On the brink of retirement, Shropshire farmers Ruth and Tony are at the point in their lives when they hope to start taking life easy. However, faced with a crumbling farmhouse, they are having to knock it down - and they have ambitious plans to replace it with a determinedly modern design.

After living their whole lives in conventional houses with every modern convenience, Jane and Andy have bought a plot on an eco-community in West Wales where they can build their own home and live a self-sufficient lifestyle. As passionate environmentalists, they intend to build the house with locally sourced materials and to demonstrate that it is possible to build an environmentally friendly and comfortable house.