Devon Barn Holiday Let

Where did the Devon Barn Holiday Let thing come from?  Well the idea was first muted by Vanessa Warwick of Property Tribes Forum when she saw the photos of my beautifully styled interior and wonderful Rural Devon views.

Special Occasion Holiday Let

Uninterrupted Rural Views to Dartmoor

A Special Occasion Holiday Let she suggested. Taking this on board, my owners spoke to some of the big names in the Holiday Lettings market such as Country Cottages; Cottages4you; Holiday Cottages and Holiday Lettings.  Vanessa was right it seems, there’s a good demand and short supply of Special Occasion Holiday Lets which sleep 10 to14 people.  I can accommodate 14 people comfortably and if the annex is converted a further 4 can be accommodated.  A week in high season is likely to generate just under £2500 without the annex and similar Rural Devon Barns are almost fully booked for the rest of this year!

Another House for Sale

Master Suite with Rural Views

So my owners have been frantically bashing keyboards, number crunching and the phone’s been red hot.  Their intention now is to keep me and sell one of their other houses – I just had a peek at it on Rightmove – nice place but not as grand as me :- 

Spacious Lounge with Cosy Woodstove ideal for Xmas/New Year

Stunning Galleried Dining

 Convert The Linhay
 The plan would be to convert the Linhay over the winter and introduce me to the Holiday Lettings market Spring 2012 – how exciting.

The Joy of Property 
My owners say the joy of property is there's often more than one route to take  to make things work as long as you remain flexible and open minded - they certainly do that!

A Property Adventure

The benefit of course, is that I get to stay with my owners who built me and lovingly care for me.  Not only that but they will now lavish more love and attention on me as I’m to be kept in tip top condition for those Special Occasions.  For them it means another property adventure – they’re not exactly ecstatic about yet another building project but they’re very excited about keeping me, spending more time here and sharing me with others.

With A Little Help From Some Friends

My owners have asked me to say a little thank you to some friends who in some way contributed to this decision:-

• Helen Silver – Property Stylist
• Vanessa Warwick – Property Tribes
• Graham Norwood – Property Newshound
• Tracy Kellet – Buying Agent
• Sam Froud – Seddons Estate Agents

Roll on the Holidays!

A Devon Barn Conversion - Four homes for the price of Two?

My owners have been messing around with some house designs lately - for another project apparently - and I can't help looking over their shoulder.  They're designing a five bed house 3 bathrooms, with lots of solid oak joinery and contemporary finishes, all looks very lovely and practical but unbelievably small for a house - it stands on a footprint of just 7m x 7m. 

They say it's what Housing Ministers want these days, people have to live in tall narrow houses on small footprints so they can fit lots of them all together and squeeze more bedrooms and more people in.  The ceilings are low so you can stack the rooms on top of each other and cram a third floor into the roof.  Looks like you'd get neck ache trying to walk around the bed in the top floor rooms!  They'd probably need oxygen masks half way through the night as they'll have breathed all the air out of the place.

The shocking bit is that this house will cost someone over £300,000.  That's just under half the price of this spacious and stylish Devon Barn Conversion.  I stand on a footprint of approximately 30m x 7m - that's more than four times the footprint of the house they're designing! 

If someone buys me they get approximately four times the house for approximately twice the price of this cut down version of a home.  Not to mention over an acre of their own piece of rural Devon countryside compared to a postage stamp courtyard garden overlooked by twelve other miniature houses.

No competition in my view, but I would say that wouldn't I?  So come and have a look if you don't believe me - tell me what you think.

And while we're at it Mr Shapps, let's hear where you'd prefer to live - spacious Barn Conversion with land for £650k or claustrophobic miniature house with overlooked courtyard for £300k?

A Mysterious Murder at Lush Devon Barn

Funny old day down at the Devon Barn.

My owners have been wittering on about a broody Pheasant that's been getting a little too familiar lately and showed a distinct dislike for Michael Jackson.  Every time he heard Michael's music on the radio he'd stand at the back door and squawk frantically.  When the music stopped he'd strut off again. 

As if that wasn't enough he'd taken up residence under the bird table waiting for seeds to be dropped by other birds, then he'd squawk at them every so often to show who was boss.  All this was quite quaint for a while but last week he started at around 6am claiming his territory!

Meanwhile a couple of loved up pigeons have been flapping about in the conifer, it went on for days until finally Mrs P settled down on her nest - precariously positioned just 4 foot from the ground.

This morning there was a huge commotion at around 8am,  manic flapping of wings and squawking of crows, pheasant and pigeon.  Then sudden and eerie silence.  My owners rushed outside and found the pigeon's nest empty, feathers strewn through the branches below and one broken egg shell.

The culprit was nowhere to be seen - was it the crows or a sparrow hawk?

Later this afternoon my owners found the pheasant lying dead under the hedge with no marks or damage visible. Could the shock of it all have given him a heart attack?! 

Whatever it was that went on at Lush Devon Barn this morning there's a blessing in disguise - it's very quiet here again - except for the Swallows who have just arrived with their infectious chattering - lovely birds though and summer here in rural Devon wouldn't be the same without them.

Reasons why it's great to live here

• It's quiet, secluded, safe, secure and no passing traffic.  Not even a sound of traffic – the nearest public highway being 1/3 mile away and that's a lane.  Yet I have good easy access to the A30 and M5. 

• Exeter is just 30 minutes drive – one of the fastest growing cities in the country but with the feel of a homely town.  It’s beautiful river, ancient port, top university and massively expanding business hub supported by a successful International Airport are what leaves so many big names fighting for space here.

• I’m one of the few remaining bastions of history which remain totally unspoilt and unaffected by Emma Bridgewater & Cath Kidston.

Classic British Racing Green will never go out of fashion

• Some famous folk have been here and left their mark 

Was it Oliver Cromwell's men who left musket balls lodged in these doors?

Some visitors just don't know how to behave!

Whilst others will always be welcome back!

•  Every day is a holiday here at Lush Devon Barn – why spend hours queuing on motorways when you can be here all the time and picnic on your own land; walk the nearby Two Moors Way; cycle the stunning Tarka Trail; explore Dartmoor or just chill with a Cider in one of the local picture postcard village Pubs?

•   I sit slap bang in the geographical centre of Devon which makes me less than an hour’s drive from the North, South, East and West Devon coastlines.  So whether you’re a beach bum, surfer or coastal walker you will be able to totally immerse yourself in the best of Devon’s coastline.

• I’m ideally positioned for trips to Europe.  No traffic jams, queuing at Airports or cramming your entire belongings into a suitcase the size of a handbag.  Just pile everything you want into your car, take a scenic drive across Dartmoor to historic Plymouth and board one of the luxury fleet of Brittany ferries.  Book into a comfortable en-suite cabin and you’ll awake stress free the following morning in one of the most beautiful parts of France – Brittany

•  I have the loveliest of neighbours.  Although I have total privacy I do have some neighbours – just two properties nearby.   The Grade II* Listed Thorne Cottage cannot be seen easily when you approach me, it’s a hidden gem where two very special retired School teachers have spent the last 40 years’ lovingly restoring it’s history and character.  The other property is a historical Devon barn conversion like myself and sits alongside me – well positioned so that we both offer total privacy but the comfort of company and security when my owners need it.  Very special people too and I know my owners will miss them very much when I’m sold.

• I'm the perfect combination of old and contemporary.  I have every modern amenity, but the cosiness, character and comfort of a well insulated and carefully restored historic barn conversion set in unspoilt Devon countryside.

Views to Dartmoor

•  I’m approximately 3500ft2 set in 1.38 acres with fabulous surroundings and views to Dartmoor. I’m close to an exciting, cosmopolitan and thriving city, approx 2 hours on the train from Paddington, yet I’m only £650k!  That’s amazing value for money and your friends will think you've spent an awful lot more.

Ten things you might like about me

1.    I'm a very old and laid back Devon Barn Conversion but solid and strong

2.    I don't smell

3.    I'm very clean and tidy

4.    I'm pretty and well presented

5.    I'm warm in winter

6.    I'm cool in summer

7.    I'm very accommodating

8.    I'm in a great unspoilt location in glorious rural Devon

9.    I love parties

 10.  I have no known faults except I'm a bit of a show off

Wow!

A sustainable home is somewhere you can live, work and flourish isn't it?

My owners got consent to convert me from a redundant cob Devon barn to a luxury residence in 1998.  There was no question in the Planners' minds that it was an ideal use for an important historic barn in danger of decay (I hate that word makes me shudder to think what might have been).

Things changed a few years later and someone introduced the word 'Sustainability' into Planning Policy (yes I can remember a bunch of academics and strutting peacock types wandering around me arguing about what this new fashionable word actually meant.  More to the point - what it actually meant for the future of redundant historic barns.

Well, it was the kiss of death actually.  A raft of new legislation was drafted, by people who had no real experience of Sustainability in practice, it was all theoretical, never been tested but they had to be right didn't they?  Car journeys was the measure required to calculate Sustainability - not a mention of the fact that I was built almost entirely out of materials sourced on site and my owners did their best to re-use, recycle and source natural local materials where possible.  Not a mention of the good use of an otherwise useless barn and certainly not a thought went into what type of people might actually accommodate a spacious home converted from a barn and how much travelling they would actually do.

Luckily most of the barns in this area had been rescued by that point and were providing comfortable, spacious and healthy homes for entrepreneurial families who needed space to be creative and grow their businesses from home.

I know this to be true as there are a number of historic barns and country houses in this and the adjacent parish, all sitting in their idyllic plot of rural countryside and all accommodating their own businesses on the premises. Many are employing a good number of local people.  How's that for sustainability?

To prove it the local village has a thriving Co-Operative supermarket.  That wouldn't have happened if the local people weren't shopping locally.  There's also a smart Garden Centre with lovely restaurant/coffee shop, a pub, village hall, sports ground, farm shop and lots of successful businesses.  The local village School achieves excellent results too so there's really no need for local people to jump in their cars and go anywhere else - who would want to anyway? It's lovely here.

Apparently lack of housing has forced Planners to persuade Developers to build lots of flats and town houses on small plots to accommodate more families and ease the pressure.  These are targeted at town and city centres to reduce car journeys.  There are even grants available to turn flats into Live/Work units.  It all sounds good on paper and if people need homes then at least they're getting them.

But what about those who don't want to live like that? What about those who want space to breath and be creative? To start small businesses that can expand and employ people?  How many are they really going to be able to pull all this off in the back bedroom of a city centre flat? And how many can afford the risk of taking on separate business premises when they start out?

There's got to be a place for both surely?  So come on decision makers, recognise there's a need for more large, spacious homes to accommodate entrepreneurs who can flourish, grow and expand their businesses and lifestyle without having to keep moving home.

A Devon barn conversion like me is the perfect live/work home and it's a whole lot more than a 'unit' so I wish the powers that be would drop that lifeless term and bring some lifestyle and aspiration back into policy making.

A Zoopla Purple Umbrella please as my feet are dry

Couldn't help notice my owner having a bit of banter on Twitter about a purple Zoopla umbrella the other night after wine-o-clock.  There was much banter about rain and floods, my owner made it clear to all that it doesn't flood here and she's right - to an extent.

Part of me was here long before 1500AD (I have some old limbs and joints to prove that!) and then added to some time in the early 1600's I think.  In all that time I can't recall a flood - until my current owner arrived that is - she ommitted to mention that single handedly she caused my entire courtyard to flood on New Year's Day 1998.  She'd only been here a day or two and I wasn't best pleased.

In those days I was still a Barn - a luxury residence for a couple of shetland ponies, rather than a luxury residence for people.  My owners moved in to their two berth touring caravan which was sited at the bottom of a steep bank on one side of the courtyard.

At the top of the bank was the Mains Water pipe which had been installed ready for connection to the barn - these owners like water from a blue plastic pipe for some reason instead of the two wells which everyone else used quite happily for many years.

On New Year's Eve 1997 my owner set about digging a trench from the top of the bank down to the Courtyard to accommodate the blue plastic pipe and extend it down to my end wall.

The trench was dug and ready for the next day when my owner was to install the pipe - she retired exhausted to the little caravan and slept soundly .... until the rain started hammering so hard on the roof both my owners were awoken by the noise.  We all looked on in disbelief as rain water and mud was pouring out of the end of the trench like a waterfall down the bank and into my courtyard.  The bank itself was like a seive, holes and cracks opening up everywhere and water pouring out of it as the trench walls could no longer contain the amount of water.

Panic ensued - there was as much panic as water in the next few moments.  Owners donned overalls, grabbed spades and took to the field above the bank.

It seems the trench had formed a kind of funnel for all the rain that fell on the sloping field above and was dumping the lot into my courtyard!

Owners set to and began digging a trench horizontally across the field to divert the rain water away from the trench. They were already exhausted and this was no mean feat.  Thankfully the farmer turned up and like a steam train he chugged across the field with his Devon Spade in no time at all.  The water stopped coming and the trench water receded, I didn't get my feet wet as I stand on a sandstone plinth about a metre off the ground level but I can tell you it caused a right stir.

So the next job after installing the blue plastic pipe was to install better drainage all round.  The farmer - a true Gent installed proper drainage across the field to permanently divert the water and my owners installed land drains to the Courtyard diverting any possible surface water across the farm fields.

Job done I've thankfully had dry feet ever since.  My owner is now more concerned about a Purple Umbrella to keep her hair dry than worrying about my feet and I think she deserves one don't you Zoopa?!