DOWNSIZING TO A TRENDY BARN IN MY OLD GARDEN

MERULA FRANKEL, 71, a widow and retired nurse, lives in a pre-fabricated timber house in the grounds of her former family home near Alton, Hampshire. Marula says: mY HUSbaND richard and i moved here from london in 1977. We bought a Grade ii-listed, six-bedroom house and raised our four children there.

as our needs changed, we thought about downsizing, but we didn’t want to move from the area.

Thankfully, our house was in a large plot of land, so we decided to split it and build next door.

We engaged an architect, but there were planning issues and the process stalled.

Then, in 2008, i was widowed when richard died in a traffic accident.

i decided to pursue the dream we’d shared — but as a recent widow, the stress of a traditional build no longer appealed. i thought it would be wonderful to have a company to hold my hand.

So, in 2011, i employed the German company baufritz to build my dream house. barn-style with a pitched roof and larch cladding, it cost around £750,000. it’s light, airy and modern, with four bedrooms and a lovely smart kitchen that i adore.

For me, the prefab route has been extraordinarily stress-free compared to a more conventional self-build. baufritz’s project manager took care of every tiny detail.

The diggers arrived at the end of January 2013. my house arrived on the back of several lorries on april 9 and it took just three days for a team of eight master carpenters to put it up as a dry shell and a further four months for the inside to be finished.

all in all, it’s been a joy. The ease of the building was a real comfort in a difficult time — it’s everything that we as a family could have hoped for.