A SHEFFIELD couple whose Scottish island home won a top TV award had their hard-earned prize swiped within hours of the show.
Pete and Christine Hope, formerly of Hunters Bar, were celebrating scooping the Grand Designs Home of the Year award when their silver trophy was stolen from a London hotel bar.
Now the miffed pair, who moved from Sheffield to the crime-free Isle
of Harris in 2003, are appealing for its safe return so they can display it in their now famed Black Sheep House - a sheep-shed turned luxury pad and now officially the nation's favourite home.
"It is hard to believe we won against so many slick homes, but harder to believe someone would pinch the prize from right under our nose," said stonemason Pete, a former singer with Sheffield Industrial punk bands The Box and Cabaret Voltaire.
What do you think? Add your comment below."Where we live you can put something down and know it won't be stolen. It is a bit of a shock. We just hope it isn't in a bin between the bar and the Tube."
Show producers Talkback Thames today urged the thief to hand back the accolade - awarded as a spin-off from Channel 4 hit housing series Grand Designs.
Show presenter Kevin McCloud said the Hopes' property was a "well-deserved winner" and added: "What I love is the way it looks as if they have simply dragged the rock and grass down from the hillside to build the house, but inside reveals a huge and unexpected space."
When the Hopes swapped their Sheffield terrace for a dung-filled Hebridean ruin they never dreamed they would find property stardom.
They had long dreamed of building their own home but with a shoestring budget of £100,000 they anticipated something modest.
When they found centuries-old Black Sheep House - a former blackhouse where crofters would have lived alongside animals - it was down to three crumbling walls and a rusty tin roof.
But its shoreline setting and uninterrupted sunset views convinced them it was worth the risk.
"We didn't go to the Outer Hebrides to be mainstream," said Christine, a social worker turned rug-maker. "We knew it would be tough but we were fairly determined."
The quirky turf and stone home took 18 months to rebuild.
Log on to
www.blacksheephouse.co.uk for more information or to book a holiday at Black Sheep House.
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