Existing Farmstead Remodelling
Planning
Low Bella Farm is a range of Listed 18th century farm buildings, located in the village and Conservation Area of Flixton, near the coastline of North Yorkshire.
Nearing 250 years of age, Low Bella Farm ceased to function as a working farm in the mid-20th century, and the property now provides a permanent home to a young family.
Throughout this time, and change of use, the Farmhouse has continued to function as a private dwelling, and consequently has drawn the necessary maintenance and investment in the fabric of the building. However, the shift from agriculture to domestic, and the resulting redundancy of the farm outbuildings, has brought about their slow decline, and eventual ruin.
In this context, the practice was invited to help the family develop design proposals for the repair and conversion of the existing vacant outbuildings, the re-building of the ruined barn to provide a new domestic annex, and to help address functional issues within the Farmhouse, resulting from years of piecemeal alterations.
The developed proposals seek to sensitively repair, re-build, and re-configure the existing buildings to enable Low Bella Farm to serve the young family and their parents, as a multi-generational dwelling, with capacity to supplement their livelihood through the integration of modestly sized holiday accommodation.
