Converting a derelict barn that was formerly part of the Burton Constable estate was far from trouble-free. And in the hope of avoiding the need for further modernisation, Darren and Hannah Chamberlain decided to make their new home future-proof. Sue Mason reports . . .

Darren and Hannah Chamberlain with their Weimaraner dogs Oscar and Tilly

Cows and pigs used to sleep in what is now the beautiful kitchen of Darren Chamberlain’s home; the underfloor-heated travertine slabs are cosier and rather more elegant than the straw-covered concrete they replaced.

And before trees and shrubs took root in what is now the dining and sitting rooms, the other wing of this converted barn was a grain store.

Originally part of the Burton Constable estate (you can see the stone gate arch, the house and its garden), the derelict barn on the fringes of Sproatley was being sold off, along with the 1770s farmhouse to which it belonged, back in 2006.

Darren and his wife, Hannah, at first thought they’d lost out on the barn but ended up with a bargain. “Initially we offered £220,000 but we were told it had been sold,” says Darren, a former police officer who is now a solutions architect for an IT firm. When the original sale fell through, the couple were able to snap up the 3,800 sq ft L-shaped property, set in three acres of land, for £180,000.

It was the ideal project for Darren and Hannah, who had been living in Poplars Way, Beverley, in a modern four-bedroom detached house. “We were after something with a bit bigger garden because we have two Weimaraners (hunting dogs about the size of a Dalmatian). Now we have six bedrooms – but no children,” says Darren, originally from Wigan. He came to the area in 1991 to study at Hull University.

The couple completed the purchase in February 2007; although it came with planning permission to create a three-bedroomed house, their first task was to secure permission to increase the height of one wing by 2ft 4in, which would allow them to create an upper floor.

“Originally we were told we couldn’t do anything at all because this barn was in the curtilage of the listed farmhouse. I didn’t know what that meant so I had to look it up, but I have a law degree so I knew where to look. We were then able to show that it wasn’t in the curtilage.”

Even so, compromise on both sides was required, but the Chamberlains ended up with enough height to put in an upper floor. “There was no roof, there were trees and shrubbery growing in about five inches of mud and it was unsafe, so it was going to have to be taken down and rebuilt anyway,” explains Darren. “So it was unsafe, it was an eyesore and if we did get the upper floor, it wasn’t going to overlook anyone.”

He says he “naively” started taking the wing down by hand but realised it would take him months. The building work was going to be done by his brother, Carl, who ended up clearing the site with plant machinery.

“We put the bricks in a pile and set up a little factory to take the mortar off with a brick hammer. It was quite a nice, therapeutic job.”

It wasn’t so therapeutic for teacher Hannah, who spent the long summer holiday from school cleaning bricks and ended up with tennis elbow in both arms.

“There were about 10,000 bricks and we put them on to a pallet ready to use again.”

The £30,000 Moben kitchen

With the builders living in one caravan and Darren and Hannah in another, work on converting the barn started in earnest. With the derelict wing taken down, the footings were dug and the structure rebuilt with blockwork and then the cleaned-up reclaimed bricks. When the mortar was mixed, they went to great lengths to get a colour match with the mortar in the remaining wing.

“Then the builders took down the top half of this wing because it was bowing out. It was so unsafe part of it collapsed one night; it must have just been held up by pigeon droppings.”

Only the upper part of the former cowshed was removed, not least to preserve the original arch openings, to form lovely full-height windows. “We didn’t want to touch those,” said Darren.

During the rebuild, roof trusses were inserted in what was a large space, so that big rooms could be created. At the back, a couple of extra openings were created for windows before the roof finally went back on.

Once the shell was secure, the floor was laid. “The original floor was flat concrete in places and concrete with drainage gulleys in other places. Underneath that was some Yorkstone flags we were able to salvage,” says Darren.

“We put in underfloor heating throughout because we didn’t want any radiators. We have a ground source heat pump and it’s not as expensive as you think for a six-bedroomed house.

“We laid travertine throughout the ground floor, with engineered oak upstairs; it had to be engineered oak because ordinary oak was no good for underfloor heating.”

When it came to putting in internal walls, it soon became obvious that the rooms were going to be far too big. “We added another bedroom, but they were still too big, so we ended up with six,” explains Darren. “That hadn’t been obvious from looking at the plans. The only way to do it is actually to stand in the space.

“Our dining room is still too big. It dwarfs the dining table.”

The original beams as far as possible were salvaged, although some from the upper floor have been used downstairs, including some of the upright beams in the kitchen. “There was such a lot of rotten wood up there, we decided to have all new, so some of these, which we’re told would have been ship’s beams, are from upstairs,” says Darren.

A priority for the couple has been to future-proof their home. “We looked at home automation systems. As well as traditional lighting, we had a second system wired in. It’s a ‘concept system’ with motion sensors, so when it gets to a certain light level outside and you walk in, a light goes on,” explains Darren.

“It’s all controllable by laptop and the sockets can be programmed to go off at 10pm, which means if you have kids, they can’t watch TV after that time.

“It’s based on an industrial system to save energy at night.

“The burglar alarm and smoke alarm are also wired in, so for example if a smoke alarm goes off upstairs, the lights in that section would go on and show you the way out.”

The master bedroom

Plastering out was a bigger job than anticipated, and once the second fix electrics had been done, Darren and Hannah did the painting themselves. “We did it at weekends and by arc light in the evenings,” he says.

In May 2008 the screed was laid. “It comes in in a day but takes 10 weeks to set properly,” says Darren. “You could walk on it but you couldn’t lay the tiles because there was still moisture in. Luckily there were plenty of other things for us to be getting on with.

“We wanted to be in for Easter but the finishing off took longer than we thought.”

The £30,000 Moben kitchen – in a combination of zebrano and white gloss units with reconstituted granite worksurfaces – is amazing and incorporates everything from an induction hob and barbecue grill to a steam oven, single and double conventional ovens, a warming drawer and coffee machine. There’s a huge American fridge and three beer and wine fridges too.

Darren points out that one thing is missing. “We don’t have a kettle. Instead, as well as a normal tap for hot and cold water, we have a Quooker tap for instant boiling water. It’s quite expensive but it means you are not constantly boiling kettles.”

Unfortunately, the kitchen was meant to be completed in five days but actually took five weeks because various doors and other essentials were missing when the sub-contractor came to do the fitting.

Finally the couple were able to move in to their new home in late July 2008, after living in a caravan for 15 months.

The kitchen is open-plan to the day room – which has a TV built into the wall – and it’s the area where Darren and Hannah spend most of their time, relaxing on two distressed-leather sofas. Off the other side is the utility room (where the washing machine and tumble drier are kept) and a downstairs WC. Also off the kitchen is the office, which both Darren and Hannah use.

On the other side of the centrally-located entrance hall is the spacious sitting room, which, like the day room, has sofas from Vintage Living (now gone) of Beverley. There’s a raised pebble electric fireplace with a mantelpiece made from timber originally from the roof; above this, a huge TV is set into the wall. “We chose the TV and got the builders to make the hole for it before we actually bought it,” says Darren. “Luckily it was still available.”

A glass lamp with a flower set in it is from Vintage Living, as is a globe-shaped black and white lamp. The full-length Ikea curtains in dark brown and grey hang from stainless steel curtain poles. “We have the same curtains in the kitchen but in a different colour,” says Darren.

Fireballs, stone coasters and tea lights are set around the fireplace and on the wall is a piece of metal art in the shape of a tree. The tree-theme is continued in the pictures on the wall between the two sets of French doors that lead to the rear garden and the woodland beyond. “They reflect what we see outside,” says Hannah. “For the past two years, all our birthday and Christmas presents have been pictures and accessories.”

Double doors lead from the sitting room to the dining room, where a striking piece of abstract art breaks up one of the three neutral walls; the fourth is a feature wall with broad horizontal stripes in blue, beige and brown. Stainless steel branch-like candlesticks came from a shop in Oxford, although Hannah sourced many accessories on the Internet, including the dimmable centre light, which has spirals with cut glass balls on the end. There’s also a sofa, a TV, some pale wood furniture and a dining table which the couple think isn’t really big enough for the size of the room.

Hidden away in this wing is the boiler room, which is full of gadgets such as Sky boxes and ipod docks for it’s also the control room for the future-proof house.

The oak staircase, made by Brian Fawcett of Burstwick, is lined with close-up pictures of Oscar the Weimaraner and lit by LED lights, although a contemporary pendulum light hangs above it from the landing.

At the top of the stairs, to one side, is the master suite. The bedroom has contemporary solid oak bedroom from Oak Furnitureland (an online store) and a leather sleigh bed from Barker and Stonehouse. There’s a walk-in wardrobe and an en-suite bathroom, fully tiled in travertine and fitted with twin travertine washbasins, twin oval mirrors, a bath and a waterfall shower in a spacious cubicle.

A guest bedroom, also located on this wing, has an en-suite shower room tiled with sealed stone slate from The Quarry at Woodmansey. Oscar and puppy Tilly’s bedroom is also in this wing.

In the second wing (above the kitchen and day room) is a double bedroom with a large built-in wardrobe. “We’ve gone for built in because of the eaves,” explains Darren.

The next bedroom is currently used as a gym, although according to Darren, it doesn’t get used as much as it should.

The house bathroom has slate tiles, a spa bath bought in the sales from Bathstore, a modern ceramic basin and WC and a large walk-in shower.

The two single bedrooms at the end of the wing are the ones created from splitting one large bedroom in half.

The interior finished, in spring Darren and Hannah began work on the outside, landscaping the garden and creating the log-lined sweeping drive, accessed by double five-barred wooden gates. At the front of the house, a raised gravel bed with a retaining low-brick wall is decorated with pots of colourful lavender.

At the rear, a raised decked area with timber dining furniture is the perfect place to enjoy a drink as the sun goes down, and take in the view of Burton Constable gatehouse.

“They light it up at night,” says Hannah. “It’s lovely.”