The stunning renovation of a farm near Stow-on-the-Wold

Chris Wild and his wife JB had always wanted to build their own house, and 17 years ago they had the chance.

They bought a farm near Stow-on-the-Wold and after struggling with the planning for 18 months, were able to start on their project.

The farm came with 120 acres of land containing a small 19th century Cotswold stone cottage (former home of the farmer) and a range of barns, including two of Cotswold stone.

‘So we and our three children, aged 13, 11 and nine, moved into the cottage,’ says JB, who has her own interior decorating company Wild and Wilder. ‘It was quite unmodernised – no central heating but we had a woodburner – and we managed there for a year. Then we pulled it down!’

he doubleroofed ‘Georgian’ farmhouse clad in Cotswold stone re-used from the demolished cottage. Chris and his team built the lily pond guarded by a wrought iron heron bought from an arts fair (Image: Heather Gunn) That is because Chris, a property developer, and his team had spent that year converting one of the two barns into a two-bedroom dwelling with a mezzanine floor. They then moved into that for another year, children in the ground floor bedrooms, parents sleeping on the mezzanine.

‘Meanwhile we rescued all the Cotswold stone from the cottage, split it and kept it for our planned new-build home,’ says JB.

The main problem from the planners’ point of view was the much increased footprint of their new Georgian-style farmhouse. ‘We were going to build on the site of the cottage but the replacement dwelling was going to be bigger,’ says Chris. ‘However eventually we were granted permission.’ And then it took only six months to build their three-storey, five- bedroom house because it was a SIP construction, made up of structurally insulated panelling imported from Germany.

Hallway. The floor is limestone tiling and the enormous portrait is of JB’s French great grandmother whose husband was director of The Shell Transport and Trading Company and Chairman of the Mercantile Bank of India. (Image: Heather Gunn) They built it to link into the second barn, which was L-shaped and had stood close to the cottage. This former dairy barn they converted into an enormous kitchen-diner, some 15m by 6m with a games room at the end. ‘The only original features left of the barn are its Cotswold stone walls,’ says JB. ‘The oak beams and limestone floors are what we put in.’

The kitchen units and island were designed and made by Dominic Ash from elm. ‘We actually saw the elm in its raw state in his workshop before he started work on it,’ says JB. ‘Now the kitchen-dining room is where we all tend to gather.’

As regards the SIP construction – ‘Nowadays you can buy it in the UK,’ says JB. ‘But Chris was a pioneer.’

Downstairs cloakroom. The wallpaper is by Osborne & Little and the paint is Calke Green by Farrow & Ball (Image: Heather Gunn) ‘The beauty of the SIPs is that they consist of 150mm of insulation so although we have underfloor heating downstairs, we don’t need any heating upstairs,’ says Chris, who has renovated many previous houses in the Cotswolds. ‘In addition all our fittings are energy efficient so our energy bills are very low.’

The underfloor heating is supplied by a biomass boiler which is fed with woodchips – ‘and we get them from our own woodland twice a year,’ says Chris. ‘We also have a heat recovery system which ventilates the house 24 hours a day. It draws old air out of the bathrooms and pumps in fresh.’

They don’t have any water bills either because all their water comes from the private spring on their land. ‘That’s apart from the initial expense of setting it all up,’ says Chris. ‘We have a 6,000-litre holding tank with a gravity feed into the system.’

Sitting Room: the two 1950s Italian armchairs are from Birdie Fortescue of Norfolk and the taupe knoll sofa in a Warwick velvet fabric is from Uptec of Winchcombe (Image: Heather Gunn) Once the SIP was built, Chris had the exterior clad in the split Cotswold stone from the demolished cottage for a suitably aged look. Inside, the ground floor is either limestone tiles or oiled oak floorboards and they have two limestone fireplaces in a reproduction Georgian style.

Then they moved in with the family and have since acquired two Jack Russells, Dolly and her daughter Twiggy, one horse called Pie and a cat called Tart.

What brought the family to Stow-on-the-Wold? ‘Thirty years ago we started off in Farmington then we moved to Sherborne. We spotted a sign advertising the farm for sale at the end of the lane,’ says JB

JB’s father was in The Blues, The Household Cavalry, and took part in Queen Elizabeth II’s Coronation. This painted lead figure collection make up a complete set representing everyone who took part. (Image: Heather Gunn) ‘The land is organic and set down to permanent pasture, which appealed to us, and we’re still surrounded by cows and sheep as we let out much of the grazing to our neighbouring farmer. We also let out the original converted barn for holiday lets.’

When it came to furnishing and decorating their home they were able to mix the old with the new. ‘We’ve inherited a great many things from our two families,’ says JB. ‘For instance, in the hall there is rocking horse dating from the early 1900s from Chris’s family and above it is a Georgian portrait of one of my great great uncles and his pony. But on the stairs is a bright stripy modern runner made from converting a carpet bought from Crucial Trading. Although I’m not sure if Cirencester Carpets, which did this for us, approved.’

However, Chris is now focusing on his new project, Far Peak at Northleach. It used to be an old beetroot factory on 25 acres but Chris and his team have turned it into …. well, something everyone can enjoy. There’s the Old Smokery, a café and a bar available for private hire. There’s also on-site camping and glamping accommodation plus outdoor and indoor climbing, escape rooms, and bike hire. For the less adventurous there are physiotherapy sessions, saunas and ice baths available.

Finally there is modern office space to rent, co-working areas and a fully equipped gym along with the Cotswolds’ first indoor padel tennis (a mix of tennis and squash) courts.

Guest Bathroom. The walls are painted in F & Bs Peignoir with Cinder Rose on the woodwork. The bath itself is painted in a Dulux Fuschia Lilly. ‘I love colour,’ says JB. (Image: Heather Gunn) ADDRESS BOOK

Dominic Ash (kitchen) 01285 343032 www.dominicash.co.uk

Far Peak www.farpeak.co.uk

Indigenous (flooring) 01993 824200 www.indigenous.co.uk

Rapture & Wright 01608 652442 www.raptureandwright.co.uk

Upholstery Techniques Ltd 01242 621414 no website

Hallway: The rocking horse dates from the early 1900s from Chris’s family and the Georgian portrait of a boy with a pony is of JB’s great great uncle. (Image: Heather Gunn) Stairs: The Crucial Trading carpet was converted into a runner by Cirencester Carpets. (Image: Heather Gunn) The snug. The walls are painted in Pitch Blue by Farrow & Ball and the cowhide is from Cirencester Market11 Guest Bathroom. The walls are painted in F & Bs Peignoir with Cinder Rose on the woodwork. The bath itself is painted in a Dulux Fuschia (Image: Heather Gunn) The master bedroom. The bed is from Jonathan Horne and JB had the head and end boards reupholstered recently in a Rapture & Wright fabric. The throw is an Indian Kantha from Ibbi and the wall paint is in an Annie Sloan chalk paint Upstate Blue. (Image: Heather Gunn) The master bathroom shower tiles are from Beswick Stone and the marble tops are from Granite Planet. The Karndean floor was chosen for its waterproof qualities and works well with underfloor heating. (Image: Heather Gunn) The guest bedroom. The wall paint is Elephant’s Breath and the bed cover is another Ibbi Indian Kantha.The fabric is all Rapture & Wright (Image: Heather Gunn)