The Stables Luxury Holiday Cottage at BANK VIEW FARM
Our Story
Alex tells the story of finding a derelict farm / rural idyll
and having a dream to transform it into the perfect home and bed and breakfast.
Finding a Rural Idyll
We first saw Bank View Farm in the summer of 2007, and immediately thought it would be a perfect spot for our new family home. Rachel wanted to move to a smallholding where we could lead a more sustainable life, growing our own food and bringing up our four boys in the countryside. I didn’t want our boys to feel too isolated, or to undertake a disruptive move which affected their schooling.
Bank View Farm is located in a beautiful rural valley full of nature reserves and farms, but only one mile from the local schools in Sheffield, which our boys already attended. With the bus terminus for regular buses into Sheffield at the top of the road, it was ideal. It offered the best of both worlds.
It took two further years to buy the farm in September 2009. It was a risk. It was a derelict group of falling-down, asbestos-roofed farm buildings with no planning permission. However, as an architect and accountant, we felt that we had the skills to design and build something wonderful for the family.
The Hayloft
had a collapsing wooden floor and some old bales of hay access via an uneven stone stair.
Click on the photo below to see what it looks like now.
The Stables
had a collapsing asbestos flat roof and large areas of rotten timber boarding.
Click on the photo below to see what it looks like now.
The Dairy
had been partially destroyed in a storm 50 years earlier and repaired in concrete block-work.
Click on the photo below to see what it looks like now.
Creating a Dream Home
I wanted to create something really special. The location was wonderful, and the old barns had real character. We designed the new house to retain the old barn structure, with a new extension to the front built out of reclaimed local stone and a sustainably grown green-oak frame. This beautiful home was to be powered by photo voltaic panels and heated by a ground source heat pump. It was super-insulated and sealed to the highest standards. Water use was optimised with industrial sized rainwater harvesting tanks.
Furthermore, the aim was to make this into an environmental wildlife haven with extensive pond building, woodland and hedgerow planting.
Local Support for an Exemplar Eco-Home
It took a further year to get planning approval in this designated area of high landscape value on the edge of the Peak District and in Sheffield greenbelt. Our proposal to create a highly sustainable new home for our extended family gained support from the local community and politicians, and ultimately we achieved consent for our proposals. We were not idle during this year: we planted orchards and hedgerows, cleared the land and derelict buildings and undertook environmental surveys to better understand the ecosystem of the farm. We also started keeping chickens, pigs and turkeys on the farm and turning grass fields into vegetable and soft fruit plots.
A year later we moved in to the nearly completed house in December 2011.
Life on the Farm
Years of enjoyable hard work were spent finishing off the conversion and landscaping the gardens and areas around the farm.
We lived at the farm, keeping an ever-larger number of animals and expanding our garden and horticultural areas. We built polytunnels so we could grow our own food year-round. We created a large vegetable garden with raised beds, surrounded by native hedgerows for shelter. We became enthusiastic beekeepers with an ever-growing apiary. We started an annual cider making tradition, using old-fashioned methods and home-made presses, and apples from our increasingly productive orchard.
We also planted woodlands, and hundreds of metres of native hedgerow. We mended dry stone walls and dug wildlife ponds. We even built a stone circle with the large stones found around the farm.
The Perfect Bed & Breakfast
Part of our desire was to create a new lifestyle, where we could live and work on the farm. As the children grew up and left home, we decided to again use our skills to create a truly unique set of suites, fill our home with guests and give up the 9 to 5.
We love making the farm and its gardens beautiful. We love growing and cooking great food. We are now able to welcome you to this truly special location. We know that you will love staying at Bank View Farm.
Bank View Farm
Moss Road , Totley
Sheffield, S17 3BB
Any Questions Please call
Rachel 07572 033 050
Alex 07970 658 097
Farm 0114 2363 297
Bank View Farm
Email :
Enquiries@BankViewFarm.co.uk