WHEN JOHN AND BETTY Delliere decided to go househunting in France, they set about the task in a decidedly eccentric way. Instead of searching the countryside for their dream home, they bought it in bits and pieces from French reclamation yards and built it in Surrey.
The project was partly sentimental: John wanted a house with French style and materials in tribute to his grandfather, a Frenchman who came to England and founded the White House linen shop in Bond Street in 1906. It was also practical: even after adding the transport costs, John reckons that reclaimed building materials from France cost between 20 and 50 per cent less than they do in England, where people compete to buy period artefacts.
His discovery may prompt a trend, with Britons in white vans returning from a weekend in France with tiles, guttering, doors and stonework instead of beer, wine and cheeses. John warns anyone inclined to follow his lead, however, that buying from reclamation yards in France is not a simple matter.
The Dellieres originally bought the 18th-century Stable Cottage in Ripley, Surrey, for its wonderful location: up a private road, with two ponds and acres of land, with the River Wey in the background, yet only five minutes from the A3. The cottage had three bedrooms, but two were minute. They planned to enlarge the cottage by adding two matching wings, but reckoned without the local council’s “retaining small dwellings” policy. It took ten years to win planning permission, during which time their three sons slept in the stables.
They made good use of the time by getting an architect to draw up plans, seeking opinions from structural engineers and tracking down French materials during family holidays.
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John says: “Each year we spent a week slowly driving to the South of France. I visited yards, kept detailed records, put down deposits and took photographs of pieces I liked. I found that reclamation yards in the north of France sell materials 20 per cent cheaper than English yards and that the farther south you go the cheaper it gets. When you buy is also important. During the autumn lots of materials are sold off cheaply to clear the yards before winter.”
Eventually they won planning permission. Engineers recommended pulling down the cottage and rebuilding to make the structure stronger, but the plan stalled while they searched for reclaimed bricks.
“We couldn’t find enough matching bricks in France and had to wait until we heard that a convent in Romsey was being demolished,” John says. At last building work started on a replica of the Stable Cottage — with increased ceiling height to accommodate John’s 6ft 4in frame — plus its two matching wings. It was time to visit the French reclamation yards.
John asked a friend who runs a haulage business to tell him when he had an empty lorry returning to England. The call came and John flew to France. Loading the massive roof timbers, stone fireplaces, garden urns, terracotta tiles and flagstones took two days.
“We had hoped to load in one day, but work at the first yard took so long that by the time we got to the second they said they were going to lunch, so we all went off for a good lunch as well. The lorry was the very biggest one allowed on our roads. It took three forklift trucks to get some of the beams on board — one at each end and one in the middle.
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“When it was loaded we dashed round the antique shops to fill up any remaining space.”
Back in Surrey a new problem arose. The lorry was too big to get round the corner to the site. It had to be parked blocking the lane for a long weekend while everything was carried on forklift trucks. Then the huge 250-year-old oak beams used for roof supports were lowered into place by crane. Only a few building firms had the skills to create an 18th-century replica using old building techniques yet complying with modern building regulations. The planners insisted that a modern roof be installed in one wing, rather than be supported by the ancient beams. The Dellieres complied but built a second ceiling using the beams beneath the modern version.
Disaster struck when the first company went bust, then the second firm did the same. “The house was nearly finished so I asked the tradesmen to continue working directly for us. Betty became site foreman. The men were fantastic.”
Finally the house was ready, having taken 30 months as opposed to the proposed 18 months, and the Dellieres moved from their cramped lodgings in the stables into their new five-bedroom, four-bathroom house, now renamed Wey Mill House. The project had taken so long that their three sons had grown up and only one remains at home.
The house is now for sale for £2.65 million, and comes complete with a lavender-lined path leading to the house and a French garden featuring pots of olive trees at one side.
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Although John retires soon from the White House, he has a retirement job in mind — helping other Britons to find building materials in France. “The reclamation yards I used are all south of Avignon,” he says. “The secret is to take a camera, measure everything scrupulously and take good notes.
“We wanted a fireplace that was decorating the office of one yard. They refused to sell, so I took a photograph and got a stone mason in the village to make one up to our measurements — again at half the cost we would have paid in Britain. I speak fluent French and I do business in France, which helps because even I have to admit that the French can be awkward when they feel like it.”