At Home: Home that’s one of a kind

Sep 23 2008 by Emma Davison, Huddersfield Daily Examiner

Home that’s one of a kind

FOR Holmfirth couple Sandra and Howard Topham, the home of their dreams was the view from their window for 17 years.

They loved the early nineteenth century building, located in the picturesque hamlet of Totties, and knew that it had the potential to become a fantastic family home.

The pair needed plenty of vision, as the “property” was actually an old farm barn, but as they had been looking out onto it for so long, they were intrigued to see if it had the potential to be the conversion project they had always hoped to manage.

Sandra explains: “We’ve lived in Totties since 1978 and we’d been looking out of our window onto this barn for years.

“It was on the market for 10 years with every estate agent, but it was always for sale with the farmhouse next door. Then the barn was put up for sale separately and I said to my husband let’s go down and have a look.

“It was still being used as a smallholding and there were chickens all over the place, but the moment I put my foot in the door I knew it was perfect – I could see it had the potential to become a lovely home.”

The couple knew that the building had great potential so they enlisted the help of local builders to transform it into the superb one-of-a-kind family home they had in mind.

Sandra explains: “We’d had a property converted into offices before for our business, but this was more of a challenge. It took eight months to complete the main conversion and I was site manager as well as occasional labourer!

“It’s amazing to look back and see how big the transformation has been. I presented the builder with a copy of all the photos I took during the process and he now shows them to other people thinking of having a conversion done.”

Prior to its conversion, the former agricultural barn comprised of a two storey hay barn and stable with a single storey tack room and coach house, which date back to around 1819.

The barn and the neighbouring farmhouse used to be owned by dairy farmers and was still being used as a smallholding in 1995, when the couple purchased the barn.

The house has lots of lovely original features, which the couple were keen to maintain when they transformed it into their family home.

One of the most stunning features is the magnificent gothic fireplace, which was rescued by builders during the conversion.

“The fireplace was actually uncovered in the former stable tack room by the builder as he was knocking down the wall,” explains Sandra.

“It was absolutely beautiful and so unusual; we had it restored and it now sits in the lounge.