Looking back at our third year here 

Three years ago on Sunday we moved to Ley Farm, with grand plans and aspirational timescales. Little did we know just how difficult it was going to be to start building, and how long everything would take. Over the last year our luck has changed. If we were busy before then, everything just got a whole lot busier… 

This time last year we only had two out of the five planning permissions we needed in order to start building. At that point we were aiming for an October build date, which was looking increasingly unlikely given our builder’s availability and the council’s backlog of work; not to mention the latter’s concerns raised about installing renewable technology throughout the [listed / curtilage listed] buildings and replacing an unstable wall supported by rusted metal beams… The approvals finally came through in September, October and then January, adding to our stress levels throughout that period! The lengthy timescales have continued – while we’ve had our first set of materials signed off by the conservation officer after several weeks, we’re now waiting for the second batch. It’s a little frustrating because some of these materials we can’t confirm until we’re mid-build, so waiting over a month for approval is bordering on causing delays – one thing we can’t afford to do. 

We distracted ourselves over the second half of last year by getting on with all the site preparation we needed to do. This ranged from easier jobs like gradually clearing out the barns (mainly into the top floor of the farmhouse, which we then had to move again last month) and reclaiming beams for lighting, through to organising works with third parties like BT Openreach, National Grid, and our bat license and mitigation plans. Looking back, we spent at least half our weekends from August to February either moving things out of the way (compost bins, piles of woodchip and stones, and boxes), cutting back years of vegetation off the shippon (memories of that bitterly cold weather will stay with us for a while!). 

No wonder then the garden was neglected. We managed to plant 300 snowdrops in our snowdrop bank after the ones we’d planted the previous year mostly didn’t take; and cleaned the greenhouse to rid it of a suspected fungal takeover. We got through about half of our orchard jobs – some pruning, some feeding and some pest treating but not as much as recommended, and we didn’t get through all the trees. We’ve seen the repercussions – more suspected fungal infections on one pear tree and our medlar tree – we’re hoping a homemade concoction of cider and water this weekend will help, but it’s hard to know. 

Given the latest weather, it’s hard to imagine that this time last year we were experiencing a serious heatwave that damaged a lot of our vegetables. We learnt a lot of lessons after that which we’ve tried to apply this season – from adding more compost into the soil to improve water retention, building a squash arch to give the plants more air (my favourite addition this year!), and adding an extra outside tap to our garage building so it’s easier to get water down to the end of the orchard. We failed at growing certain vegetables (don’t ask about our parsnips and carrots!) but had a glut of others – resulting in a freezer full of soup to avoid wasting anything. We continued making jams, chutneys and jellies – trying out new recipes to use our pears in particular, and missing out on stone fruit recipes as all our plums and damsons failed. 

It hasn’t been all work and no play. Last summer regular village events started opening up after the pandemic – we experienced our first Yarcombe Terrier Races (which we’re now helping to organise – less than two weeks to the next one…), our first village flower show, a sheep festival, and a couple of other local village fairs, each with something slightly different about them. Very different to anything we experienced back in London! 

We also managed to explore Devon and Somerset a few times – trying out our local vineyard at Dalwood (twice!), visiting the beaches at Exmouth and at Lyme Regis, and then heading over to Taunton to get gardening inspiration from Hestercombe Gardens and meeting alpacas in a nearby village. And of course, we tested out six of our local pubs on our Ley Farm Cottages Marathon Pub Crawl (although one has since closed hopefully just temporarily, as it makes the route far less interesting). We want to test out as many local places and attractions as possible so we can recommend the best ones to our guests – although we didn’t make much progress in the past twelve months! Perhaps a focus for the next year…  

Then on top of all of this – our building work finally started! Naively thinking we’d finish building within our first year, we started in February – two and a half years after moving in. Our builders are doing an incredible job despite bad weather continually hampering them – starting first inside the shippon digging up the floor, and then knocking down and replacing the front wall once the council permission came through. All the roof tiles have been removed (and cleaned by John, all 2,500 of them), and the rotten rafters replaced, ready to be rebuilt. The structure for our extension is in place, and with the drainage in place, the floor has been concreted ready for laying the underfloor heating (the most efficient option to be paired with a heat pump). 

Shortly after starting on the shippon, our builders also started working on our derelict barn, knocking most of it down to the ground, and just keeping the walls that are built into the hill. They’ve worked on this continually since – digging out deep foundations and laying the floor, then building up the walls – first breeze block and insulation, and then an incredible-looking facing of stone, ready for the next floor to be added. It may not sound much, but you can see the amount of effort going into this. 

At some point in March, in case they didn’t have enough to do, our builders also started on the two-storey barn – putting the rooflights in (timing this over a rare dry spell), and then building up the internal structure on the left side to create two bedrooms and the bathroom. They’ve now started work on the right-hand side of the building – making space for the stairs and knocking out the kitchen window, but most of this building is to be completed in a second phase. 

In the last month, our builders have also started on the farmhouse, making this the fourth building they’re juggling. At least most of the work is contained within the top floor and our ensuite – it does mean though that our living space is full either of boxes or odd bits of furniture we’ve been collecting. Trying to squeeze past everything can be challenging at times! They’re making fast progress though – having already stripped the asbestos roof tiles and replaced them with slate and solar tiles; and then ripping out the top floor back to the bare walls, ready to be properly insulated and reformed.  

With everything going on, it’s been very useful having our monthly site meetings to catch up on everything that’s happened and is coming up – particularly having forewarning of the decisions we need to make. These tend mostly to be decisions on materials or cost options (for example buying more expensive breathable bat felt, vs the cheaper bat felt but requiring more vents in the roof). We’re generally not indecisive people, but with so little time available, we’re finding it hard to reach a conclusion in many areas until the last minute. Probably not a bad thing for our builders though, who have had to put up with storing those materials we have bought ahead and working around them, as we simply don’t have room for them in the farmhouse. 

It’s certainly been an eventful year – and halfway through our first phase – we’re excited to see what comes next!