From hooves to home

Turning an old farmstead into a des res and a holiday cottage wasn’t easy but the project was well worthwhile. Sharon Dale reports. Pictures by Louise Bates.

Sonia and Matt Whiteley-Guest were renovation veterans, but buying an old Yorkshire farmstead with 16 acres really tested their mettle. The sheer scale of the work needed was daunting enough but they also had to deal with the global financial crisis and its effect on mortgages, which provided them with an unforeseen hurdle.

Their ability to keep calm and carry on got them through the inevitable lows that come with big projects and the reward for their hard work and perseverance is a beautiful, converted barn and a separate holiday cottage.

The properties also bring in an income as the barn is available for photography and film shoots via Yorkshire-based Lifestyle Locations and the cottage is let via Airbnb.

The adventure began when they spotted a former cattle farm for sale near Baildon, with 90 acres, a barn, three outbuildings and a cottage.

“Matt had always wanted to do a barn conversion and so we went to look at it,” says Sonia. “It had been in the same family for 70 years and the cottage was damp and the only heat was from a two-bar electric fire but the barn was enormous and we could see the potential in it. The only issue was the 90 acres of land, which was too much for us.”

The couple walked away but a year later the property came back on the market with just 16 acres and planning permission to convert the barn. They jumped at this second chance to buy it.

“We sold our own house, bought a static caravan for me, Matt, our two children and our dog and moved up to the farm,” says Sonia.

Their first job was to renovate the cottage so they could move in and leave the caravan and its rudimentary outdoor loo behind before turning their attention to the barn.

The work on the old house took just four-and-half months. The ancient electric fire was replaced by underfloor heating and the coal shed became a kitchen. The property, which is heated via a biomass boiler, now has two reception rooms, three ensuite bedrooms, a kitchen and a utility room.

There were, as there always is, a few shocks, including buying a new septic tank, replacing single-phase electricity with triple phase and tackling the water supply via lead piping, which was deemed unsafe.

“The new water pipes along with a filtration system were £7,000, though the benefit is that our water from the moor is now so pure it is like the best quality mineral water,” says Sonia.

While the barn and outbuildings at the rear had planning permission for conversion, the creative couple had their own ideas on the layout so they had the plans redrawn and passed by the local authority.

This included permission to demolish an old storage shed adjoining the barn and to replace it with a double garage with guest accommodation above.

“We were all set to start work on the barn when the mortgage affordability rules changed and it took us a year to find a lender. At one point we thought we’d have to sell but then Swedish bank Handelsbanken agreed to give us a mortgage and they were brilliant,” says Sonia.

The Whiteley-Guests began work on the barn in August 2016 and moved in a year later, which then enabled them to market Ash House Cottage as a holiday let and generate an income.

The Sherlock Building Company, based in Bingley, carried out the conversion, which features a series of light-filled, interconnected zones on the ground floor.

These include a gym, office and hall at the front of the barn and a spectacular kitchen area leading to dining and sitting spaces at the back. What was the outside loo and a lean-to has made way for a contemporary extension with a zinc roof that now houses the games room.

“The builders were fantastic,” says Sonia. “The only issue we had was with the company that supplied us with the concrete floor at the rear of the barn. We had 120 square metres poured but when it was diamond polished it started to crumble.