Quietness is a rare commodity in an age of noise, nevertheless when Nickie and Willie Gething decided to act upon a long-held ambition to build their own home, finding the perfect site away from the cacophony of traffic noise was fundamental to their search. “You must be in love with the location before you start building, because it’s going to be a marathon,” Willie explains. “Places unaffected by roads yet within striking distance of London are as rare as hens’ teeth, but we were determined to find somewhere quiet and peaceful.”
Eventually, Willie, a property fund manager, and Nickie, who works with him, found a modest farmhouse in Somerset, with a collection of derelict outbuildings, a separate farmyard and extensive land, which offered the peace and privacy they craved. It…
