First of all, three sets of front & back walls & two end pieces to create a terrace. I then added embossed plasticard for some stone texturing...
The next was the same basic approach, but this time a mix of PVA was added to the first basecoat of chocolate brown emulsion & then the whole lot was dunked in some sand...
Next up, we have a single storey building arrived at by chopping the basic building in half
... you just have to remember which way to cut the half (horizontal is better than vertical 
)
Next we have a basic house with a small extension (courtesy of the previous chop)
This one is a scratch built barn inspired by one that I saw Tony make for a show...
Standard house with the large windowless space turned into a garage
Same again, this time with an open workshop or store
Then with an integral barn
This time the space isn't opened up as deep, so it works as a shop window
For the sand, I decided to go for realism & it's a mix of UTAH, OMAHA, GOLD, JUNO & SWORD bought back from last year's visit!
The paint scheme is chocolate brown followed by a dark sand dry brush followed by a light sand dry brush - the paints are from B&Q's own range - you get a large tester pot (mixed to your own colours) for a couple of £ each... in fact when I got them, there was a deal on of 3 for £5!! Far cheaper than "proper" model paints...
The colour scheme isn't completely my own invention, but is a version of the one used by Colin Rumford in one of his TMP posts when he was building one of his ruined villages...
Anyway, hope that these give some ideas...
Cheers
Colin