One city couple desperate to give their family proper outdoor space decided on a radical, rural downsize. But for how long can they rub along in such proximity?
As Laura Hubbard-Miles and her husband, Tim Francis, prepared to welcome their third child, their thoughts turned, naturally enough, to their living arrangements. But at a point when most couples start looking for more space, they have instead done the opposite and moved their growing family into a home not much bigger than a garage. The Fruit Store is a 15 sq metre (160 sq ft) stone outhouse that once kept apples fresh but now stores two 34-year-old adults and their children, James, five, Tom, three, and newborn Edith. Even an estate agent would struggle to describe the place as bijou. It is, quite simply, tiny – and that’s partly why they chose it.
While many of us live in poky accommodation owing to a lack of other options, the Laura and Tim have joined a growing number of people purposefully converting to small-scale living – the so-called tiny house movement. Downsizing is hardly a new idea, but its current incarnation is a response to environmental and financial concerns as much as the age-old desire for simplicity and freedom. As house prices continue to rise far beyond the budgets of many families, tiny homes – any residential structure smaller than 46 sq metres – offer a cost-effective and ecologically sound alternative for those prepared to squeeze into them.
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