The Granary

The Property: About The Granary

The Granary is a cosy but modern first floor barn conversion on our remote fen farmstead. With no neighbours for (literally!) miles, apart from us, you can really get away from it all. The spacious living area, featuring a double height ceiling complete with original beams, gives you spectacular views of farmland all around, with distant hills on one side, and the flat fens on the other. 

This is the perfect place for a relaxing and peaceful holiday - a quiet corner of rural England on the edge of a variety of landscapes waiting to be explored. You might be spoiled by the choice of stately homes, castles, cathedrals and superb churches that are in easy reach. Or you might want to just laze in the garden or on the comfy sofas. Whatever you want from your stay here, we offer you a very warm welcome, and look forward to seeing you soon.

The property and garden are a strictly no-smoking environment.

Our Eco-policy: The Granary was, as its name implies, a first floor barn for storing the farm's all-important grain. When we decided to convert it keeping the external appearance of the barn unchanged was easy but to retain the inside feature of the huge roof with its beams was more of a challenge. We also needed to make the flat warm and cosy and, above all, eco-friendly. By using generous amounts of insulation in the roof and on the walls, plus a false ceiling over the bedrooms at one end and the kitchen and shower room at the other, we find we have proudly created a very spacious but comfortable living area, and romantic beamed bedrooms. We re-used as much of the original building materials as we could and chose new materials with care to minimise the environmental impact while giving modern standards of convenience and comfort.  We have recently had 8 pv panels fitted onto our workshop roof and, since the Granary uses so little electricity, we probably generate more than enough for it, leaving a good proportion to be used by ourselves! Our whole ethos here at French's Farm is to re-use and re-cycle as much as we can, and we will no doubt invite you to save your vegetable peelings for our compost bins - which will ultimately be spread on the garden. And if you REALLY want to get close to nature, there is always our rare two-seater Lincolnshire privy (or thunderbox!) for you to investigate!

History: French's farm was a working farm into the mid-1960s, and then the house was abandoned (the last occupants were called Mr & Mrs French - hence the name of the property!).  Animals were no longer kept here, although the yard was in use until we bought the property in 1988.  We slowly turned the derelict house and horse barn into a comfortable home, and made the yard full of nettles into a garden with mature trees, a pond and orchard.  The Granary is next to, but not overlooking, our house so that we are on hand if you need us, but not "in your face"! We hope you will enjoy just sitting and relaxing or playing games in the whole garden, as well as using the private area we have created for you.

The apartment is on the first floor and so the windows on the lounge side (facing west) have spectacular views across the fen towards Dunsby and the hills beyond. From here we have often watched barn owls and kestrels hunting across the fields next to us.  These have not been cultivated for many years now, and so have become an interesting habitat, with ponds to encourage waterfowl such as Canade Geese and mallards.  We sometimes see badgers, deer and hares, and occasionally a fox.  Because the fen sky is so big our sunsets are amazing, and the pink light just floods into the flat (best enjoyed with a glass of wine!)

The windows on the other side look out onto the garden and pond, and then across the fen towards Spalding.  On a clear day you can just see the chimneys of our next-door neighbour's house, which is well over a mile away, where our road ends at the Forty-Foot River!  In the early 1900s, there were many more houses (abandoned and demolished long ago), and we are told that the children used to be taken across the river by boat to get to school!

We love the fact that our house is so far from anywhere and that we rarely get disturbed. We really love walking or cycling round the area, and know many routes (often including a pub or tea room!).   And we also love the fact that it only takes 10 minutes to drive into Bourne, less than an hour to get to Peterborough and only an hour longer on a train to be in the centre of London! We look forward to meeting you and introducing you to the Peace and Quiet that we have found here at French's farm.

This owner/agency has featured on countrycottagesonline.com since 2011