We had been thinking of ways we could try and diversify our farming business that would complement it without being too disruptive.
An old Dutch Barn presented an ideal opportunity. Some of the barn had already been re-walled and re-roofed with a potential holiday let in mind back in 2009. The original structure is still maintained within the old cavity walls.
We went ahead with the conversion in May 2020 after planning permission was granted.
A local firm, BCM Builds, was employed. They specialise in converting old barns and we knew they would complete the work tastefully and within keeping.
A lot of groundwork needed to be done first. This was mostly left to the men. David and Ed had to clear out was once a general storage area on the bottom floor and a shoot room on the top floor to get the barn ready to be converted. Over the next six months the conversion steadily took place. Insulation, electrics, plumbing, stud walling and brick work all started to come together. When the basics were all in the place then the real fun could begin.
As a previous interior shop owner, Vivienne was well placed to take on this challenge working alongside myself, Ruth.
Firstly, flooring. After a lot of disputes, we agreed on a click and link wooden effect floor downstairs (we didn’t want a wood floor to warp or to carpet downstairs for cleaning purposes, especially if we were going to have dogs).
We chose some tiles for the bathrooms we thought were in keeping and then sourced a lovely hard-wearing carpet from Church Stretton for upstairs. This was from a local business owner, who had originally carpeted all the private barn conversions David and Vivienne had done some years before, so we knew would be of good quality. All the doors were made out of oak so we sourced furniture that would complement them.
For sofas and beds, we went all the way into Wales to a store called Hafren Furnishings based at Llandidloes. They have everything, I would have bought the whole shop, but luckily my husband restrained me. It is very easy to over buy!!! We went for a zip and link bed option where you could either have the beds made as super kings or as singles.
Remaining soft furnishings were sourced from several places, my favourite being the Voyage Maision fabrics in the master bedroom and also the lamp shade and lamp! Vivienne really liked floral prints and I preferred slightly more understated, neutral tones so we did have quite a few debates about what would look best (I won).
We then sourced towels and bed linen for the property and all the little essentials one would need in a holiday let. It’s amazing how much you actually need.
Anyway, it all came together and after various fire safety and electrical inspections we were good to go. Apart from, then we weren’t. Right as we were about to open in October 2020 the second wave of Covid began and we couldn’t take any guests. Very frustrating!! The holiday let sat empty for most of the winter period.
However, since restrictions have eased, we’ve been welcoming guests and have been so pleased with the number of bookings we’ve had.
You can be assured of a warm welcome, comfortable surroundings and a few sweet treats if you do choose to come, please say you will?
Lastly, as the final piece to our jigsaw we needed a good website. We’d previously worked with Lodge Digital on our green burial website and knew they’d do a great job. Ant and Danielle, as approachable and friendly as ever, helped us to come up with a fab design and layout and then they put it all together. The result is what you see here today.
So welcome to our shiny new website all about the wonderful Conkers’ Cottage! Enjoy. If you’d like to book in or if you have any questions, please contact us or check our availability calendar.
