17th Century stone house, Tisbury

Our house began as a 17th century stone cottage, subsequently doubled in size by having 18th century stone cottage 'bolted' onto it and further extensions added in the 1920s, 1990s and about 10 years ago. When we moved in six years ago it was already fully double-glazed (apart from one tiny window) and centrally heated by an oil-fired boiler, with a wood-burning stove in the living room. Our first modification was to install solar panels four years ago (narrowly missing the government's Feed-in Tariff deadline). We then doubled the thickness of the insulation in our four roofs before replacing the oil-fired boiler with a twin-fan air-source heat pump part-funded by the government's Renewable Heat Incentive. Finally, a year ago we installed a battery and electric charger for their fully electric car through Wiltshire Council's Solar Together scheme.

All these modifications required significant upfront capital expenditure on our part, and, despite some grant aid, will take several years to pay for themselves in lower energy bills.

In the meantime, we keep ourselves warm by vigorously polishing our haloes.

This house has:

• Solar PV
• Battery Storage
• Roof Insulation
• Air source Heat Pump
• EV charging