Not the same old story

NEW HOME: This barn conversion has lots of added character, but appearances can be deceiving. Sharon Dale delves behind its facade to discover what is behind the door of an old bread oven and how much effort was needed to bring the barn up to scratch.

When visitors praise Tony and Christine Gunson for preserving the original features in their property they have to confess that they did no such thing.

The beams, trusses, exposed stone walls, lintels and flags et al have been in situ for less than a year.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“It’s a great compliment that they think it’s all been here for hundreds of years,” says Tony, who points out that the doorways are all irregular shapes and sizes to make them look convincingly old. He also had Roman numerals carved on each of the trusses.

“That’s how they used to do it, so that’s what we did,” he says. “All the woodwork is done in the traditional way with mortice and tenon joints and pegs. There are no screws except in the staircase.”

It’s that kind of attention to detail that makes this barn conversion as close to perfection as you’ll find.

Tony and his wife Christine cut only one corner and that was on principle when the electricity company asked them to pay £1,200 for moving the existing meter.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“I’m a Yorkshireman and I like value for money. What they were asking was ridiculous. There was no way I was going to pay that,” says Tony, who has hidden the meter behind the door of an old bread oven. That’s something I found years ago and kept at my mum’s place because I knew it would come in useful one day,” he says.

That day came in January last year when the Gunsons agreed to buy the brick-built barn in Pudsey, Leeds, from the Moravian Church. Descendants of the Czech Unity of Bretheren, the Moravians settled in the area in 1744, building their own homes, church and school at Fulneck.

They constructed the barn around 1830 and it boasts magnificent views right over to the Humber Bridge.

The couple, who run Parker’s plumbing and heating contractors, found it after a friend spotted the planning notice taped to a lamppost.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“We’d been looking for a property to renovate for ourselves for ages, so we registered our interest in the barn with the Moravians and we were contacted when it came for sale. They very rarely sell anything at all, so we were lucky to get it,” says Christine.

It came with a covenant stating that it could only be converted to two homes, so having that removed and applying to create one larger home in the conservation area took about six months.

When the project was finally approved, Tony decided to take a sabbatical from work to manage it full time.

“It was a big job. When we showed friends round they thought we’d gone mad but we’d done up buy-to-let properties and Tony had overseen renovations of listed buildings for clients, so we knew we could tackle it,” says Christine, who was inspired by Jason and Justine Hudson’s barn conversion, which featured in the Yorkshire magazine a few years ago.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“We loved what they had done and they very kindly showed us round, which really helped,” says Christine.

The couple were already well-connected thanks to their own business and so finding good tradespeople was no problem.

With a crack team on board, the first job was to lay drains to the building, as water was needed on site. The next was to get rid of the asbestos roof and the animal pens, though the latter allowed them to reclaim stone that was later reused.

Re-pointing the barn’s 10,000 bricks was essential before a new breeze block skin was created inside, allowing them to put insulation between the old outer and the new inner walls.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Then came extensions at either end of the barn, which presented the first big problem.

“We searched high and low and travelled all over the country looking for bricks to match. We tried reclaimed and new ones made to look old but we couldn’t find anything that looked right. In the end we decided to go for a complete contrast and we built the extensions from stone and tied them in by putting stone lintels on the barn,” says Tony, who, together with Christine, planned everything from the internal layout to the lighting.

The couple, who have three grown-up children, were keen to downsize from the large family house into a home that was perfect for empty nesters, so they designed an open-plan living space with a separate utility room and cloakroom at one end and a snug and study at the other.

What was the hayloft was converted into three bedrooms and two bathrooms

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Although they could’ve squeezed in an extra bedroom upstairs, they sacrificed it to make an impressive double height space that showcases the exposed beams and trusses.

They are a work of art by Adam Walker, of Yorkshire Oak Frames, who had a journeyman joiner from Germany on the job with him. He provided the only international element to a building that is almost 100 per cent Yorkshire.

The oak is from Bridlington and the internal walls are gritstone from an old mill in Silsden, while all the trades were local, including the electrician Paul, who cleverly concealed all the wiring and John, of Prescott and Crabtree, who did the internal joinery. The Gunsons own firm did the plumbing and underfloor heating and Dewsbury-based Wood and Laycock made the windows, which are oak with pre-painted sapele wood on the outside.

“We didn’t want oak on the outside because we don’t like the silvery effect when it weathers and it doesn’t paint as well as other wood so Wood and Laycock laminated the two woods together for us,” says Christine, who spent evenings and weekends sourcing everything including flooring from British Hardwoods in Cross Hills and the kitchen units from Little London in Leeds.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

No expense was spared, though there were one or two bargains along the way including the uplighters/downlighters from Homebase and the remnants of wood that the joiner made into shutters for the master bedroom.

Most of the furniture was brought from their previous home except an oak coffee table made by their youngest son Andrew, a plumber and partner in the family business.

“We went away for a well-earned break and came back to find it. Andrew had made it for Tony as a father’s day present. It was a lovely surprise,” says Christine, who has just finished putting the finishing touches to the conversion that was completed in May this year after 10 months of hard graft in all weathers.

“We worked right through the winter and it was minus six inside even though we fitted the fire early to try and get some heat in. That was bad, but the hardest part really was trying to tell the others what I wanted.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“Usually builders have a set of plans to work to, but everything was in my head, which is why I had to be there on site,” says Tony.

“I’m lucky that my eldest son Christopher did such a good job looking after the business because that allowed me to devote all my time and energy to the barn. I am a perfectionist and I like things to be just right and they are.”

TONY AND CHRISTINE’S USEFUL CONTACTS

* Building and groundwork by General Contractors, Leeds, tel: 0113 257 8589

* Bathrooms, plumbing and heating by Parkers Plumbers, Leeds, tel: 0113 256 4712 www.parkersplumbers.com

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

* Oak trusses, beams and staircase by Yorkshire Oak Frames, Leeds, tel: 0798 492 4306 www.yorkshireoakframes. co.uk

* Windows and doors by Wood & Laycock, Dewsbury, tel: 01924 461559

* Kitchen by Little London Kitchen Company, Leeds, tel: 0113 250 0169 www.littlelondonhandmade.co.uk

* Plastering by WB Plastering tel: 0113 256 8161 or 0796 169 557

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

* Roof Slates by Greys Artstone, tel: 01484 666400 www.greysartsone.co.uk

* Oak from Oak by Design, Harrogate, tel: 01423 593794, www.oakbydesign.co.uk

* Prescott and Crabtree Joiners tel: 01274 678860.

Related topics: