West Yard Farm
North Bovey, Dartmoor

Architectural Services
Full exterior and interior design

Project Brief
Create a new large family home, combining the Farmhouse and the Attached Barn with a contemporary glass extension between.

Client Requirements
A 19th Century farm complex in the middle of Dartmoor National Park. This farmhouse and it’s associated barns were in much need of repair and refurbishment. The brief was to create a new large family home, combining the Farmhouse and the Attached Barn with a contemporary glass extension between. Ancillary accommodation would be provided within the former milking parlour.

Partial demolition removed the 1950’s extensions and attached garage. The farmhouse now boasts 4 large bedrooms, sitting room, dining room and a generous kitchen/living area within the ‘Glass box’. This light-weight metal and glass, utilising glazing systems of the highest quality and technology allows panoramic views of the surrounding grounds and the park beyond, and creates axis of movement and light through the existing building stock. Each sliding glass panel that forms this extension, are 3.8m high and 2m wide; at the upper limits of what is achievable.

The old milking parlour has been converted to ancillary accommodation. Half of the existing structure was demolished, replaced with a contemporary green oak timber frame, seemingly ‘emerging’ out of the monolithic barn. A new zinc roof unifies the structure.

The design was well received by the Dartmoor National Park and was seen as both a sympathetic and progressive design solution to bring life back to an historic building within a sensitive context.

Project Status
Completed 2013

See all photos in project: West Yard Farm
Architect: van Ellen + Sheryn Architects
Photography: Richard Downer Photography