‘It was years in THE MAKING!'

Taking her time to make sure it was perfect in every way, Tracy’s old barn is now a modern country home

- VIVIENNE AYERS/GEORGIE RODGERS

COME ON IN!

ABOUT ME I’m Tracy Stark and I work for Susie Watson Designs. I live here with my husband Ron, who is retired, and our daughters Lola, 20, and Sasha, 19, when they’re home from university.

OUR HOME A converted four-bed barn with five acres of land, in the Airedale Valley, Yorkshire, built in 1842. We moved here 13 years ago.

WHEN WE MOVED IN The barn was half house and half milking stalls and the layout didn’t work for us. With the help of an architect, we slowly transformed it into our dream home.

AND NOW We’ve brought in modern features, but maintained the integrity of the barn as much as possible.

STYLE TIP A mix of light sources is important, so you can switch up the ambience to suit your mood.

Taking her time to make sure it was perfect in every way, Tracy’s old barn is now a modern country home

When we first spotted our barn 13 years ago, we knew its renovation would be a challenge, but we could see the potential to transform it into somewhere that really had wow factor.

We were already living in Yorkshire and when we went to view it, one lovely sunny day, we were completely sold by the beautiful views, stretching right across the Airedale Valley in the heart of the Yorkshire Dales. The property was selling in two lots; a three-bedroom cottage formed one part and the rest was old milking stalls, with planning permission to convert it into a four-bedroom house. We had a vision of creating one big, beautiful house, with space for our two girls to run around in. It had five acres of land too, which was perfect for our horses.

Back to basics