grand designs: why?

[MousyMouse]

are there (almost) never polish builders shown?

last week's episode was there on Sunday night. It's series 7 not 8. Sometimes they only stay on 4od for a week so you might have missed it.

Aren't the episodes just ordered strangely on 4od?
THIS was last week's, wasn't ? The 2 academics acting as patrons for the 3d printer thing?

yes, that's the one. very weird indeed.
(but a very nice house in the end)

It was awful! -inside and out-so stark cold and uninviting-and how on earth did they get planning permission? It was so out of keeping with the rest of the street? I certainly wouldn't want to live opposite such a monstronsity!

Yep, you can admire the skill that goes into something like that but really, living in it? Just horrific. Last week's was also very modern and creative but in a way that managed to still pull off feeling like a home. Much nicer!

Got to watch this, will look tonight at it.

Looked like a couple of portacabins piled one on top of the other.

Felt sorry for the neighbours - those months of disruption with cranes and lorries and road closures. To end up with that pug-ugly lump dominating the street.

It's like those dreadful 'minimalist' white boxes people insist on building with their clean lines blah blah

And in the end you see a middle aged couple rattling around in something which is a cross between a visitor centre and a motorway service station.

The projects I loved were the Hoff (?) House, the woodsman who built his own house and a crazy couple from Edinburgh who rebuilt a castle.

Oh, I loved the man in the woods too! Such a calm character who obviously passionately loved his craft and was prepared to wait, work, wait, work and wait some more for his dream house. My fave one ever!

I loved it when Kevin went back and he had a wife and child and flower garden.

An amazing person and a far better example of the rejection of petit bourgeois values than last night's pair who were wearing sunglasses indoors FFS.

I also loved the man in the woods! And I read an article with Kev McC, and he said that was his favourite too!

My top 3 are the Waterworks in Derby circa 2002. Great couple and a great place. Next, I would choose the couple from Edinburgh who had a small victorian house in the centre of lots of tower blocks. Liked the stonework, not the house so much but the amount of work and dedication they had. Last but my no means least is the house in the woods, aww nice man and as it turns out great family in the end too.

Ben he was called. Ben the man in the woods in the Weald. Sob! I think he struck a real chord with people as we realised how much we too wanted to bring up families in a fairyland in the woods and, more importantly, BUILD A HOUSE FOR TWENTY FECKIN GRAND

The other one I remember is one in the middle of the Fens, build by a chap called Jacky (who had lovely blue eyes) who had a Japanese wife, and it was all made of wood. He was an utter craftsman, but the usual happened and they ran out of money mid-build. I remember being slightly awed by the sight of this little, delicate looking Japaneses lady harnessing herself to the roof in a gale, and nailing on about forty thousand wooden shingles.

And do you remember the one that deluded half wit eccentric bloke tried building on a boat from reclaimed materials and no architect's plan, or in fact any plan at all? Kevin clearly thought he was mad as well. I think the poor old boat ended up beached and abandoned up some muddy creek.

It was awful, i got the impression the woman just wants to be centre of attention and doesnt want anything to distract from that. There was no life in the house, no plants, no even on the roof terrace. It probably wont do his business any favours, especially the cheap shortcuts at the beginning.

I loved the waterworks and the woodmans houses, i also loved the setting of this, which must be so calming Not so much the interior, but the sitting on water.

I loved the Waterworks (the one with the red mini desk) I liked how Kevin was trying his hardest to get an angle on the story but couldn't. The couple kept within their budget, kept within their timeframe and were delighted with what they had achieved. It was completely drama free. I think the Grand Designs team prefer a few disasters along the way.

The Huff House was a joy to watch. Craftsman/builders working with precision and quality. Everything went to plan and the house was lovely. The only snag was the British lorry driver who got lost trying g to find the site

I really wanted to see the one last night at night time, all lit up. It's the only reason I watched it. I found them slightly irritating people, and I'm sure they are not, and are nice, but I found myself yelling at the telly "where's your junk?" And "Have you never heard of the word 'colour'?"

I'm banned from watching GD by DH he says that as i' an architect I take it all too seriously and get very sweary about it all.

Can we have a webcam feed of you getting all worked up and sweary? That would be quite fun actually.

I loved the Waterworks too, they were a really lovely couple and they worked their socks off to get it and then renovate it.

Actually Man In The Fens With Japanese Wife was called Kelly, not Jacky. I knew it was some kind of girl's name. And it was the Cambridgshire Fens not Norfolk. Wrong all round really.

Last week's one (with the nerds and lesbians) was great.

I loved the Irish couple. He was a builder and I think she was a researcher. What a really nice couple! The Irish actor with the unfinished castle was a bit exasperarting though, and a bit of a dreamer. I wonder if he ever fnished his project?

Which was the one with the middle aged single woman who bought a Martello tower? I think it was on last year but it might have been the Caroline Quentin series not Kevin. I really want to see the revisit of that one.

DH gets a regular email from a website called the Modern House and quite often a GD property comes up there for sale. We lust after them all.

What about the guy with the upside down wing shaped roof? It started raining before the wildly expensive wood had been sealed, and he called it 'a fur lined, copper bottomed, ocean going balls up' :)

I loved the woodsman, but I lose the plot and start dribbling when the Danish student randomer turns up and gets stuck in to the labouring.

Why is my life not like that?

Why?