A MAN who sold his one-bed London flat and used all of his savings to buy a derelict cow shed had turned the purchase into his forever home.
Simon Baker, 52, purchased the land and shed in the Machno Valley, North Wales, without planning permission.
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Simon has now acknowledged that it was a “huge gamble” but he doesn’t regret having to spend cold nights camping in the back of his Ford Focus while the old stone building was being renovated.
And the now modern-looking shed – believed to be dated back to 1760 – has made it to the finalist of the BBC One show Wales Home of The Year.
Simon said: “When I saw the shed I fell in love with it – it was a heart-over-head decision. Everyone in my family thought I was mad.
“I have always had an urge to do a build and a restoration project. And I saw this property had come up for auction in 2013.
“It was up for sale without any planning perms to convert it. I saw it online and thought it looked like a project that could be a good thing to do.
“With the right kind of support and a bit of luck I could do it. I bought it before the auction and then some of it fell down – which was a bit worrying.”
The renovation prospects didn’t look promising as the shed lacked planning consent and was subject to a National Trust restrictive covenant – which needed their consent.
And the building was a derelict falling down cowshed, had never been lived in, and had no access or services.
But after carefully preserving surviving elements of the old cow shed, Simon incorporated clever interior design tricks – and Welsh roof slate which came from Cwt-y-Bugail quarry just 2 miles away from the shed.
He also worked with a number of people locally to understand how to best restore it.
“There was no point loving the place and then changing it completely. I wanted to keep visible stone in every direction you look in the barn,” said Simon.
“I had a fantastic local builder who I was able to convince to join me in this journey – they worked in these sort of buildings all their life as they tend to do it faithfully to the tradition.
“It was quite challenging to fit everything in and I realise the best way to use the space is to have a curved stair. And once I realised that that was the best way to do it everything else had to be set up on curves.”
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He explained that despite being a “bit scared” with the building task it was a “hugely rewarding process” to live in a space designed by himself.
Simon said: “It fits my way of life completely and that’s hugely kind of rewarding.
“The land was affordable by today standards – I took a huge gamble into buying the land because I had to put all my savings into buying the land out right at the start.
“And it was a huge risk because it didn’t have any permissions.
“When I bought this I was living in a flat in South London – it was a big change. It was a big step to take the project on – that presented its own challenges.
“I was a bit scared. Building it is quite interesting because you start in the beginning in control and then somewhere in the middle you lose control and you have to finish, otherwise you potentially lose everything and you have to keep pushing on.”
Where possible, the shed’s old beams were preserved. And from the outside the shed looks pretty much like it would have done in the 18th century.
He added: “I had done many conversions and I have always been interested in the building design. I owe a large part of doing this into my dad who was into DIY – my dad was probably my inspiration for doing this.”
As a way to thank those involved in the shed renovation, Simon decided to apply for BBC One’s Wales Home of The Year award.
And has made it to the finals which will be broadcasted in December.
He said: “I am not interested in the publicity for me. I wanted to celebrate the local people up here who worked so hard for it.
“The wonderful thing about doing a self-built project is that you feel like you are part of the community.
“You are buying all the materials from the local people and a lot of people who worked on it are very close friends. The builders graze some of the sheep on my top field.
“It is my forever home. I enjoyed living in London and I still have to go there from time to time. I always enjoyed having a contrast in my life.”
Simon, who works for Network Rail as an incident manager says that he is even learning Welsh at the moment to be a part of the community – as it is their first language.
He added: “People in the village remember milking the cows when it was a cowshed. The National Trust told me that it dates from 1760 – it is quite old but the reason that it became derelict is that it is too small for modern farming needs.
“I can look around the valley here and they are in different stages of disrepair. Once the roof falls down with the strong winds and bits of the stone start to get reused then they just disappear.
“I felt like I could be the life saver for this little humble barn and preserve it for future generations.”
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