Staddle Stone Barn and Calf Shed at Manor Farm, Sutton Mandeville

Manor Farm is a good example of a farm with a very diverse set of buildings, some of which were unsuited to modern agricultural practices and had fallen into poor condition. A thorough evaluation has seen some of the more interesting ones repaired and refitted, in order to guarantee their continued existence. With one of these, a C18th timber framed barn on staddle stones, the judges were impressed by the way that a new office use had enabled its interior to be retained as one undivided space, difficult to achieve with a residential use. Timbers had been repaired as necessary, with any interventions limited to ones linked to the new use, such as new timber dado boarding at low level, and a new window at one end, enhancing light levels and giving good views southwards. The calf shed, further south down a track on the other side of the A30, is a later and simpler building based on a timber frame, with a corrugated barrel roof. Its quiet siting, with views towards the downs, had made it a good subject for conversion to a holiday let, plentifully glazed and now clad in black timber boarding. The judges thought that both projects had been well conceived and executed, and worked well in moving Manor Farm forwards, into a future where imaginative diversification schemes can enable interesting buildings to be retained. An award seemed the obvious reward for this.

Architects: Michael Lyons Architecture, Salisbury

Photos: Michael Lyons Architecture