The House That Jimi Built

Marianne Heron visits a Wicklow home where a gardener has taken root

Here's the deal. You have a piece of land where you are starting a business and creating a garden and you need a home there - fast. In addition you have to make a trip to China. It sounds like mission impossible, but gardener Jimi Blake found a solution in a house which took just seven weeks to build.

His wooden home at Hunting Brook looks positively alpine, with a steeply pitched roof, overhanging eaves and a veranda back and front. Backed by a copse of beech, oak and larch trees with views across a valley to the mountains, the setting seems remove, yet Jimi's Wicklow retreat is on a Dublin Bus route.

Having researched the possibility of a wooden home, Jimi opted for a Polish system imported by Woodcraft Homes of Dunshaughlin. "A team of Polish workers came in," says Jimi. "They were brilliant, they worked from dawn till dark."

Jimi drew up the plans for the €120,000 two-bedroom house himself with the help of an architect.

"I wanted a big living area downstairs, which I could use as a classroom and a sitting room upstairs, with lots of glass to take advantage of the views."

Given that he is from the area and that councils favour environmentally friendly building in suitable locations, planning permission wasn't a problem. The house was built in just seven weeks and it took just two more weeks to complete the electrics and plumbing. Jimi managed his plant hunting expedition to China in between.

The inside of the house is made of untreated pine and is simply furnished with an eclectic mix of family pieces and salvaged furniture, like a rescued dresser which Jimi painted bright blue. The nearby Tramway Treasures antique shop is also a favourite hunting ground.

Aloes and other exotics in the garden give a clue to Jimi's profession. Jimi trained as a gardener in Glasnevin, then spent three years working in the trade before becoming Head Gardener at Airfield House, Dundrum, where he restored the garden over a period of ten years.

Now he has started his own garden on the family farm and it includes a woodland garden set in a steep glen, a hillside garden planted in a modern style with lots of grasses and a trial garden, where Jimi tests his collection of rare and unusual plants.

"Woodland plants are my new passion," says Jimi. And his garden is the perfect place to display them.

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