IN recent years the term eco-house or sustainable home has started to appear with increasing frequency.

I quite like the first term even though I have no idea what it really means – and I am totally flummoxed by the latter.

What is a sustainable home? One where you can afford to pay the mortgage and the bills and raise a family of 2.4 children? While keeping the kids’ iTunes music down to reasonable volume levels? And keeping the wine rack reasonably well stacked?

Well, apparently, that’s not anywhere near the mark. I can almost hear Niki Estrella from Shepherd Homes’ marketing department shaking his head at this simplistic view.

“I’ll send you some information on what our sustainable home is all about,” he says with what sounds suspiciously like a tone of bemused resignation.

The Shepherd Homes sustainable eco house, at the Revival development off Tadcaster Road in York, definitely sounds state of the art (another phrase the meaning of which I am not too sure about).

The document that duly arrives contains around two million amazing facts about the Code Level 6 ‘zero carbon’ rating property. All right, I exaggerate...

Picking through the statistical, and ergonomical, mass, however, we begin to get the picture. This is a house which, thanks to the very latest (state of the art, if you like) building techniques is ultra environmentally- friendly and – perhaps more importantly – ultra economicallyfriendly to prospective buyers.

This is a home which has high-level energy-saving technology built in and renewable energy resources added – along with more insulation than seen on an Eskimo on an outof- igloo fishing expedition.

So, in terms of what buyers are really interested in, it is a warm and energy-efficient home which will save you a great deal of money in lighting, water and heating bills.

Yes, yes, I can hear you say at this point. But what is the house itself actually like? Well, it’s big. And beautiful.

And hugely family-friendly. Even if you were to discount all that ecohome stuff this is a house that would be high on anyone’s wish list (if they had the money to pay for it – ecofriendly does not come cheap).

It’s an attractive home to look at, standing high and handsome at the end of (an already sold out) cul-desac at the far end of the Revival development, which is a spread of family houses together with – most recently added – apartments, shared by Shepherd Homes and Taylor Wimpey.

It should be said at the outset that, waggish asides apart, this is a property which has been designed, built and presented to the highest spec.

The kitchen, bathroom and en suites have been brilliantly finished and the living, sleeping and landing areas are spacious, light and bright, all set to make the most of natural sunlight.

On the ground floor the spacious layout gives you a hallway with marbled flooring, a breakfast kitchen with a set of French doors at one end opening to a good-sized garden and inner doors opening to a dining room with bay window to the front of the house.

Off to the other side of the house is a big living room to the rear and a study or further reception room to the front.

On the first floor there is a superb master bedroom suite with a long bedroom leading to a dressing room and then on to an en-suite shower room. There is a second bedroom with en-suite shower room and further bedroom with house bathroom.

On the second floor there is a smart arrangement of two large bedrooms sharing a shower room (the ideal escape area for teenage children – or a great asset if you like having lots of friends over for dinner party stop-overs).

There is also plenty of space on this top floor for storage with roof space insets to both front and rear.

That back garden, a front garden and a double garage complete a highly impressive package.

When this house is released for sale it will be offered at an asking price of £549,995.

The eco-home is a good showcase for the release of the final phase of the Shepherd Homes plots at the Revival development. The earlier phases having proved extremely popular, Shepherd are optimistic about the prospects for this phase, which sets at the very back of the development – and beyond which there will be no further new homes.

House styles on offer in this last phase are all exclusive homes with an eye fixed firmly on the executive market. The Aintree style, with prices starting at £449,995, is the least expensive of the lots available.

It offers a large open-plan rear-ofhouse arrangement of breakfast kitchen leading to a dining room with doors through to a long living room.

The first floor has a master bedroom with dressing area and ensuite, a second bedroom with ensuite and a third bedroom and bathroom.

On the top floor there is a fourth bedroom with en-suite.

An integral garage is included.

The Chepstow, meanwhile, offers a similar layout on the ground floor with four bedrooms, two en-suites and a bathroom to the first floor and a master bedroom suite with dressing area and shower room above.

Prices for this style start at £459,995.

And then there is the Asenby, another grand detached home which, if we are to be honest, is our favourite style. It has a hugely spacious ground-floor layout including a living room, separate dining room and open-plan breakfast kitchen and family area – which with three sets of folding doors open up beautifully to become the ultimate garden room.

The first floor includes a master bedroom with dressing area and ensuite wet room/shower room. There are four further bedrooms, one with en-suite shower room, and a house bathroom.

A big old double garage and gardens complete the package, for which prices start at £549,995.

FURTHER INFORMATION: Contact the Shepherd Homes marketing team at Revival on 01904 891959.