We moved to Little Glebe Farm in 2003 from Chertsey west of London: the congestion of the M25, the hectic pace of life and the general stress of modern living making a move to a more tranquil setting very appealing. Chertsey is a lovely place, the Thames, nice pubs and walks yet like most of the area west of London it’s becoming overrun with traffic and people, we needed to escape.

Little Glebe Farm was the only place we looked at in Dorset with a view to buying and with the help of our surveyor friend Kevan we saw the potential to create something special here. After our first viewing we decided to ‘go for It' over a pint in the Poet in Poundbury. So after the usual protracted house purchase issues we finally moved in on December 18^th 2003. The first night was spent sleeping on the floor in front of a hastily lit blazing fire in our new open hearth.

As we settled into our new abode the size of the project was overwhelming: simply put, we had a limited budget which meant that unless we could become ‘operational’ within a year we would struggle to meet our commitments and remain here. So on the 2^nd January 2004 work commenced. It was cold!

Our first priority was to create Lavender Lodge as this appeared to be the logical way to complete something rapidly that would allow us to generate that all important income. The building fabric was already in place having been started as a ‘granny annex’ by the previous owners but never completed. Our mission was to take the shell and make it habitable, add water and electricity, convert the garage into two bedrooms and to landscape the outside areas. Oh and get the relevant planning permissions.

We enlisted all of our friends and relatives, employed skilled tradesman where necessary and worked ourselves remorselessly to complete the project in time to catch the end of the summer season. We welcomed Mr and Mrs Wilcox and their two daughters as our first guests on August 7^th 2004; we were still sweeping up as they turned into the drive.

Over the following winter we turned out attention to the stable which with the help of friends Matt and Stimpy we managed to build and roof. The roof of the stable being designed by a local firm of structural engineers in a traditional style: no prefabricated trusses here, a huge purling supported by three massive beams and gables. Matt and I lifted the purling ourselves by hand, up a scaffold tower, in a gale and wedged it in place: it was exciting to say the least!

Stimpy and I completed the tiling, a back breaking task which led me to believe that all roofers must have short legs and arms that dangle a foot below their ankles to survive in the trade for any length of time. Eventually we lifted all the tiles onto the roof structure and nailed them all in place and didn’t fall off once!

Having stood up to a few winter gales now the roof of the stable remains one of our proudest accomplishments.

We spent the next year converting The Granary, the building had been a work shop, a garage, a stable and yes a grain store. Outside was a jungle which hid various discarded items including an old cement mixer and deep in the undergrowth another dilapidated store building which would need to be demolished.

Although the structure of the building was there it had just a single skin of brickwork, no windows, no insulation, no ceiling, no water, no sewage, no electricity, and no damp course. So we set about the conversion knowing we had to do everything including the kitchen sink.

After working through the heat of the summer and the cold of the winter we completed the project in the spring of 2006 and welcomed Mr and Mrs Smailes on May 20^th.

The following winter we went back to Lavender Lodge and replaced the kitchen: we had taken note of the comments by some of our guests regarding the layout of the kitchen and changed the arrangement and style to afford a better and more ergonomic environment.

This winter will see us address some of the areas in the grounds that we feel would benefit from some landscape development. The Granary garden area is to be extended to create a fragrant and shaded seating area and the grass bank outside the bedroom window is to be turned into an attractive rockery.

Along the edge of the paddock we intend grubbing out the various weeds, brambles and stinging nettles to create a flat grassed area where we will establish an orchard and a wild flower walk.

In addition to the on going maintenance which is required to maintain our star grading there is always plenty to do here!

Would we change it: never!