When Richard and Arabella Parr first saw Easter Park, a small country estate in south Gloucestershire, they knew it was perfect for them and their three children. Gwyneth Paltrow had viewed the farm a week before, but the Parrs moved fast and were soon planning how to do up the Arts and Crafts home, with its courtyards, barns and cottages, in the Woodchester Valley.

The Parrs had left London some years before and, having outgrown their first home in the Cotswolds, were looking forward to some small-scale farming. They planned to raise rare-breed sheep and pigs. Hens would be housed in a hand-built wooden chicken coop while ducks and geese could wander freely across the farmyard.

Sophisticated urban interiors didn’t seem appropriate here and Richard, an architect, was keen to pursue something a bit rougher around the edges. With the opening of Cowley Manor and Babington House nearby, he felt that people were looking for stylish places to stay, so he decided to convert the hay loft into a rural retreat. “Twenty years ago, when you went to stay in the country, you were prepared for everything to be a bit draughty and makeshift, but things have changed,” he says. The 50ft-long open-plan space is a contemporary take on the idea of a hayloft, with original oak beams, a green floor leading out into the surrounding meadows, shrink-wrapped hay bales and a table made from crushed boards the colour and texture of hay.

A Danish wood-burning stove ensures the barn is kept warm at all times, with a continuous supply of logs from the estate. In front of the stove is a chesterfield sofa, Barcelona chair and footstool and a cowhide rug. Richard designed the oak headboard for the bed and picked out the deep green velvet bed cover to soften the look. Sleek white bathroom furniture contrasts with galvanised-tin walls — a tough agricultural material more often used for barn doors.

Life on the farm is about “experimenting and having fun”, says Richard, who is constantly making changes to Easter Park. The dairy has now also been redeveloped as somewhere for people to stay, the piggeries are filled, as planned, with Gloucester old spots, and cappuccino-coloured castlemilk moorit sheep graze the fields. It’s very much about embracing the traditional ideals of living off the land — the Parrs have an organic vegetable garden and fruit orchards, as well as livestock — while enjoying all the comforts of the 21st century.

www.easterpark.com; 01453 861680

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