The Minister's Tudor-style barn

I love old barns converted into homes. We have already told about thembut I always find new and new examples of almost unbelievable transformations of old grain and animal shelters into holiday or residential homes. I think I've already told you about the nearly 300 year old barn, transformed into a beautiful holiday home, that I lived in for a week years ago in Germany. And in France I also lived at one time in an old barn converted into a home, furnished and decorated with items taken from flea markets. It looked like a small medieval castle. But back to the barn today. It's a Tudor-style building complex in Hampshire, England, that was also at one time at the centre of a scandal.

The house I want to present belongs to a lady politician, former Secretary of State for Culture during the Cameron government. The lady was at one time in the middle of a scandal over buildings and overspending and had to resign. But beyond the scandal, the beautiful house, which cost £1.2m to convert, remains.

In fact it is a complex of 3 buildings, all built of oak in the Tudor style, on a property of almost half a hectare. The main building has been converted into a beautiful family home with living room, dining room, 5 bedrooms and library.

Access to the first floor is via a wooden staircase and an impressive walkway made of old beams. As this is England, the fireplace has not been forgotten.

The adjoining building has been converted into a guest house with a living room and bedroom.

The third building is basically a shed. Despite its simplicity, it was part of the cultural heritage and could have been demolished. It has been converted into a kind of open garage, in which a maximum of 3 cars can be housed.

The transformation of the old buildings was done trying to preserve as much as possible of the specific traditional elements. The exposed wooden beams, both horizontal and vertical, the brick fireplace area and the ever-present thick wooden beam above, have been combined with new elements respecting the style of the building. Where possible, other elements of the barn were saved. The wooden door to one of the bedrooms bears witness.

The old houses, barns, sheds have an authentic and natural charm. It's a shame to give them up so easily. In addition, homes made in such barns are often preferred to impersonal ones made of concrete slabs and glass.

(source: dailymail.co.uk)