House of straw is award winner

IT MAY not have worked for the three little pigs, but building a house of straw has been an outstanding success for a Perthshire couple.

Willy and Wendy Graham’s low-cost straw-built home near Aberfeldy has won the 2012 Murray Armor Self Builder of the Year award.

It is aimed at people who have championed the cause of self-build and deliver their project ‘against the odds’.

Judges said the house stood out because it used mostly locally-sourced, natural and recycled materials.

It cost around £200,000 to build.

Willy said: “Building with straw bales is a very enjoyable thing to do, and fairly unskilled.

“You get to the stage of having walls very quickly and it’s much cheaper than using many other construction methods.

“We see it as a method for people that don’t need or don’t want to know a lot about complicated building methods.

“We are delighted with the house. Different bits appeal at different times of the day and the year and we know we’ll stay here forever.”