The farcical story of the farmer who built his own house over several years without planning permission, in secret, hidden behind a huge stack of hay bales, is evidence, if any were needed, that architectural flair and the most basic command of propositional logic need not go hand in hand. I visited the site earlier this year to see for myself; as I reported in my earlier post on the subject, I was stunned by how cleverly designed and beautifully crafted the building itself was despite it being largely constructed out of reclaimed materials (including grain silos for the two 'turrets'). It's pastiche, sure, but it's really, really good pastiche: lovely and sweet without being twee, witty and surprising whilst remaining somehow rather elegant and understated. I was equally stunned, though, by how foolish the owner, Robert Fiddler, had been in his attempts to circumvent the planning process, and in his apparent refusal to accept the inevitable, namely that the building will have to be demolished in line with a court order to that effect.
Mr Fiddler, having (predictably enough) ignored the demolition order, has now been held in contempt of court. He has been told that he will be jailed if he does not comply with the order by 6 June next year. Sadly, from the BBC report, he has, it seems, right up to the last moment still been playing silly, hopelessly ineffectual games vainly aimed at keeping the building standing: "Mr Fidler has told Mr Justice Dove that he had sold the house at Honeycrock Farm in Salfords to an Indian businessman and that the injunction ordering demolition was invalid." What did he think the Judge would make of that? That the law would say 'oh well, Mr Fiddler, since you've sold the property, you are completely off the hook'? Honestly!
It is all rather tragic. If only Mr Fiddler had possessed the slightest understanding of how to work with the grain of bureaucratic authority he would be able to enjoy the fruits of his considerable constructional achievements. Honeycrock Castle could easily have been showcased on Channel 4's George Clarke's Amazing Spaces or, perhaps, Grand Designs - instead of on Damned Designs: Don't Demolish My Home.
You could, though, equally observe that if only volume developers such as Taylor Wimpey and Barratt Homes, who, unlike Mr Fiddler, are very good indeed at playing the planning system, had even a modicum of that man's talent and flair for design, suburban Britain would not look anywhere near as awful as it does. Again, legalistic book-smarts and design ability are two very different things, and we live in a world where if you want to build anything you need a lot of former and absolutely none of the later.
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