Ed and Marianne Seymour have just finished the fourth stage of their Wiltshire barn conversion. But the story begins years earlier, when they stumbled across the site of their home by pure accident, during a visit to the village of Oaksey.

“It’s amazing, you hear of so many people struggling to find a site, and we just spotted ours during a trip to the village pub,” says Ed, of Taylor Seymour Architects, based near Cirencester, Gloucestershire.

Ed and Marianne bought the 51/2 acres of land with a complex of barns in 1990 for £225,000. The site had planning permission for two barn conversions and a new-build home.

They started first on a stylish conversion of the smallest barn. The transformation cost £80,000 — for which they also renovated two long byres. They incorporated solid oak flooring and introduced windows, underfloor heating and a wood-burning stove.

Ed says: “Using quality materials pays off in the long run. If you’re thinking of the future, use materials that don’t need a lot of maintenance.”

They moved into the small barn in July 1991. It wasn’t big — it contained an open-plan living/kitchen area, an entrance hall, one bedroom and a bathroom.

But as Marianne says: “We thought about everything so carefully. The cupboards in the bathroom have glass doors designed to reflect the room and make it feel bigger. The bathroom suite, and the bed in the room beyond, were hidden behind doors so the rooms looked like living space from the front door. After much thought, we even included caravan-style kitchen cupboards, with racks on the doors, to cram in as much as possible.

“We kept the kitchen units at waist level, so there was no visual divide, and refrained from hanging pictures on the stone walls to make the space feel open and airy.”

The domestic situation got even more interesting with the birth of their daughter, Ella. With no provision for a second bedroom, the hall had to make do and Ella’s bed was hidden behind a curtain.

Ed and Marianne had never intended to make the small barn their permanent home, but in 1995 they had to change their plans for the property complex.

“We borrowed money to build a house on a patch of our land to sell on — we also sold one of our barns,” says Ed.

With their debts paid off and money in the bank, Ed and Marianne decided to extend their own barn. Although barn extensions are usually against planning regulations — most councils’ planning policies state that a barn will be granted planning permission only if it is capable of conversion without significant rebuilding or extension — their barn had been granted permission to extend 30 years earlier. The North Wiltshire district council planners were impressed with the quality and style of the original conversion, so decreed that the initial permission could still stand.

One of the planning officers who dealt with the Seymours’ applications has this advice: “Although the chances of a barn being granted permission to extend are slim, it’s worth checking with your local council. There might be exceptional circumstances that make the building exempt from current regulation. Never assume permission will be granted.”

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