What? Bahaillon Bank Barn is a picturesque but ramshackle 200-year-old stone farm outbuilding with residential planning consent to turn it into a 2,000 sq ft three-bedroom cottage with private drive. Seven acres of wooded gardens and paddocks are included.
Where? Near Newtown, in Powys, Mid Wales, one mile from the village of Sarn and three miles from Offa’s Dyke, the 8th-century earthwork running along the border with England. The barn has good views over the unspoilt Camlad valley. The affluent market town of Ludlow, with its seven Michelin-listed restaurants, is about 30 miles away.
How much? £170,000.
How wrecked? The barn has been used to house livestock for 200 years, and now contains only animal pens and what the agent describes as their “waste products”. The vendor is a local farmer who farms ten miles away and no longer has any use for it. The L-shaped barn has been empty for about a year and has no windows, internal walls, proper flooring, water supply or electricity. The buyer will have to sink a borehole and install a private drainage system.
How much will I need to spend? The building has planning permission for conversion into a single-storey, three-bedroom family house with a kitchen, a bathroom and an open-plan living/dining room. The agent estimates that it will cost around £110,000 to do a basic conversion to a “comfortable standard”, but potential purchasers should allow £150,000 for “a full bells and whistles job”. The house might then be worth between £400,000 and £450,000, according to the agent.
Advertisement
Contact? Halls, part of the Humberts Group, in Bishop’s Castle, Shropshire. 01588 638755, www.hallsestateagents.co.uk .