How many of us dream of the perfect home, beautifully tailored to our own living requirements and style? And how many more of us dream of creating that home in a spectacular spot overseas?
Packed with advice and inspiration for both real and armchair builders.
Kevin McCloud covers the requirements for locating and buying land and property, and securing building permission in Spain, France, Italy and Ireland - including plenty of pointers on the common pitfalls. Both complete self-builds and renovations are covered, with advice on building abroad as well as what to do when things - as they so often do - go wrong.
As one would expect from Kevin McCloud, the book is exceptionally strong on design - looking at issues such as working with the landscape, using local materials in both traditional and unusual ways and when breaking the mould really can pay off.
And of course the book is illustrated with glorious examples and salutary tales.
An ultra-modern hillside house in Malaga, a restored castle in Tuscany and a converted church on Ireland's wild west coast are just some of the properties featured, all with their own powerful stories of individuals' dreams, disasters and triumphs.
