BEFORE / AFTER photos
See the progress of our old cattle barn being demolished in 2019 & re-built from scratch into a beautiful new Barn for wedding & events!
2014,
We purchase Brook House Farm. The two images show the old cattle barn and hay storage pole barn as we bought it.
(The grey building you see in the background is the Cottage before refurbishment)
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MAY 2018
We make a start on the driveway with a 13 ton digger. Target is to complete a 160 meter long driveway and car park in one month!
Our younger daughter Maisie aged 10 comes up with the name The Haybarn for our barn.
March 2018,
The snow is melting leaving behind a lot of surface water the digger is turning our field into a canal instead of a driveway !
MID MARCH 2018,
Two weeks into the job, more rain = more mud!
The picture shows the top soil taken out to make the driveway is carefully placed into a large half moon shape to later plant many trees and turn this area to woodland for a future wedding ceremony.
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MID MARCH 2018,
The diggers starting working on our main car park area.
We also demolish part of one of the old pole barns which used to store hay.
PROGRESS,
This area will become the main car park and front of the Barn, the old barn will be extended.
Before / After,
Comparison images September 2017 & March 2018.
Drainage,
New drainage goes into the ground under the car park to make repairs to the old broken and blocked land drain.
Building our main Car Park,
Late MARCH 2018,
We moved 680 tons of soil to build our car park and driveway. The soil is re-used to make a large half moon area where we will plant 400 fast growing British Native trees and create a future natural dense woodland to form a secluded woodland Ceremony or welcome drinks area by the Brook.
We estimate 3-4 years for the woodland to start looking green, these trees will grow 3 to 5 ft per year ! By 2019 it will already look green and lush.
April 2018. – The drive & car parks are done!
In the right hand side of the picture you can see the 400 young trees planted ( mainly in the brown area of the image).
June 2018,
Our Festival Wedding seasons starts. Building work now pauses for the summer months and the rest of the year for our weddings.
January 2019, Work resumes… March 2019, Demolition done!
The barn as it is before we knock it down! The image bellow shows the open space.
The previous owners used the barn as a lambing shed for 25 years We keep the original steel structure intact.
May – 2019, June – 2019, Doors & Windows
Walls are being erected. We install our By-fold doors and windows for maximum natural daylight.
June – 2019,
We start cladding the exterior walls of our barn with Cedar timber boards.
Once weathered the boards will turn grey in time. This will create a traditional timber barn look that will age and change over the years.
June – 2019,
We install a safety fence along the brook, and start the landscaping by bringing in 100 tons of final surface gravel to create a lovely courtyard under 200 year old oak tree.
19th June 2019, Landscaping (phase 1)
We are starting to see a beautiful barn coming on ! We are very excited to show our progress our couples.
10th July 2019, Old roof is removed
Asbestos concrete roof sheets are taken down and taken away making way for new insulated roofing
25th July 2019, Roofing
We install insulated steel sheet roofing to keep the industrial / agricultural barn look we want to achieve.
Skylights will provide lots of natural light in the building.
Sept 2019, Concrete Floor
We apply thick 4″ insulation material to the floor in preparation for our concrete poor.
Concrete floor poor over the insulation sheets.
We now must wait 3 months for the concrete to fully harden and cure before we can tile the floor.
10th Sept 2019, Interior walls
We receive 500 lengths of freshly cut scaffold timber boards from Scandinavia.
We mix & blend over a dozen different types of home made natural wood dies using coffee, tea, charcoal, vinegar, beetroot and a few secret recipes !
This will create a random, distressed warm look.
We will need 30-40 days to stain 500 boards by hand !
10th December 2019, Walls are done !
Following a few set backs, builders holidays, longer lead times for our electrician, 3 months for concrete floor to fully cure and other unenforced issues, we have finally done it! (still need to tile the floor)
The BARN is now FINISHED !!
