To cut a long story short, we moved back in summer 2011, found a place in Copdock near Ipswich, sold our London house and moved the family to Suffolk in June 2012. The first year, we upgraded the vandalised farmhouse and planted a 700-vine vineyard with friends and family on land next to the barn and neighbouring parish church.
We also drew up plans to renovate the all-brick tithe barn, built in 1570 and used by celebrity farmer/chef Jimmy Doherty for his BBC programme Jimmy’s Food Factory in the late 2000s. Indeed, we only discovered that when the sale was going through and the barn popped up on our screens while we were watching a satellite food channel in London.
After much toing and froing, discussions, disagreements and frustrations between us, our architect, builder and council planning staff, we got planning permission in March 2014 for a change of use to a wedding/events venue and to make changes to a listed building. But it didn’t stop there – for the next 12 months we continued on the roller coaster.
March 2014
On March 27 our builder rolled onto site and began demolishing the ugly metal cattle shed and asbestos roof in the courtyard. We felt a mixture of elation and worry. Elation because our dreams and investment were finally becoming a reality – fear because of the unpredictability ahead. But there was no turning back now.
April
After clearing the cattle shed, it was time to demolish some ugly Fifties outbuildings and break up the concrete courtyard, which was recycled as hardcore for the car parks and as a base for the new courtyard surface. That was one of the things that underlined the project – thinking ahead and trying to use as much of the original brick, slate, wood and other materials as possible to reduce cost and maintain character. Nearly everything could be reused.
July
An example of forward planning was digging trenches and laying cables while the courtyard, fields and barn floor were empty or dug up. Previously, water for the barn had come from our house, so we decided to bring in a dedicated supply. Cue numerous calls and hoop jumping with Anglian Water, but we managed it and now have a new, pressurised supply to the barn area and vineyard.
In the same month came another, very different form of forward planning – a photo shoot on a building site. We had to think ahead to a completed barn and bookings, so we met a wedding fair planner and teamed up with a group of suppliers. The photographer was skilled at avoiding the debris and came up with a range of wedding photos courtesy of two appropriately dressed “models”, which we could use in our marketing.
Sometimes we felt completely overwhelmed by the renovation, forward planning, planning rules and regulations, dealing with quotes, contractors… the list seemed endless. But we knew we had to dust ourselves down and look to the end result.
August
It ain’t sexy, but all venues need it: adequate sewerage. It takes time and a lot of calculations. The complex web of pipework underfoot to deal with lavatories and the guttering system won’t win your venue admiring looks or more business, but get it wrong and it can damage your reputation.
As the builder continued with converting an old lean-to into high-spec lavatories, we had to make a decision about heating the barn to make it a round-the-year venue. With generous Government payments on green alternatives, it was a no-brainer. We opted for a biomass system with the boilers heating underfloor water pipes, plus radiators in the lavatories and wedding room.
September
One of the most nerve-racking jobs was the huge roof. To insulate it the roofer had to remove the old slates; Diane and I had to paint 207 concrete boards upon which the compacted insulation, felt, new batons and slates would sit. Because half of the existing Welsh slates couldn’t be used again, the council’s conservation department insisted we use Canadian Glendyne slates, as apparently we once shared similar rock formations when our two continents were a bit closer than they are now. Wow.
October
After the scaffolding was erected, the roofers got to work. Nothing seemed to phase them as they worked antlike to strip the roof of its slates, leaving the oak structure exposed like a meat-ridden carcass. Gradually the roof space was covered, but it did require a bit of pressure and my extra pair of hands on occasion to ensure it was done before mid-November and the onset of bad weather.
November
While the roofers finished, experts installed galvanised guttering where once black plastic stood. It was the other major stipulation by conservation and they were right – the new stuff looked classy and a fitting modern accompaniment to the existing historic structure.
While the heating company installed the boilers in a newbuild at the rear, last-minute problems had us cutting and laying the Celotex insulation in the barn ourselves on which the pipework, screed and slabs would sit.
December to February 2015
We completed the internal lighting, including four MDF wagon-wheel-type lights, laid concrete slabs and engineered oak flooring, fitted oak doors, finished the lavatories and bridal preparation room and landscaped outside, including new fencing, gates and a paved block entrance.
March
A month before our planned launch and wedding fair on April 26, a road surfacing company put the “icing on the cake” by laying tar and gravel in the courtyard and driveway, next to loose gravel in the car parks. Diane decorated much of the internal spaces and we installed outside lighting.
We worked on getting our wedding and premises licences, designing our entrance sign and signing up to social media sites and online wedding portals, while also helping to create and launch the copdockhall.com website.
All of the planned work was completed in time for our launch – with legal boxes also ticked. We tell people it was a “journey”, and it was of sorts, as well as being emotionally and physically exhausting. We learnt skills we’ll probably never use again but also feel like we’ve invested a little bit of our soul into Copdock Hall.
• How to green your home without wasting money
• Why this really is the time to leave London for the country
When we take clients around the barn, we recall the blood, sweat and tears we left in its renovation. But the euphoria of the launch washed it all away, leaving the pain and frustration a distant memory… to us at least, if not to our children. Would we do it again? Yes!