Client Stories: raising a glass to a Welsh vineyard
Ancre Hill Estates is widely considered the UK’s leading biodynamic and organic producer.
Client Stories: the story behind a successful business and home
Set on the edge of the South Devon National Landscape, Wood Farm offers the complete package: a charming 16th century farmhouse, three beautifully-presented holiday cottages, an indoor swimming pool, and various outbuildings - all set within 11 acres. It is a far cry from the farmstead that David and Fiona bought back in 2014.
The couple fell in love with Wood Farm, near Totnes, as soon as they first set eyes on it. But there was a snag. It was in need of “complete renovation”, says David, an interior designer.
He explains: “It hadn’t been maintained for 42 years and everything was knackered. There was an Open Day for potential buyers and every car there reversed back out! They were overwhelmed by the work involved.”
But David and Fiona were willing to take on the challenge. They loved the South Hams area of Devon and they could see Wood Farm’s potential for a holiday let business. Its outbuildings were ripe for conversion. Plus, its location close to coastal hotspots, including Salcombe, Dartmouth, and Slapton Sands, is a draw for holidaymakers.
The couple had form for this kind of move, having previously renovated a seven-bedroom house and converted a barn into holiday lets in Cornwall.
So, David and Fiona bought the farmstead. And around four months after that Open Day, “umpteen lorries” carrying their belongings navigated the lanes to Wood Farm. The couple, with their two children, four dogs and two cats in tow, moved in.
Renovating the buildings
With the main stone-built farmhouse uninhabitable, David and Fiona lived in one of the barns and set to work. “We hit the place as hard as we could,” says David. “We had to get some buildings in a mortgageable state to allow us to continue.”
They tackled the threshing barn first, converting it into two separate two-bedroom apartments, Beck and Fern. David and Fiona were guided by their experience of holiday lets in Cornwall to inform the configurations. One of the key decisions they made was to divide the barn vertically rather than horizontally.
David explains: “The holiday lets in Cornwall were successful but we didn’t like the split. We had two apartments, one on top of the other. The guests on the ground floor would be disturbed by the noise in the apartment above. We learnt from this and that’s why Beck and Fern are separated vertically.”
Next up was overhauling the main farmhouse and building the pool house. By this point, the couple were able to rent out Beck and Fern and capture some income while the building work continued.
“We excavated soil and put in concrete to support the back elevation of the farmhouse to make it stable,” David says. “We took out all the walls and floors inside and made everything solid and robust. We redesigned the whole house to suit us and employed Carpenter Oak to build a huge oak-framed extension and orangery.”
In the garden, the couple removed an existing pool that had collapsed inwards and subsequently filled with one-and-a-half feet of slime. They replaced it with an impressive brand-new indoor swimming pool, which proved a savvy decision: “With a swimming pool there, we could let each apartment for around 10 weeks more a year,” David explains.
L-R: The collapsed pool at Wood Farm in 2014, compared to the new impressive indoor complex
The couple slowed down after they moved into the main farmhouse. “We were tired and skint!” David laughs.
But there was one more piece of the jigsaw still to go: Burr Barn. So, six years ago, they turned the former cattle barn into a four-bedroom, three-bathroom holiday home.
David and Fiona designed the layout of Burr Barn with the same care and attention as Beck and Fern. They opted for an open-plan dining and kitchen area, plus a bedroom and ensuite upstairs. This allows them to easily convert the top floor of the barn into a smaller apartment called Bijou Barn for couples. It takes just half an hour to shut off the ground floor.
David says: “Burr Barn is very family-oriented. We often have several generations of one family, or groups of people that know each other, stay there. But in the quiet season, the one-bedroom Bijou Barn comes into its own.”
Across Wood Farm, the couple decided on two-bedroom and four-bedroom holiday homes because they rent better than three-bedroom ones, says Fiona: “We wrote our own brief to max out the buildings we had.”
The open-plan kitchen/dining room at Wood Farm
‘Dressing’ the farm
A trip to Bali for some much-needed R&R during the renovation opened the couple’s eyes to a treasure trove of furniture and other interiors.
They spent £40,000 buying items to ‘dress’ Wood Farm and its holiday lets: lighting, furniture, 16 tonnes of tiles, mirrors, ornaments, and even a cooker hood for their own kitchen. All in all, David estimates it saved them £200,000.
He enthuses: “It was a real pleasure. We met the people that handcrafted them, from the carved furniture, to the pots by the swimming pool. It’s all unique. You can’t buy them in the UK.”
The goods were shipped to Southampton before being transported to Bristol and finally, Wood Farm. “Around 2-3% of things were broken in transit, such as light fittings and tiles. There was an element of waste but it was minimal,” says David.
The couple’s attention to detail extends to the grounds of Wood Farm too, which feature landscaped gardens, an orchard, stream, a couple of ponds, and an idyllic hand-built bride.
David says: “The land is just as important for holiday guests to enjoy. When you are inland, it needs to be beautiful.”
Wood Farm, Devon
Whilst the pool is shared between the holiday lets, guests can select allotted time, so it feels as though you have private access. This was an initiative first introduced during the pandemic which proved so popular that they system continues to this day. Similarly, each holiday home has its own parking space.
Now, more than a decade after David and Fiona first drove down the tranquil valley to Wood Farm, the couple have decided to sell up and downsize locally.
“This is the right time to sell,” says David.
