The Barn Conversion    June/July 08  Aug 08   Sept 08   Oct/Nov 08  Sept 09  Oct 09   Apr 10   May 10  June/July 10  Aug 10  Sept 10  Oct10  Nov10 

The Barn Conversion

We are starting on the barn conversion. The barn itself is 27 metres long and has the 2 gites at one end. The centre section has garage doors on the front and will be used as a garage large enough for four cars. The remaining 11 metres will be converted into our new house.

The barn area is 11 x 7 metres (internal) and is over 7 metres to the apex of the roof. At one end the upper floor will be converted into a bathroom (2 x 4 metres) and the bedroom, adjacent to the bathroom, will be 3.2 x 5 metres. Along one side will be a gallery 7.5 x 2 metres, running on the opposite side to the bathroom. The centre section of the upper floor will be removed giving an area 7 x 5 metres open to the top of the roof. This room, in total 11 x 7, will be divided by the staircase going across the room making a dining/lounge area and the larger part (7 x 7) will be the lounge and bar area.

There is a single story offshot building (was the cow feeding barn - the barn itself was the milking parlour) which measures 4 x 7 metres and will be the kitchen/diner and utility room.  The house is designed for us, no guests, as they can stay in the gites.. There will be 6 Velux windows in the roof and 4 1800 x 1200 plate glass (fixed) windows as well as a 2 x 1.8 patio doors (funnily enough called English doors - Porte Anglais, over here). The entrance will be a large exterior lobby with enough space for 2 single wardrobes for outside coats and shoes and boots. The utility room in the kitchen will have a shower, toilet and sink as well as the washing machine.

Since writing the above, in 2008, I have decided to build a 6m x 3m utility room and "back" door entrance on the end of the kitchen at the rear, opposite side to the orchard.

Click on the months to see the progress. Over the winter of 2008/9 Lynne decided that I should stop as she wanted to move and I should put the whole farm up for sale. In the current climate there was little chance of selling the whole farm without making a huge loss. Late summer 2009 Lynne comes to her senses and give me the OK to continue. We want to sell the house (the one we live in at the moment) and the old house (the building at right angles to our present house) and the land around it. Two reasons. Firstly it gives us some close neighbours - Lynne is concerned that as we get older it's not a good idea to be so isolated and, secondly, it offloads the "difficult" part of the land to maintain. With the land around these two building someone else's responsibility I should be able to cut the rest in one day using the two tractors only.

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