Overview

Evaluating the information gathered in the questionnaire, the site servey, and the base map phases of this design along with some additional internet searches on estate agent websites, values have been summarised below under the following headings: The Town, The House, The Garden, The Cost. In these summaries, I have included one permaculture principle to add extra value to each heading.

 

The Town

Richmond is a town that has a lot to offer for somebody that is looking to buy a house away from the chaos of larger towns and cities. Situated on the edge of Swale Dale North Yorkshire the town has a rural feel to it and a good sense of community.

A permaculture principle to consider here is Use & Value Diversity. As highlighted in the previous part of the design Richmond has many groups and organizations to connect with and learn from. A good example here would be to create a permaculture network to add extra value and diversity to the town. Perhaps it could be called Richmond and Dales Permaculture Network.

 

The House

There are many two-bedroom houses in Richmond. The town offers many locations, some with amazing views others with no views at all. Houses in the town come in a variety of shapes and sizes and as you would expect in all types of conditions. Timing is going to be the key to unlocking the door, Richmond is a town where houses often sell very quickly especially houses on the lower end of the price scale.

A permaculture principle to consider here is: Creatively Use & Respond to Change. Keeping an open mind to what you want your house to be like may turn out to be very valuable. For example, to be able to move straight into a house after buying it without having to do any work to it might be the preferred option. This could also mean that the asking price is higher than if the house needed work doing to it to make it liveable. Been ready to Creatively Use & Respond to Change could be the principle that allows you to buy a much better house.

 

The Garden

Realistically in the town, the two-bedroom houses often come with smaller gardens. Permaculture does provide solutions for small space productive food gardening so this should be taken into consideration with the final design.

A permaculture principle to consider here is: Use Edges & Value the Marginal. If a house comes with a smaller garden what opportunities are available to convert the space into a highly productive garden. For example, due to the small size of the garden, it might be in a warm sheltered location allowing for certain food crops to be grown that in a larger more open garden growing such things would not be possible.  

 

The Cost

In the end, it will be money that will rule the final decision. Richmond has expensive house prices, no matter the size or the location, house prices are generally high throughout the whole of the town. There are always exceptions to the rule, so this will be important to remember when we are laying out the final design.

A permaculture principle to consider here is: Integrate Rather than Segregate. When looking at properties think about how different elements in the design could be stacked. For example, the house has no driveway but there is a car pack that is surrounded by deciduous trees. Late autumn the fallen leaves from these trees can be gathered and composted into leaf mould, this intern can be used in the garden to improve the soil for growing food.  

 

Our wants and needs

After adding values to each of the above four main areas I still believe there will be a house that comes very close to our wants and needs.

With the help of the permaculture principles and using the information gathered so far in this design process, we should be able to look at different properties in new ways often turning something that would be a problem into a solution.