is not included. Instead, Angus will dismantle, transport and rebuild the house for the new owner in a place of their choice.

“It would be ideal for someone who has a plot and wants a ready-made, eco-friendly home or it could be additional accommodation in the grounds of a house or possibly a holiday home or a holiday let,” says Angus, who moved to his rural idyll 20 years ago.Keen for a change of lifestyle, he first lived in a caravan and then in a yurt. He planted trees and created an orchard before building The Sett.“I loved the yurt. It was my sanctuary after travelling around Europe on tours. It’s where I returned to decompress but the problem was my belongings were often damp and covered in slugs after leaving them in the yurt for long periods while I was away.“That’s when I came up with the idea for this and I started it in 2012.”The plan was for the building to have as little impact as possible on the environment and the construction process was slow and considered. Gathering materials and self-building in between roadie-ing also took time amnd a lot of effort, though mastering the skills needed came surprisingly easy.While he passed O’level woodwork, he had no formal construction training but working on his own home took the wraps off a gift for carpentry.“It was needs must but it just seemed to come naturally and I really enjoyed doing it,” says Angus, 54, who also had help from friends, including Chris Sutcliffe.

Angus and his partner Michelle in the handcrafted house

The characterful and beautiful handcrafted home has been compared to a work of art by many visitors who are often loathe to leave.It has 751 sq. ft of space and is built on a raised platform of telegraph poles and boards. It comprises of the domed aluminium frame as support and is packed with ex-military insulation from an Army and Navy store in Derbyshire. This is topped with plywood cladding upcycled from old stages. Outside, the walls have been topped with wood shingles and the whole structure has a “living” green roof.The timber home is light-filled thanks to a large central skylight and plenty of windows and it feels spacious. The Sett has a sun porch, kitchen, a large bedroom with potential to create a second bedroom, and a bathroom with a bath with a large picture window overlooking trees. These surround a large, circular sitting room, which is the property’s pièce de résistance.

This room is lined with 19th century pitch pine and hemlock. The round oak doors complete the thematic celebration of circularity and feature door handles made from carthorse tack leathers from Angus’s father, who was a forester.“Almost everything is recycled,” says Angus, who is particularly proud of the 19th century herringbone floor, which sits on top of insulated stage boards.It is known as “the Bombardier” as it comes from the internal boardwalk of the former Bombardier Works in Doncaster, which is famed for making The Flying Scotsman and The Mallard steam trains.“The ceiling is from an old school gym in Bradford and I’ve also reclaimed wood from old mills and from the canal when it was being renovated,” says Angus.The adjoining kitchen is framed in solid pine and finished in oak with a slate worktop from an old snooker table.

The sun porch features oak posts from 18th century galleons and has double doors leading onto a small outer deck.An 8kw multi-fuel stove with a back boiler links to a gravity-fed heating system installed by Roger Ditchburn and there’s electricity from solar and wind power, though The Sett could also be connected to the mains.

Leaving this idyll will be hard for Angus and his partner, Michelle. He says: “I have loved living here. I put my heart and soul and all my spare time into building it but I am embarking on another life change. It means I should have more time to see family and friends but it is going to be very difficult to leave this paradise.”Viewings can arranged directly through Angus Mitchell, tel: 07960 793193 or [email protected]