Think very carefully if you consider bringing the front door(s) forward. As an earlier poster has commented, it is not a good thing when it is pouring with rain and you are fumbling with keys to get in. If you do decide to bring the doors forward then I would look at fitting a glass canopy over the doors to provide a bit of shelter from the elements. I would point out that arches are not a particularly contemporary feature so it might require squaring off to get the right style. I would get rid of the hanging tiles in the gable. Render the entire front and paint a uniform colour. Grey being very much "in" at the moment. However, white paint with grey doors etc. would work well. I would also take the opportunity to have outside lighting fitted. Something in brushed stainless steel would work.

The space under the house doesn't look to be that accessible, so I would block it in as Johnathan suggests, just leave an access hatch for inspection and clad in stone to match the existing stone work. For the exterior I would continue the cladding using a composite like fibrous cement or UPVC with good insulation underneath and finish in a dark colour. The steel poles appear to be supporting the ends of RSJs so they will need to stay, just paint and maintain them as they are holding up their end of the house.

Climbing plants - including evergreens although not Ivy - can successfully be used on buildings and can look beautiful. My two top tips would be to choose the plant well, make sure it is fairly low growing so you can control it and secondly erect wires using vine eyes, tensioners and wire so that the plant has a definite framework to grow on and you can keep it away from windows and doors. We use the Gripple system shown below.

Hi Dave, Wow! Sounds like you've got a lot of great ideas! Having been through a very similar process recently I would highly recommend you employ a designer to create you some 3D renders, so you can see exactly what the different options would look like! We bought a very ugly house (due to really wanting to be in a certain location / village) and were desperate to improve the curb appeal but weren't sure what to do for the best and it's such a big and expensive decision!! I was really surprised by how little it costs (especially in comparison to how much the changes will cost) and for us it was totally invaluable to actually be able to see exactly what the different options would look like in high quality colour images. We used Gina from Create Perfect (on here) and she helped us decide how to resize a couple of windows and what colour to paint them and how to change our front door! We're not finished yet (!!!) and have only changed one of the windows so far but already we're delighted with the result and for a few hundred pounds, it has saved a lot of stress and uncertainty! I've attached a few pics of before, the 3D render that helped us decide on size and colour of the new windows and how we look so far with one of them already changed. Good luck whatever you decide and hope this helps.