George Clarke marvels at ‘architectural beauty’ of incredible countryside cabin – made from refrigerated supermarket lorry boxes
Nestled in Norfolk is an incredible countryside cabin – but onlookers might never guess how it was made.
The cosy holiday home is built entirely from repurposed refrigerated supermarket lorry boxes – with everything inside the cabin also fashioned from repurposed and sustainable materials.
At first glance, the cosy lodge looks like any other countryside getaway but the home, which featured on tonight’s episode of George Clarke’s Amazing Spaces, was praised by the host as a ‘thing of architectural beauty’.
Complete with secondhand windows and beams made from fallen trees, the cottage was crafted using six-year-old lorry boxes that are used to transport groceries – and are typically hard to recycle.
What makes the home even more impressive was that it was built in six months on a total cost of £16,500 – less than the £20,000 budget its owners had allocated for the DIY project.
Despite its modest exterior, the finished home is surprisingly luxurious and features a snug bedroom and living area, as well as a shower room, and a compostable toilet.
‘[It’s] a thing of architectural beauty,’ George said when he first saw the building. ‘I mean, that is stunning’.
Former Londoners and self-proclaimed ‘outdoorsy’ folk, Helen and her husband Pete decided to create their unique home after living in the UK’s capital city for 30 years – before leaving to be closer to nature.
Tonight’s episode of George Clarke’s Amazing Spaces featured a Norfolk countryside cabin that was formerly just a collection of refrigerated lorry boxes (like the one above)
Complete with secondhand windows and beams made from fallen trees, the cottage was crafted using six-year-old lorry boxes that are used to transport groceries – and are typically hard to recycle
Helen said, ‘My husband and I have been in London for 30 years, and we’re very outdoorsy people. We kept revisiting the question of, “Shall we, shan’t we leave the city?”‘
‘So, we bought and renovated a barn. When we came to the end of the build, we had a big pile of things left over, and I said, “Shall we try building a house with that pile of stuff?”‘
Ultimately, the couple decided to take the plunge and built the entire house from reclaimed and recycled materials.
George visited Helen before the project started and expressed his surprise at the ‘bonkers’ plan.
Helen explained, ‘It’s slightly bonkers, but I am going to buy some refrigerated lorry boxers, if you can imagine the lorry that would deliver your supermarket shopping, I’m buying three of those and I’m going to create something very wonderful with them.’
After George heard about the couple’s plans, Helen sought the help of her friend Colin, and the pair got straight to work, joining three refrigerated boxes to form the cabin.
The lorry boxes had been retired after six years of use – and over 250,000 miles on the road
A sketch of the design
Despite its modest exterior, the finished home is surprisingly luxurious and features a snug bedroom (above) and living area, as well as a shower room, and a compostable toilet.
The Amazing Spaces host remarked he would never have been able to guess the home was built from lorry boxes
The DIY experts cut the roof off the boxes and added a steel cover, as well as a curved section at the front to form a porch.
‘Through a recycling point of view, it’s a nightmare, because it’s got foam surrounded by fibre glass, and then mixed in is strips of aluminium,’ Colin said, adding that people don’t bother with recycling the lorry boxes because it involves taking them apart entirely.
George added: ‘It is bonkers, it is mad, but it’s actually quite wonderful, because you are taking something at the end of its life as a supermarket vehicle, but it can start its new life as something else.’
And that’s what Helen did, because when George took to Norfolk to visit the recycled cabin as a finished product, he couldn’t believe the transformation.
‘Where on earth of the refrigerated boxes? I can’t see them anywhere,’ George said while marvelling at the creation.
He added, ‘It’s almost inconceivable that those boxes which delivered food have been transformed into this rustic, romantic cabin retreat.’
The host looked inside and was, once again, shocked at how Helen had managed to pull her plan off.
George said: ‘Inside, the design has been kept elegantly simple, with a mix of recycled timbres throughout, creating a smug ambience with lots of beautiful touches.
Another view of Helen and Pete’s romantic cabin
After building the home, Helen and Pete went about adding whimsical decor elements – like this inviting armchair
The cottage was finished with secondhand windows and beams made from fallen trees
‘Pretty much everything has been repurposed, even the kitchen doors have been made from old palettes. What an incredible transformation.’
Every wall or roof panel is part of the refrigerated lorry boxes which, Helen said, means ‘it’s cool in the summer, and it’s warm in the winter’.
George concluded: ‘It just shows how brilliant you are at sourcing things, recycling things, repurposing things, reinventing things, and working unbelievably hard to save on labour costs, I take my hat off to you. Well done.’
George Clarke’s Amazing Spaces airs at 9pm on Tuesdays on Channel 4.
