Chalet Fields of the Gower

Description:

70 Colour photographs, plus an interview with architect Owen Short. 70 pages, small paperback This focuses on two chalet fields on the Gower Peninsula. These are collections of originally simple and cheap wooden structures that were put up around the 1930s. These simple basic shelters have evolved over the years to become desirable houses. This is partly due to the outstanding natural beauty of the Gower but it is also because of way that the houses have been extended and improved with the close involvement of the occupants. Many of whom have rebuild the dwellings with their own hands. This type of housing is a common phenomena all over the UK, generally known as plotland developments. It could have been an alternative to the mortgage system which encouraged brick built houses with high levels of debt. This is the first photographic study of UK plotland housing to be published as a book! There is a group on Flickr that shows the extent of this type of housing.

subjects: housing,  wooden houses,  shacks,  working class self-help,  cheap housing,  self-build,  Wales,  coastal houses

Places: Gower,  South Wales,  Swansea

Times: 2013