Barry's eco-home scoops top award

Barry's bungalow in Sandygate, Wath, has just won the regional prize in the hunt for Britains's greenest home.

Now Barry, 75, hopes others will follows his example and make their houses just as ecologically sound.

A retired plant maintenance engineer, Barry uses solar panels to power the home he shares with wife Doreen.

He sells excess electricity back to the National Grid and he says the panels are paying for themselves "quite handsomely".

Barry also collects rainwater, grows organic vegetables and makes his own liquid fertiliser.

“We try to conserve and reuse as much as we can using water reduction methods, insulation and solar power," he said.

The self-confessed eco-warrior, who said that his water and power bills had been slashed by his green measures, was urged by his daughter to enter the Britain’s Greenest Home competition, run by solar experts Homesun and website Findaproperty.com, after spotting details of it in a caravanning magazine.

“I’m really pleased to have come in the top ten and I hope that people will see me in the paper and hopefully be encouraged to follow suit,” he said.