your possibly best approaching your local council planing dept. informally to see what will be acceptable on that plot of land.
if its classed as green belt you may struggle.

however there are other methods, some fully timbered houses can sometimes be more passable and the companies that make them may also help with planning. as they are classed as semi-permanent. but they would still need to fit in with its surroundings, and some are very well built and would cost less to put up.

i believe there was also a rule that if you had lived on the land (ie in a caravan) for a number of years undistrubed you can apply for planning permission of a house. - i would see your local council rules on this, and how many years you would need to have been there.

if you take a direct route, the application, architect will cost a lot, and then if refused , council appeals again can be a strain on your finances. hope that helps?

I have been given a plot of land (a field), there are houses on 2 of the adjacent fields which belong to family members.

I would like to apply for planning permission but would like to keep costs to a minimum as its likely that planning permission will not be granted.

We have not started the planning process in any way (i.e. no architect), but we do have a fairly good idea of what we are looking for from a house

Does any one have any ideas of how best to approach this?