A Village of Dream Homes

Have you ever watched Grand Designs and imagined what life would be like if we could all build our dream homes exactly how we wanted? No more boring rows of identical brick houses from the big developers—just streets filled with quirky, creative, one-of-a-kind homes. Well, there’s a place in the UK where that dream has been turned into a (sometimes chaotic) reality.

Welcome to Graven Hill, a neighborhood near Bicester in Oxfordshire that has been part of a bold experiment in self-building for the past 10 years. Here, houses don’t follow any set design rules. Roofs tilt at odd angles, windows come in all shapes—circles, triangles, squares—and there’s a real mix of materials, from rusty steel panels to fake wood and colorful fiber cement boards. It’s like someone let people loose in a hardware store with no rules and unlimited creativity.

There’s even a house with a blue-and-white striped exterior and a massive giraffe outside. Some houses are shaped like towers, others look like seaside chalets, and some are more like miniature castles. It’s a world where you can build what you love—even if that means adding turrets and unicorn weathervanes.

One of the most eye-catching homes belongs to Frevisse Dearsley-Hitchcock and her husband, Giles. Their bright blue house is straight out of a fairy tale, complete with two octagonal turrets—one for each of their kids. Each turret is topped with a cupola (that little dome on top of a roof), and each cupola has its own custom weathervane. One features a unicorn, and the other a penguin reading a book. Local kids have even said they think a Disney princess lives there!

But building a dream home is no fairy tale. The Dearsley-Hitchcocks bought their plot for £260,000 back in 2018. Because Graven Hill plots come with planning permission already approved, they thought things would be easy. But it turned out to be a long and expensive journey. Before the house was even above ground, they had already spent £400,000 just dealing with foundation and basement issues. Builders struggled with their American-inspired features like a laundry chute and pocket doors, and the basement wasn’t even straight when it had to be signed off. Seven years later, their house is still not finished, and their budget has doubled.

Graven Hill isn’t just a quirky TV show idea—it was actually the brainchild of Cherwell District Council, inspired by a similar self-build neighborhood in Almere, Netherlands. The council bought land from the Ministry of Defence and created a special company to manage the project. They wanted to mix self-builders with custom-builders (those who use a developer but can tweak designs) and made “plot passports” that provided loose design guidelines. The idea was to create a vibrant, mixed community of people from all walks of life.

In the early days, plots were sold at low prices—around £100,000—to attract “pioneer” residents, and their building journeys were even filmed for a special series called Grand Designs: The Streets. One of those early residents, Lynn Pratt, built a unique house with tiles like a pangolin’s scales wrapped around a big, barn-like roof. She was drawn to the promise of community, creativity, and eco-friendly living. Her entire house, including land, cost about £350,000.

But over time, the original vision seems to have faded. Self-built homes are now rare, with developers taking over and building more standard-looking brick houses. Lynn and others feel the spirit of the project has been lost, with rising costs pushing out many would-be self-builders. Promised community amenities, like a grocery store or a bus stop, haven’t appeared yet, and early residents feel a bit stranded.

Affordable housing was also part of the plan—30% of homes were meant to be for people on lower incomes. But instead of being blended into the neighborhood, these homes are often built as plain rows of terraces, separate from the unique self-built properties. Some tenants have complained about cold, damp houses that don’t meet the eco-friendly promises. One retired architect, John McCormack, said the affordable homes look like they were airlifted from a 1980s estate and feel disconnected from the rest of the neighborhood. “Good design doesn’t have to cost more,” he said, “but it just wasn’t done here.”

Even though over 600 homes are now occupied, Graven Hill is still lacking a lot of the promised features—a community center, a pub, and that all-important local shop. The company managing it all, Graven Hill Village Development Company, says it’s hard to attract businesses to lease retail spaces, even if the buildings are ready. Meanwhile, costs keep climbing. They've already spent over £2 million fixing things like damaged pavements and green areas, which have taken a beating from ongoing construction.

The development is still very much a work in progress. The next phase of building is being revised due to complaints about crowded layouts and not enough green space. While the company says future plans will follow a stricter design code, residents worry that it’s drifting further from the self-build dream and becoming just another regular housing estate.

So, is this the future of housing? Maybe. Graven Hill shows what’s possible when people are given the freedom to dream—and also what can go wrong when that dream meets reality. The result is messy, creative, and sometimes frustrating—but it’s definitely not boring.

As Frevisse puts it, “I don’t know if I’d recommend self-build.” It’s not for everyone. It’s expensive, stressful, and slow. But if you’re determined, you might just get the house of your dreams—even if it comes with a few nightmares along the way.

And hey, at least you get to choose your own weathervane.