The Cider Barn
A bold transformation of a disused cider mill into the warm heart of a contemporary family home. A historic agricultural outbuilding stitched back to the main house with a light-touch timber and glass link that celebrates its working past, built together with care, craft and character.
Services
Concept design, planning submission, visualisations
Status
Planning approved
Location
Worcester
Year
2025
Our clients loved the character of their former cider barn, but in reality it was doing little more than storing garden tools. The main house and barn sat as two separate worlds: a formal Georgian-fronted home on one side, a hardworking brick mill on the other, with no clear front door and very little relationship to the generous garden
The challenge was simple to describe but complex to deliver:
Turn an underused outbuilding into a warm, bright living space and create a single, coherent family home without erasing the history that makes the place special.
Design Approach
Design led by everyday life
We began by studying how the family already moved between house, barn and garden, mapping these “desire lines” to let the new layout grow from what was already there. Existing openings set the rhythm, so the architecture works with the grain of the buildings rather than against it.
A new heart to the home
A new, clearly defined front door is created with a light-touch timber-framed link between house and mill. High-performance glazing, matching clay tiles and a simple pitched form keep the connection calm and recessive, framing views through to trees and planting. Inside the barn, a generous kitchen–dining–living space with mezzanine gallery opens up under repaired and exposed trusses, with carefully enlarged openings drawing daylight in and connecting straight out to the garden terrace.
Old fabric, fresh details
New windows are kept in tune with the original barn proportions, so the elevations stay consistent and robust, and more sensitive faces of the building are left largely untouched. A double-height industrial-style window, new sliding door to the garden and discreet fixed glazing in existing doorways bring light and views without cluttering the façades. Internally, restored structure, a legible full-height volume and simple, robust finishes make the space tactile, characterful and easy to live in..
Sustainable, sensitive and future-ready
Reusing the existing barn is the biggest sustainable move, backed up by upgraded insulation, efficient building services, rainwater harvesting and bat boxes to support local ecology. Level access from the new entrance through to the garden improves everyday usability, while ongoing dialogue with the local authority has refined openings, roofscape and detailing to respect the mill’s solid, agricultural character. The result is a contemporary, comfortable home that feels clearly of its time yet firmly rooted in the story of Hatfield House.
Thinking about converting a barn or outbuilding?
Hatfield House shows how a hardworking historic structure can become the social heart of a modern family home, with careful detailing, clear planning strategy and a genuinely collaborative design process.
If you have a barn, outbuilding or quirky structure you’d like to reimagine, get in touch with Built Together to explore what might be possible on your site.