Changing our life for the better

Many people ask why we decided to move to Devon and live on a smallholding. Well, that’s the million-dollar question. Even though for many people it may seem a world away from the bright lights of stage and screen, to us it was a natural and easy decision to make. We both had worked extensively in the entertainment industry for over 20+ years and although we had experienced a lot of success in our respective careers we both knew that one day we wanted a different quality of life. Having said that doing a move like this is no easy thing especially as we had no experience or knowledge of Devon or living and running a smallholding. One thing that we did share was a belief in following your instinct and doing what '“feels right” in life. We believe that if something feels right then it’s the right choice, we can all be choked by fear when making decisions especially big life decisions like this. It is also important not to lose sight when the opportunity arises and to not be afraid to take a chance. And take a chance we did, in the spring of 2020 during the first national lockdown when the country had ground to a halt we saw it as the perfect opportunity to try something new and make that dream move. Once we had made that decision everything seemed to fall into place. Although the process of selling and buying houses is never easy the process of moving to The Barn was a relatively smooth one. When we first viewed The Barn we both instinctively knew this is what we wanted even though it was the “wildcard” of our short list of houses. After all, this was the house that had a barn that needed renovating and land including animal paddocks and a poly-tunnel whereas the others didn’t. This was the house with big responsibilities, so was this what we wanted? Were we brave enough to take that leap of faith? Well, it seemed we were because 8 months later in January of 2021 whilst storm Christophe was raging around us we made the move to The Barn. When we arrived it's fair to say reality set in. The fact that it was in the depths of winter in a storm didn’t help, also the previous owners had used it as a second home so everything was a little neglected and overgrown. The Aga didn’t work and there was no oil in the tank for heating, so after a night of sleeping on the floor under a mountain of coats, it was time to roll our sleeves up and go to work.

Even though the task was a daunting one, something just clicked straight away. We had always worked well together as a team which was essential if we were going to succeed in making this work. The first couple of months was all about cutting back and clearing. We cleared so much stuff in the first few months and even though it was hard work we could see everything starting to look better. However, one of the things we said we weren’t going to do was grow anything in our 1st year but when we tackled repairing the poly-tunnel and greenhouses we thought “well why not?” That in itself was an incredible learning curve considering neither of us had grown a house plant before never mind tend to a commercial poly-tunnel. So we bought some books to help us and started to propagate some seeds and before we knew it we had an abundance of fruit and vegetables that we had grown here at The Barn. It was incredible, we managed a bumper crop including Potatoes, Onions, Spring Onions, Tomatoes, Courgettes, Squash, Broccoli, Carrots, Beetroot, Broad Beans, Spinach, Green Beans, Artichokes, Strawberries, and even Melons! With a spring in our step, we then embarked on another thing we said we weren’t going to do in our first year, get some animals. We had spent a lot of time in the first few months rejuvenating the animal paddocks, clearing old chicken huts, replacing gates and fencing and reseeding the ground. We had often joked in the past that one day we would get some chickens so it seemed the perfect place to start. Once we welcomed our 1st batch of ladies to The barn we didn’t look back and soon after we expanded the family by welcoming our gorgeous Ouessant Sheep. We now have 25 chickens all different varieties (and all have names) and 13 Ouessant sheep (who have names too). We welcomed our first lambs in 2023 and looking forward to more in 2024. As well as building our Barn family we also started to renovate our smaller barn into accommodation and in 2022 acquire 2 further cottages across the lane that also needed renovating. Our idea was to turn them into our Barn Holiday Cottages so people can come and stay in this beautiful area of Devon for holidays and short breaks. It took nearly a year to renovate the cottages but we’re glad to say that we are open for business and welcoming lots of happy guests throughout the year.

If you follow us on Instagram you will know that there is never a dull moment here at Our Life At The Barn. There is always something to do on a smallholding and for us, and those first 2 years were a rollercoaster ride of adventure into the unknown but one in which each day we learnt something new and faced challenges we never imagined.

2024 looks like its going to be yet another new chapter in our barn journey when we plan to open Barn Bakes our Our Life At The Barn micro-bakery serving Stone-Baked Sourdough Pizzas, Artisan breads, cakes & pastries for our guests and beyond (watch this space).

We get so many messages from people whose dream is to do something similar but for one reason or another are unable to make that change. All we can say is that it's the best thing we’ve ever done, yes our lives have changed but change isn’t a bad thing especially if it’s for the better.

Here's to more adventures here at Our Life At The Barn!