Bloody Murder On The Dog's Meadow: Building a straw-bale grand design in France

It's July 2003. A tropical heat wave is raging and old people are dropping like flies in Paris. The Sampsons move from their happy home into a caravan that thinks it's a sauna. In 12 months they must build a house of straw on terrain as rocky as their practical credentials... To anyone who struggles to pitch a tent, the prospect of building a grand design of straw bales – in France Profonde – could be somewhat unsettling. Some will tell you that building their own home is an enjoyable and rewarding experience; Mark Sampson will tell you it was hellish. Based on his journal of building the house seen on frequent re-runs of Channel 4's Grand Designs, this is a darkly comic account of a year of living uncomfortably close to the edge. Less about the technical aspects of construction, Bloody Murder is more about the de-construction of family life in the face of a looming deadline, a shrinking budget, capricious conditions and a motley cast of tradesmen. Laugh, cry and wonder why.