THE PASSION PROJECT

Bridget and Andrew Hall took their love for the Lake District to a whole new level when they bought and renovated a dilapidated farmhouse near Ullswater

Gaia Farmhouse nestles within a remote valley in the Lake District, but Bridget and Andrew saw that as both an opportunity and a challenge. An opportunity to create a unique home just a short walk from the shores of Ullswater; a challenge, as the farmhouse is at the end of a narrow road, ending in a steep pass with six hairpin bends.

We never thought it would be easy, but there were times when we seriously questioned the wisdom of buying a dilapidated property in such a remote area,' says Andrew.

Their five-year labour of love has paid dividends, however. With painstaking care and inspiring vision, they have rescued a semi-derelict and overgrown 400-year-old farmhouse and given it an exciting new future.

'Many people said it would have been easier to have knocked it down and started again, but the house has an extraordinary history, which we wanted to preserve,' says Andrew. The first record of a building on the site dates back to 1589 in a survey of the local area and, over the next 400 years and with a series of extensions and additions, it evolved from a humble pig shelter to a 32-acre farm.