Tips for Planning a Country Homestead

Plan and layout your property in a natural way
Build the right house using these simple rules

Well building hath three conditions - commodity, firmness and delight.
                 Sir Henry Wotton, 1651

We shape our buildings, and afterwards our buildings shape us.
                       Winston Churchill

Layouts for country land

Maximize the use and expand the perceived size of your lot by setting the house back from the road, curving a longer drive and providing a variety of experiences such as shelter and openness.

Don't build a suburban house on country land. Break the dominance of the car and think of the project as a compound of structures, each with indoor and outdoor living spaces. Fences, patios, trellises, decks and gardens define outdoor space just as walls and ceilings do indoors. Climate will determine if your layout needs to all be connected.
An ideal location for a house is partway up the slope of rolling land, open to the south, partially protected on the east and west, and sheltered from the north. In the ancient Chinese art of Feng Shui, which concerns environmental energy flows, this house site is called the "armchair" placement.
Look to place the house near the edge of two different environments — close to the top of a slope where it starts to level out, or where vegetation changes (from meadow to woods say). Homes have always been built in such transition zones.
Build on dry, well-drained soil with no history of flooding or instability. Don't build in a low spot — water and cold dead air will collect there.
Don't build too close to the road. Money spent on a longer drive is a good investment in privacy and leads to higher resale value.
Build a curve into the entry drive even if a straight one would be shorter. This will give variety to the entry process, increase privacy and make the property feel larger.
On a non-view site, clearing to the south of the house will bring in the sun. Your large window areas can then face this south view and focus on the landscaping and activities of this outdoor area.
Before looking at stock plans consider these three questions about the shape and orientation of the house:
  • How do people get here? (Where do they first see the house?)
  • Where do they park?
  • How do they find the door?
Where specific rooms are located and how they relate to each other becomes clear when you know the answer to three questions:
  • "Where's the View?" (What do I want to see from this room?)
  • "Where's the Sun?" (When will I be in this room and do I want the sun to be there as well? IE: Kitchen in the SE.)
  • "Where's the traffic?" (Do people have to move through this space to get somewhere else?)

You will also find that rooms work best when laid out on a privacy gradient from social to private.


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