Simon Baker sold his one-bed flat in London to buy a derelict cow shed in North Wales. He put all his savings into buying the land, which was a huge gamble as the shed didn’t have any planning permissions.
Simon said, “When I saw the shed I fell in love with it – it was a heart-over-head decision. Everyone in my family thought I was mad. I have always had an urge to do a build and a restoration project.”
He camped in the back of his Ford Focus while the stone building, believed to be dated back to 1760, was being renovated.
After carefully preserving surviving elements of the shed, Simon incorporated clever interior design tricks and Welsh roof slate which came from a quarry just 2 miles away. He also worked with a number of people locally to understand how to best restore it.
“I wanted to keep visible stone in every direction you look in the barn,” said Simon. “I had a fantastic local builder who I was able to convince to join me in this journey.”
“It was quite challenging to fit everything in and I realize the best way to use the space is to have a curved stair. And once I realized that that was the best way to do it everything else had to be set up on curves.”
Where possible, the shed’s old beams were preserved. And from the outside the shed looks pretty much like it would have done in the 18th century.
“The wonderful thing about doing a self-built project is that you feel like you are part of the community. You are buying all the materials from the local people and a lot of people who worked on it are very close friends. The builders graze some of the sheep on my top field. People in the village remember milking the cows when it was a cowshed.”
“I felt like I could be the life saver for this little humble barn and preserve it for future generations.”
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