What do you think of Sarah Beeny's mega-mansion?

[StrychnineInTheSandwiches]

A new programme has started on Channel 4 following Sarah Beeny and her husband (and their four kids) as they build their ginormous new house in Somerset.

The house looks like a Lego version of a Georgian country pile. It's naff looking I'm being honest. (yes I can say that. no it isn't a very mean thing to say). The kind of house a Russian oligarch who fancied being an English country gent two weekends a year might have built.

I think we're supposed to worry along with them as to whether their Lego mansion runs over budget and doesn't get finished on time.

Their dog Maple is gorgeous though. No grumbles about Maple.

I agree the garage is a bit of an odd choice. But overall I quite like it. It'll look much better once they have landscaped around it and put some trees in.

Makes a change from the big glass boxes that everyone does on Grand Designs, anyway.

Have just googled Rise Hall, they sold it for £1.4m which seems a bit of a bargain!

How does she keep getting paid just to talk about what she's doing??

Not to my taste but the house is ok. Don't know why they're put the wooden cladding bits on the side though so out of place and very odd. Looks like they couldn't afford to finish it in stone.

I suppose it’s a refreshing change from purchasing a 4-bedroom house and transforming it into a 9-bedroom HMO!
It’s quite nice, but as PP have mentioned, a little strange to have the two wooden lean-to’s on each side... it’s great what they are doing with the environmental parts of their land though - that is quite inspirational.

The door is too narrow and throws the look completely.

It's awful. An "anti Grand Designs".

I hope they're going to spend silly money on some decent trees /hedges near the house.

It's ok. Graham, however!

I never understand why anyone would watch this type of programme. It’s all going to be exaggerated for the TV. Tedious

It looks like aliens have beemed down a 3D printed approximation of an English country house.

Or one of those Asian theme parks

I prefer a farmhouse on a farm. That type of building - a pseudo Georgian mansion - looks as though it belongs in a deer park not on a farm. And it is so unsympathetic to the local environment, and neither authentically old or authentically modern that I have no idea how it got planning permission.

Maybe I missed it but I would have liked them to have addressed this subject on the programme as it is the elephant in the room really. I presume the wooden sheds are there to say "we know this is a witty knock off", similar to the glass sweetie urns on the mantel, but they really look odd to my eye.

If I had the money and skill set I would have built some kind of modern eco house that blended in. But I guess that would have been an extended Grand Designs with dc & dog.

I think her children are lovely though! But I have huge misgivings about anyone who puts their dc on the telly. The dog is gorgeous!

And I agree that the programme's supposed cliff hanger of "will the tight budget stretch?" is rather lame because they both work professionally in property and are obviously fairly well off and good at what they do, so it feels contrived.

Having said all of that, the programme is a lot more interesting and watchable - as are Sarah and her husband themselves - than lots of lockdown telly about property where the "name" has been allowed to run with an idea. Matt Baker's or Nick Knowles's latest offerings are pitifully bad for example. The camera work is beautifully done. And I like how they have included local country pursuits in each episode. It was very interesting about the bees swarming in to a different hive.

And it is interesting to watch the family dynamic which is very one sidedly male. Sarah obviously has to be fairly tough in order to allow her female voice to be heard.

I confess that I am interested to see how they do the other rooms!

Not feeling that picture at all. But must be fun to design and build a home you want.

I quite enjoyed the programme, it must be exciting building your own home to your own tastes. I really loved the bees walking up into their new home too.

I quite like the house except for the tacked on wooden cladded bits and I like what they are doing for the wildlife on their property.

For those that haven’t seen the first series, I’d watch that on catch-up. It was actually quite an interesting build

@MLMshouldbeillegal

Said the same thing last night. I'm not a fan of sticking "period features" like mouldings or columns in a new house to make it look old.

Especially if those features are made of MDF to make it cheaper.

What happened with Rise Hall in Yorkshire?

Did they just give up on it, because it was too big a project?

It isn't my cup of tea but I suppose all mansions were new once and its difficult to afford traditional building methods without being a billionaire.

It's awful. I guess money can't buy taste.

It'd be far better to just build something modern than to try to replicate a period style.

It’s raised a lot of eyebrows locally. *

I believe the (old) house / land was subject to an AOO (agricultural occupancy order), so not sure how that brief is being fulfilled - unless beehives count.

And no, most of us can’t just dig out a mahoosive lake (pp usually needed).

My last moan - there are at least 4 local quarries they could have used for the stone. Less miles, £ for local business & more in keeping with area. But no, they went out of area.

There have been plenty of new builds springing up locally. Everything from stone, wood and metal clad. But nothing on this scale.

• I am very local.

*What happened with Rise Hall in Yorkshire?

Did they just give up on it, because it was too big a project?*

They hired it out as a wedding venue then sold it

I’m not a fan of this type of architecture. It is just a pastiche in the Alain de Botton description - “an unconvincing reproduction of the styles of the past” an almost disneyfication of a the neoclassic Georgian era.

That said, I don’t have to live there or look at it 😉

It's a shit hole. Needs an abandoned pissy mattress and discarded cans of Tennant's super to finish the look.

In all seriousness, it's a bit OTT and wouldn't be for me, but someone has to spend the money and put the hard work in so we can gawk at these places, and I would much rather it was Sarah Beeny than me.

I much prefer the French Chateau and the couple that do that programme personally.

I think the people who bought Rise Hall had been there for quite a few years as events organisers and advisers.

This new house is a massive project. I'll be interested to see when it's finished. I don't understand the wooden bits each side as yet and don't care for the mocked up features., but we'll see.

They do seem to have a nice, relaxed family life and I loved the dog and the beest, which really wasn't the point, but...

It's not a new series. Just series 2.

I much preferred Rise Hall but I can totally understand why people want period style with modern luxury . I grew up in a rambling pile and it was always freezing, had an attic of bats and hardly ever hot water. Restoration to modern standards would have been impossible without millions. Bits where done but it we never used over half the house.
I always wanted to live in a normal house as a child,, though looking back we did have fun. Riding bikes in the halls ,playing hide and seek in unoccupied rooms and we had lots of pets who lived inside .