AN environmentally friendly house beside the River Severn has narrowly missed out on winning Britain's most famous architectural award.

Cobtun, a house in Northwick, Worcester, was shortlisted for the Mansel Medal for the best one-off house in Britain, as part of the Royal Institute of British Architects' Stirling Prize.

The house is built of mud, straw, wood and stone and insulated with ground up newspaper.

But it was pipped at the post by Stealth House, a five-bedroom timber frame Californian beach house in Camberwell in London, owned by the comedian Jenny clair.

The Scottish Parliament building in Edinburgh won the main prize.