The owners of this exceptional barn conversion holiday let in North Yorkshire were hands on with the transformation

While Sophie’s employers agreed she could be based at home, Rich’s request for flexible working was met with an emphatic “no”.

He says: “We had started to look at houses in the York suburbs, where I could get the train back to London easily, but when working from home wasn’t possible for me, we decided to look for a property venture where we could have holiday lets.”

It was his mum who found the perfect place for them after hearing about a redundant farm soon to go on the market in the rural and idyllic village of West Cawthorne.

The Vermonts were blown away by the location on the edge of the North York Moors National Park within easy reach of Pickering and by the possibilities on offer.

They managed to agree a sale before the farmstead and its 26 acres were advertised.

The timing was right as this was just before the first pandemic lockdown that sparked a flight to the country and resulted in prices for rural property shooting up amid multiple bids.

West Cawthorne Farm dates to the mid 1800s and came with a farmhouse, a walled garden, a blacksmith and joiner’s cottage plus historic barns and other stone outbuildings.

It sits on a hill, which delivers incredible, far-reaching views across the Vale of Pickering.

“It’s an amazing place because a lot of farms have replaced historic stone outbuildings with big steel sheds but everything here is original and it is surrounded by nature with rolling fields as far as the eye can see,” says Rich, who quit his job to project manage the renovation and conversion of the property from working farm to family home and holiday haven.

The couple began by applying for planning permission to turn outbuildings into holiday accommodation, which proved a slow struggle due to the pandemic.

However, they had plenty to do in making the farmhouse into their family home as it hadn’t been lived in properly for a few years and needed work.

“The roof came off, the floors came up and we stripped it back to a shell,” says Rich, who enjoyed the process, not least because it saw him renew old friendships with people he went to school with in Pickering and who are now gifted tradespeople, who were generous enough to teach Rich some of what they knew.

He says: “I’d dabbled in DIY before and it used to take me a few hours to put up a shelf but I can do a lot more than that now thanks to the help and guidance I was given by the guys I went to school with.

“I also watched a lot of ‘How to’ YouTube videos.”

After the farmhouse project was complete, he and Sophie turned their attention to changing a 19th century former blacksmith’s barn into a beautiful holiday let now known as The South Range.

The craftsmanship is second to none with original features preserved and the barn is now a sensational single storey dwelling.

The luxurious property has a panelled boot room leading to an open plan living space with a main living area, kitchen and dining area that has large sliding glass doors bringing views over the Vale of Pickering.

The kitchen was made by the joiner who worked on the site and the wall behind it is lime rendered while the island is an old science lab table topped with a quartz worktop and surrounded by stools from Swoon.

The free-standing cupboard was from an antiques fair, the sofa and chair from Soho Home and the dining table was from Sophie’s sister’s interiors store, the Homebarnshop.co.uk in Marlow.

The two bedrooms at either end of the building have super king size beds plus ensuites and the second bedroom also has a mezzanine with two single beds,

The decor is stylish with a neutral colour palette and natural materials, which create a sense of calm. Outside is a south-facing garden with its own hot tub, outdoor kitchen and firepit.

Such is the quality of the barn and its location that it is now on the books of Leeds based agency Lifestyle Locations, which showcases homes available for film and photography shoots.

Not surprisingly, it has also proved a winner with guests and has been joined by two holiday cabins, which were hand-built on site and sit in a wild flower meadow

There are more conversions to come and no regrets at all about leaving London life.

“We are so proud of what we have achieved so far,” says Sophie, while Rich adds: “I didn’t appreciate just how amazing this part of Yorkshire is when I was growing up but now I look outside and feel so lucky to be here.”

*For details of the barn and cabins visit www.northyorkshirehideaways.com. Lifestyle Locations is at www.lifestylelocations.co.uk