Restored to glory (From Witney Gazette)

Restored to glory

8:10am Monday 20th March 2006 in Witney

"MANY of us dream of leaving behind city life, moving to the country and seeking some peace and tranquillity. But for most of us, it stays just that a dream," says Charlie Luxton, chatting to his BBC audience as he walks down the long drive of a home featured on Restored To Glory, BBC2's answer to Grand Designs.

A few months later, Charlie is eating breakfast at a table outside his new Oxfordshire cottage, basking in the sunshine, and revelling in the very tranquillity he had been discussing, when I arrive for our interview.

He's rather hung-over, having just caught the train down from London after a particularly good night out, but although slightly dishevelled, he's alarmingly alert, switched on, and rather gorgeous, all things considered.

Having put his money where his mouth is and bought a 19th-century cottage in Hook Norton, with his wife, Kate, he commutes to the big smoke when necessary, and has just finished filming Restored To Glory and writing its accompanying book.

With a new series in the pipeline and numerous architecture projects to catch up with, for the moment, the 31-year-old is just pleased to be out of the city and breathing some fresh air.

Perched on the edge of the village green, Beanacre Cottage can be found on the fringe of this beautiful West Oxfordshire village. The Luxtons bought it off Kate's aunt, matching the price she had been offered on the open market, and paying £205,000. It is tiny, with one bedroom, no heating and few kitchen facilities, but you can already see its charm and potential, and with a stable block attached, Charlie has plans.

"Space is an important tool for making our lives better. It's not about a sexy photo, but about functioning spaces, and I feel very strongly about this trend for choosing aesthetic over function."

Charlie Luxton

They chose West Oxfordshire having spent the past ten years in London. But when they decided to settle down and start a family, the couple realised that their choices on the housing market were minimal, with a limited budget.

"We had started looking at stuff in Willesden Junction, and just thought what are we doing," Charlie remembered.

Instead, they went to Sicily, and bought a £30,000 house by the sea, and Beanacre Cottage, where they live with their six-month-old daughter, Maia.

It sounds idyllic, but while Charlie has landed his dream job and two beautiful homes, there's a lot of work to do and little time. Restored to Glory is just one of a long line of architecturally-based programmes Charlie has fronted. Although 'just the presenter' in it, he plays a much bigger part in the remainder of his portfolio, often writing and narrating the programmes, as well as presenting. "I often come up with the ideas, because it's something I feel passionate about. I'm not in it for the fame and glory, but because I think it's important. I want to change people's perceptions," he says, which is why subjects such as affordable housing for young people, the declining quality in modern housing, and the potential of self-build all feature. "Space is an important tool for making our lives better. It's not about a sexy photo, but about functioning spaces, and I feel very strongly about this trend for choosing aesthetic over function," he said.

Having graduated from Oxford Brookes University with a first in architecture, Charlie progressed to the Royal College of Art, in London, where he made a film with a friend. So when he saw an advert on a notice board for a Channel 5 TV presenter, he phoned them, went for the screen test, and thought nothing more of it. When they phoned him several weeks later to say he'd got the job, he was stunned.

So was it a steep learning curve? "No, I was a natural," he says, without a trace of arrogance. "I'd never even considered doing TV until then, and I hate having my photo taken, but I just engage with a TV camera. It just happens to be the one thing I'm good at."

The fact that he runs the Charlie Luxton Architecture and Design company, specialising in environmental designs, alongside his TV role, disproves his point, but Charlie is certainly not smug. "If anything, I'm slightly embarrassed about it," he says, "It's just a job for me, because at heart, I'm still an architect, and will never stop designing. Besides TV is very fickle, so I don't want to rely on it. That's when you start appearing on things like Help I'm A Celebrity Put Me Out Of My Misery."

When you ask if if he is surprised by his success, or whether his university peers are jealous of his fortune, he answers: "I don't know, I've never thought about it. I'm just getting by the same as everyone else," which has meant more than 30 programmes for TV, including the highly acclaimed Dreamspaces and Guerilla Homes for BBC3. Poached now and again by Channel 4 for one-offs, like Not All Houses Are Square and Not All Bricks and Mortar, Charlie is on the way up. But he is in no rush.

Spending the New Year in Sicily, finishing some architectural drawings for work in Chelsea, Notting Hill, and Spain, and spending time with his family are his immediate priorities. So does he have any regrets about moving to West Oxfordshire? "There's not enough surf," he says grinning, "but otherwise, I've been very lucky, and it certainly beats living in London."