Master in miniature

The tiniest estate buildings can make wonderful homes, says John Tanner, who transformed a 600sq ft gardener’s bothy at Gunton Hall

- John Tanner

BREATHING life into unloved estate buildings is an immensely satisfying task. With country estates diversifying income streams and the rise in popularity of using short-let services such as Airbnb, owners are looking more creatively at how to make the most of their properties, turning unremarkable or pokey buildings into successful businesses.

I had the pleasure of working on a handful of these projects last year in Norfolk. Among them was furnishing the former servants’ quarters to Heydon Hall, now a three-bedroom Georgian house known as The Old Laundry, as well as sourcing antiques for the East Wing at Wolterton Hall—the largest of a number of new country retreats offered on the estate, under the direction of the owners Keith Day and Peter Sheppard.

Of all the successful conversions in East Anglia, the one that stands out in my mind is Gunton Park in North Norfolk. Today, it’s a thriving estate, but it might have been a different story were it not for the vision of Kit Martin, an entrepreneurial architect, who rescued the part-derelict mansion house, which had been damaged by fire in the 1980s, and converted it—alongside its estate buildings—into 20 dwellings.

Over a period of 20 years, he collaborated on the project with his neighbour, the art dealer Ivor Braka. Together, they purchased pockets of land and brought the estate back to its former glory.

Part of Kit’s genius was that he divided most parts of Gunton Hall vertically—there are many benefits to this, the obvious one being that you’re not at the mercy of a heavy-footed neighbour upstairs.