A home in the garden for the in-laws

An architect has built a revolutionary low-energy 'passive house' in his back garden

When Judith and Barry Richards sold their family home in Kent two years ago it was, says Judith, "a terrible wrench". But it was also a relief. In their 70s, the retired academics had decided to split their time between their native US, where their son lives, and east London, where their daughter Jeanine lives with her architect husband Bernard Tulkens and their three children.

Judith and Barry picked their favourite pieces of Georgian furniture, left the ride-on lawnmower behind and moved into a modest two-bedroom house at the back of Jeanine's garden. Tulkens had received planning permission to build the house in 2010, and his parents-in-law decided to release the equity in their estate to help pay for it. "We thought we would use the opportunity to see more of the children and grandchildren," says Judith. Now they see Thalia, 13, Cecile, 21, and Oscar, 8, far more frequently. For anyone with ageing parents, it is a dream scenario. And far from being a granny flat, this is more of a miniature grand design.