Bridget’s Cottage, a beautiful barn conversion near Rushyford, County Durham, has been put up for sale as its owners go in search of their next challenge.

WHEN Eleanor and Christopher Lear decided to embark on their first barn conversion, they knew they had set themselves a challenge.

Both work in the police service and had no experience of plumbing, let alone building a property from scratch. Three years on, they have achieved their dream, transforming a dilapidated old cow shed into an idyllic country home called Bridget’s Cottage.

Situated close to the tiny village of Rushyford, in County Durham, the property is now up for sale as they go in search of their next project. “It was just a cow shed and basically two walls of stone when we bought it three years ago,” says Eleanor. “We’d always wanted to do a barn conversion and now we’ve got the bug, we’re keen to do another.”

It was a completely new venture for Eleanor and Christopher, who live in the cottage with their five-year old daughter Isabelle and threeyear- old son William.

Christopher did a lot of the building work while Eleanor got involved in the painting, design and decor.

While obtaining planning permission and getting to grips with basic toilet plumbing was hard enough, the biggest challenge turned out to be the weather. They started work as soon as they bought it in January 2008, expecting to be finished by April, but freezing temperatures, snow and ice meant building work had to be put on hold for six weeks. They couldn’t move in until July.

“We had a couple of old tree stumps buried in the garden which had to be pulled out ,” says Eleanor. “And we couldn’t use cement because it was too cold. It was a nightmare.”

The cottage has a combination of luxury fittings and rustic charm with exposed fireplaces, oak beamed ceilings and stone-flagged floors. A lot of the stone was recovered from the old foundations and still has the original markings on it.

The first room to be finished was the kitchen, which has a solid wood breakfast bar, a built-in double oven, built-in wine cooler and French doors leading out to the garden. That was followed by the dining room, which is perfect for entertaining with a bespoke dining table and church pew.

Once the building work was complete, they decided to extend it further, turning the “snug” into a fourth bedroom and creating a lounge. The lounge – Eleanor’s favourite room – has an exposed brick inglenook fireplace, a log burning stove, stone slab floor and beamed ceiling with inset low-voltage lighting.

Upstairs has sloping ceilings and beautiful views, and includes the main bedroom which comes with built-in wardrobes and an en suite bathroom.

“The end result has definitely made all the hard work worthwhile,” says Eleanor. “It makes you feel proud when you think we started from scratch. We’ve learnt such a lot – everything from doing the skirting boards and floors to basic plumbing. Now that we’ve done our first conversion, we want to do another.”

The property includes a grass paddock, oak and pine trees and a fenced play area for children, featuring swings, a slide and a trampoline.

“We also dug out a vegetable garden which has pumpkins, garlic, onions, potatoes and parsnips and next to the play area, there is a greenhouse full of aubergines, chillies, tomatoes, peppers and cucumber,” says Eleanor.

The cottage has good transport links, within minutes of the A1 and just a few miles from the village of Rushyford, where wild deer can often be seen roaming. There are further shops and leisure facilities in nearby Newton Aycliffe.

“We’re sad to leave, but we want a bit more land for the kids,” she says. “Bridget’s Cottage would be ideal for a family or a retired couple.

It’s very quiet and peaceful.”

􀁧 Bridget’s Cottage, 1 Lowfield Farm, Rushyford is on the market for £385,000 with Fine and Country, Durham.

Tel: 0191-384-2277.