House renovation, like many other adventures, is not for the faint-hearted, requiring not just practical skills but bravery, tenacity and money (but not always as much as you’d think). Most importantly you need vision and faith – think of all those Grand Designs shows where the journey inevitably falters – to carry you through the tough times. When Emma and her husband Terry went to view Doves Barn they saw an old timber barn and next to it a ramshackle corrugated pig shed. Planning permission had been granted for conversion, but it had been on the market for a while. Where others had faltered and walked away they stood firm and took a deep breath. “It was just an oak frame that housed a cold store,” explains Emma, “so the interior was completely invisible and it was impossible to see what the building was like. I think that put a lot of people off.’

The vision to imagine – when faced with a giant apple store and a pig shed – what things could look like on completion, the stop off points along the way, and then the ability to hold onto that vision until it becomes a reality, is where faith comes in. When you are doing all this yourselves and living on site as a family, that faith has to extend to one another, especially when you are working together.

Emma and Terry are at an advantage because they have building experience, although arguably when you do it for yourselves it is just as tricky. Together they run Hazelwood Building & Restoration and have been working in the area for twenty years – “Doing it for everyone else, so it was a logical next step for us,” Emma says. “I’m originally from a marketing and advertising background, but we’d done a few renovating jobs, adding value, and I decided that I liked interiors. I did interiors for Terry’s clients – it’s also a perfect opportunity to showcase the work Terry can do. He studied furniture design, so he has a fine eye for detail and can bring a high-end style aesthetic.”

They re-negotiated with the owners and altered the building plans so that more light would flood both interiors, before finally installing a mobile home, where the family ended up living for two and a half years. “We were in there during the first lockdown – with two children, a large dog and a lot of home schooling. Prices of materials rocketed and it was difficult to source some things for the build.” Despite the cramped living conditions and the hold ups, Emma appears to look back fondly on the period. “We put decking all around the caravan and we were there during two lovely summers, so it felt a bit like being on holiday at times.”

They demolished the pig house first, saving enough corrugated iron to make a covetable little shed from some remnants – and in the process a nod to the origins of the building. Standing in its place is now a large steel portal framed structure. It has a robust, agri-chic feel and looks modern and purposeful next to the listed vernacular barn, to which it is linked with a glass walkway. The big steel beams have been painted black and make a feature of its structure, like a modern version of the exposed beams of the barn. “The beams also help to divide up the space,” explains Emma, “partitioning it into kitchen, dining and living areas.” A suspended log burner, also black, hangs between the dining and living area and a linear LED pendant – made by Terry – hangs high above the Ercol dining table.

Bold statements are vital in big spaces and, with a vaulted ceiling and a huge hooded window at one end, this is definitely on the large side, although the kitchen section has a lower ceiling due to the mezzanine. “It makes it feel cosier and more enclosed,” she says, but it is by no means a dark space, despite the grey kitchen units. “We made the kitchen ourselves from birch plywood. It’s laminated with a high-tech material called Fenix. It’s brilliant stuff, resistant to finger marks, and scratches can just come out with a finger rub.”

Beyond the kitchen there’s a stripy glimpse of the striking metal stair rails that lead up to the mezzanine. “We were going to have wooden stairs,” Emma says, “but couldn’t get the wood during Covid. The only thing that was available was steel, so we spray painted it deep plum and it became a feature.”

The addition of the mezzanine meant that the family were able to live in this building while the barn was converted, sleeping upstairs on the new floor. “The other side of the house was boarded up, so we lived entirely in this side – and compared to the mobile home it felt enormous,” laughs Emma. “We moved into the modern barn extension in the summer of 2020 and built some sleeping pods within the mezzanine. It was self-contained, and with the bedrooms upstairs this was really all that we needed. We opened up the glass link at the beginning of the year and now have five bathrooms – a wet room, guest bathroom and three en suites.” All very much appreciated.