The Barn

Part of the desire to move to Wales was driven by the change of lifestyle that we could achieve. We’ve found our little piece of heaven, and we’d like to share that with others. The dream is to turn our barns into holiday lets, where you can come and stay with your family – four legged as well as two!

Unfortunately, the barn has been fairly mistreated over the years. It looks like it has been rendered at some point, and it has been attacked with white emulsion on the inside. The house dates back to the 1870s and it’s reasonable to assume the Barn is just as old. For now, we can only start at the beginning. Part of that will be to strip away the inappropriate materials – the paint and cement and replace it with materials more sympathetic to its age and construction. This will take some time, and I will need to learn some new skills.

We have big plans for the Barn, and I will share them with you in due course. The good news is that the work has started! We will need planning permission for the holiday let and as part of that we will need a bat survey. In order to try and save some money, I’ve taken on the task of removing all of the boards from the internal roof structure. Removing the boards reveals the tiles underneath, allowing the bat man (!) to freely undertake his survey. I’ve started – and wow what a job this is. It’s hard work ripping them down – and it is definitely dirty work. Despite that, it is exciting, it means that we are finally moving towards the goal. Although we have the end goal in mind, it’s really about the journey we go on to get there. It’s going to be long, there will be blood, sweat and tears, but I will love every minute of it.