Couple ordered to cut giant 'Disney-style' Cotswolds dream home down to size

Angela and Gerrit Pies say they bought the extended Cotswolds home 'in good faith' from a developer in 2006, after their solicitors scrutinised all the relevant documents.

But only months later they were left "distraught" after the council told them to demolish it for being larger than agreed and in a "Disney or Hollywood version of the Cotswold style".

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'Disney parody': The sprawling new Westington View, showing how most of the building has been condemned by the council

This week Angela, 55, and Gerrit, 57, from Germany, won a partial victory when they were allowed to keep some parts of the property.

But they still face paying hundreds of thousands of pounds to knock down the rest of their home.

Planning inspector Keith Turner said: 'It is not a sensitive interpretation of the local vernacular style. Rather, it is a parody because it

uses familiar elements in unfamiliar or inappropriate ways. This, combined with the significant increase in size and bulk, result in the building being unduly prominent in a sensitive landscape.'

The council can now issue an enforcement notice demanding the offending half of the home be demolished within months.

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The Pies were unavailable for comment yesterday but in a written-submission to a hearing last summer they said: "We completed the purchase of the property in good faith, relying upon the information supplied, and we hope you will accept that we are entirely innocent parties caught up in this dreadful situation."

The Pies paid £1,911,000 for the eight-bedroom development in Westington village, near Chipping Campden, Gloucestershire, in November 2006. In February last year Cotswold District Council told them that it was 55 per cent bigger than approved, with a garage more than 3ft above the agreed height.

A source involved in the case said: "The owners are liable for the cost of putting the building right, even if they did buy it in good faith.

"But I believe they will not leave the matter there and may well pursue-the developer for compensation.'

Developer Mark Rathbone, who bought the original house with an associate for £485,000 in May 2005, said he could not comment until he had spoken to his lawyers.

Chipping Campden mayor Chris Jones yesterday expressed sympathy, but said the council was forced to act, or "invite others to break the planning laws with impunity".