Albion Barn
Old Belchers Farm is a charming C17 farmhouse with a collection of barns and stables within a courtyard and farm estate setting.
The collection of buildings has Historic Interest Building Status, and the property falls within the Conservation Area of Little Milton.
The 325m2 project on Old Belchers Farm includes a dining room and of ces wrapped around an ‘intimate’ central, hidden library with four secret doors which, when opened, connect the different areas. When the doors are closed, the room is lined on all four sides by bookshelves.
The main barn is located aside from the house courtyard setting, out of view from the High Street and just inside the private access road, as it enters into the courtyard. A lean-to block addition with asbestos roof was added to the main barn at some stage to the south elevation, obscuring the main barn and forming the boundary wall to the neighbouring property Betts Farm House.
At some time the original roof to the main barn was replaced with a truss roof structure with plain tiles, and the walls blocked in with feather-edging weatherboarding to the exterior. The joinery (painted timber doors and windows) and barn doors to the main barn were added at a later stage for the barn to be used as a store. The oor is of agricultural grade concrete and is stepped in two locations owing to the fall of the exterior ground levels. The main barn, as it exists, contributes to the charm of farm estate setting with its use as an of ce and store maintaining the future of the building. The lean-to attached to the barn also serves as a store.
Describing the design, Christina Seilern, said: “While the galleries are pared-down in design, the library is somewhat whimsical. It has a mirrored polished steel ceiling, which doubles the perceived ceiling height of the space by creating bookshelves that seem to extend to in nity. A set of thin L-shaped steel plates create a very light cantilevered balcony that allows access to the higher bookshelves, while maintaining their visual verticality.’
