The Plot

I haven't said much about the plot yet - or even where it is. It in Wellington Heath, just outside Ledbury, in Herefordshire.

We turned found the plot by Internet search and something about it peaked my interest. I think we visited twice before making an offer. Its an awkward pitched site with a difficult planning history but I always wanted to build an earth sheltered house (although it tuns out it will be alot less earth sheltered than I imagined) and the price was within reach.

We had looked at alot of sites but they were in the middle of nowhere which I didn't want as I didn't want to totally reliant on a car, or were infill sites in villages/suburbs which just didn't set my imagination racing.

The site is actually an infill site, between a 50's council built cottage and an 1800's quarry workers cottage (brick built), but its has those views and is on the edge of the village so you don't feel to cramped.

I have quickly fallen in love with Herefordshire, a county I had barely ever visited before. As you turn on to the M50 from the M5 the countryside changes and soon you are in a very different world to the Midlands I am used to. It does remind me of the countryside I grew up in near Melton Mowbray, so I think I am getting comforting echoes of my youth and associations with my late parents. Now that they are both gone that connection seems suddenly very important despite the connection being only in my imagination.

Wellington Heath is a mile or so out of Ledbury which is a really lovely town - all the amenities you could need day to day and the people seem nice based on our experiences to date.

The village is quite ramshackle haven grown up through illegal settlements of quarry, canal and railway workers, but is rather fun for that. It has a good pub but no shops, but as Ledbury is so close this is understandable.